GIFT   OF 
H»   L>   Leupp 


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I  ».     •    .  >•    »   «  , » 


QUEEN   AVILHELMINA    AND    THE    PRINCE    CONSORT 


MOTLEY'S   DUTCH   NATION 

BEING  THE 

RISE   OF   THE   DUTCH   REPUBLIC 

(1555-1584) 


BY 

JOHN   LOTHROP   MOTLEY 

D.C.L.,  LL.D.,  Etc. 


CONDENSED,  WITH  INTRODUCTION,  NOTES,  AND  A 
BRIEF  HISTORY  OF  THE  DUTCH    PEOPLE  TO    1908 

BY 

WILLIAM   ELLIOT  GRIFFIS 

D.D..  L.H.D. 

MEMBER  OK  TIIK  AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION 

AND     OF     THE    NETHERLANDISH    SOCIETIES    OK 

LEYUEN,  MIDDLEBUKG,  AND  LEEUWARDEN 


NEW  EDITION 


NEW  YORK  AND    LONDON 

HARPER  &   BROTHERS   PUBLISHERS 

MCMVIII 


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ci 


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X  V 


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Copyright,  1898,  1908,  by  Harper  &  Brothers. 

A/i  rizhti  reserved. 
Published  March,  1908. 


PKEFACE 


The  present  work  consists  of  two  parts — an  abridg- 
ment of  the  late  Mr.  John  Lothrop  Motley's  three  vol- 
umes, entitled  The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Repuhlic,  and  an 
independent  sketch  of  Dutch  history,  from  a.d.  1584  to 
1897.  With  the  brief  introduction,  a  few  notes,  illus- 
trations, and  references  have  been  added.  The  original 
divisions  and  numbering  of  Mr.  Motley's  chapters  have 
been  retained,  though  their  headings  are  new.  Correc- 
tions of  clerical  mistakes,  misprints,  and  errors  in  gram 
mar  and  ecclesiastical  detail  have  been  made.  This  has 
been  done,  however,  with  but  little  alteration  of  the 
brilliant  historian's  rhetoric,  style,  and  spelling. 

In  Part  VII.,  which  rapidly  outlines  Dutch  history, 
from  the  death  of  William  the  Silent  to  Queen  Wilhel- 
mina,  the  author  has  given  his  own  interpretation  of 
facts,  events,  and  tendencies.  He  has  taken  advantage 
of  the  fruits  of  research  made  by  Dutch  scholars  since 
Mr.  Motley's  decease,  besides  showing  the  many  points 
of  contact  between  Netherlandish  and  British  and  be- 
tween Dutch  and  American  history. 

Besides  many  Dutch  friends  beyond  sea  who  have  aided 
my  studies  and  answered  my  inquiries,  I  have  especially 
to  thank  three  scholarly  gentlemen — Mr.  Adrian  van  Hel- 

331794 


iv  PREFACE 

den,  of  Philadelphia,  whose  collection  of  Barneveldia  is 
unique  in  America;  the  Rev.  Maurice  G.  Hansen,  D.D., 
of  East  Orange,  !N.  J.,  author  of  a  History  of  the  Re- 
formed Church  in  the  Netherlands ;  and  William  Nelson 
Noble,  Esq.,  of  Ithaca,  whose  criticisms  and  suggestions 

have  been  of  great  value. 

W.  E.  G. 

Ithaca,  December  10,  1897. 


PKEFACE    TO    NEW    EDITION 

Since  the  first  issue  of  this  edition  of  Motley's  Rise  of 
the  Dutch  Republic  condensed,  with  the  narrative  con- 
tinued to  our  times,  Holland's  first  Queen,  Wilhelmina,  has 
nearly  completed  a  decade  of  her  wise  and  gracious  reign. 
Again  in  history,  in  the  twentieth  as  in  tho  sixteenth 
century,  the  importance  in  the  world  of  little  states  among 
the  great  empires  has  been  signally  demonstrated.  It 
seems  wholly  proper  that,  in  the  Netherlands,  once  the 
strenuous  withstander  in  freedom's  name  of  the  arbitrary 
claims  of  giant  Spain,  the  South  -  American  Eepublics 
that  won  their  independence  from  the  same  Power,  should, 
in  the  Second  Peace  Conference  at  The  Hague,  receive 
the  recognition  of  the  civilized  world.  This  second  edition 
surveys  and  interprets  the  course  of  the  Netherlands  his- 
tory since  1898,  and  sums  up  the  work  of  the  latest  Parlia- 
ment of  Man.  The  change  of  name  seems  appropriate, 
both  in  justice  to  the  historian  of  Barnevelt  and  Maurice, 
the  personators,  respectively,  of  State  Eight  and  National 
Supremacy,  and  in  view  of  the  notable  revival  of  the  spirit 
of  Dutch  nationalism.  W.  E.  G. 

Ithaca,  New  York,  January  6,  1908. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Historical  Introduction.    From  Caesar  to  Charles  V xi 

Biographical  Notes xix 


PART  I 

„„.»^„„  PHILIP  THE  SECOND  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS   (1555-1B59) 

CHAPTER 

.  I.    The  Abdication  of  the  Emperor *3 

•  II.    Egmont  at  St.  Quentin  and  Gravelines 16 

•III.    The  Spanish  King  Leaves  the  Netherlands 43 


PART  II 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  DUCHESS  MARGARET  (1569-1567) 

I.    The  Sister  of  Philip 61 

II.    King,  Regent,  Cardinal,  Elector,  and  Patriot    ....  85 

•  III.     Church  Discipline— The  Inquisition 103 

IV.    Cardinal  Grauvelle  Retired 123 

.  V.    A  Nation  Condemned  to  Death 140 

VI.     The  Nobles' Compromise  and  "  The  Beggars  "      ...  159 

•  VII.     The  Image-Storm 187 

VIII.     Field-preaching  and  the  King's  Wrath 199 

IX.     Orange,  Brederode,  Horn,  and  Egmont ^  213 

X.    Valenciennes  Falls— The  Great  Exodus 238 


PART   III 

ALVA    (1567-1573) 

•  I.    The  Council  of  Blood 251 

II.    The  Execution  of  Egmont  and  Horn  .,,....    27^ 


Vlll  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGB 

III.  The  War  of  Independence  Begun 294 

IV.  Orange  Takes  the  Field 301 

V.  Alva's  Experiments  in  Finance 314 

VI.  The  Beggars  of  the  Sea  Capture  Brill 330 

-VII.  Count  Louis,  the  Huguenots,  and  St.  Bartholomew    .     .  347 

VIII.  The  Massacres  at  Zutphen,  Naarden,  and  Haarlem    .     .  359 

IX.  Alkmaar  and  Dutch  Victories  on  the  Zuyder  Zee  .     .     .  380 


PART  IV 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  GRAND  COMMANDER  (1573-1576) 

I.     The  Doleful  Defeat  at  Mookerheyde 397 

II.     Siege  and  Relief  of  Leyden 413 

III.     The  First  Union  of  the  Dutch  States 431 

0 IV.     Orange's  Toleration— Spanish  Mutiny 449 

V.    The  Pacification  of  Ghent .461 


PART  V 

DON  JOHN  OP  AUSTRIA  (1576-1578) 

•  I.    The  Hero  of  Lepanto 481 

II.     Three  Parties — The  Anabaptists  Protected 496 

III.  Don  John  Foiled  by  Orange 507 

IV.  The  Ruward  of  Brabant  in  Brussels 534 

V.    Inactive  Armies— Patriotic  Amsterdam 549 


PART  VI 

ALEXANDER   OP  PARMA   (1578-1584)  , 

•    I.    The  Reconciled  Provinces— The  Union  of  Utrecnt    .    .  571 

II.     Massacre  at  Maastricht — Turbulence  at  Ghent ....  591 

III.  Treason  and  Intrigues 603 

IV.  The  Dutch  Declaration  of  Independence 612 

V.     The  Duke  of  Anjou— Orange  Offered  the  Sovereignty  .  633 

VI.     The  French  Fury— Death  of  Anjou 653 

VII.    The  Father  of  his  Country  Assassinated 676 


PART  VII 

HISTORY  OF  THE  DUTCH  NATION  (1584-1907) 

CHAPTER  PAGK 

I.     The  Orphan  Republic 693 

II.     The  English  Allies 705 

III.  The  Model  Army 719 

IV.  Nieuport  and  Ostend 740 

V.    Looking  to  the  Great  Truce 755 

VI.     Calvinist  and  Arminian 764 

VII.     Maurice  and  Barueveldt 777 

VIII.     State  Right  and  National  Sovereignty 796 

IX.    The  Bloom  of  the  Republic 812 

X.     Naval  Wars  with  England 832 

XI.    Movements  of  Thought 848 

XII.    The  Shadow  of  a  Republic 867 

XIII.  Stadholder  and  Patriots 878 

XIV.  The  French  Occupation 899 

XV.     The  Kingdom  of  the  Netherlands 907 

XVI.     The  Reign  of  Queen  Wilhelmina 928 

Index 945 


ILLUSTKATIONS 


QUEEN   WILHELMINA    AND    THE    PRINCE    CONSORT  ....  FrontUpiu* 

MARGARET   OF   PARMA Facing  p.  62 

WILLIAM    THE    SILENT,    PRINCE    OF   ORANGE "  68 

CARDINAL    GRANVELLE "  72 

EGMONT "  92 

PHILIP    II.    OF   SPAIN "  134 

SAINTE-ALDEGONDE "  160 

HORN "206 

DUKE   OF   ALVA "  252 

SEA-BEGGARS    CAPTURING    BRILL,   1572 "  340 

MODELS    OF    SHIPS    IN    GROOTE    KERK,    HAARLEM     ....  "  374 

DE   REQUESENS "  398 

UNIVERSITY   OF   LEYDEN "  428 

ATTACK   ON   A   FORTRESS "  456 

DON    JOHN    OF    AUSTRIA "  482 

THE   ARCHDUKE    MATTHIAS "  534 

THE    SPANISH     GOVERNORS    AND     CATHOLIC    PRIESTS    BAN- 
ISHED   FROM    AMSTERDAM,    1578 "  554 

ALEXANDER    FARNESE,    DUKE    OF   PARMA "  574 

PRISON    GATE,    THE    HAGUE "  608 

MAURICE    OF   NASSAU "  694 

DEVENTER    BETRAYED    TO    THE    SPANIARDS,    1587      ....  "  712 

ERASMUS "  768 

BARNEVELDT "  780 

THE    EXECUTION    OF   BARNEVELDT.       . "  802 

GROTIUS "  806 

TROMP "824 


xii  ILLUSTRATIONS 

DE   RUYTER Fatingp.gSQ 

JOHN    DE   WITT "  838 

THE    MURDER    OF   THE    DE    WITTS "  844 

WILLIAM   III.    OF   ENGLAND "  862 

VIEW   OF   THE   VYVERBERG   AT    THE    HAGUE "  886 

FIRST  SESSION  OF  THE  PEACE  CONFERENCE,  AT  THE  HAGUE, 

JUNE,  1907 "  940 


HISTOEICAL  USTTKODUCTION 


The  early  ages,  from  a  hundred  years  before  Christ  to 
the  tenth  century  of  the  Christian  era,  form  the  pre-his- 
toric  era  of  the  Dutch  people.  These  are  the  days  of 
Frisians,  Batavians,  Romans,  Saxons,  and  Franks.  The 
Roman  dominion  falls  and  vanishes  in  the  fifth  century. 
Then  paganism  passes  away,  and  Christianity  enters  the 
lowlands  of  northwestern  Europe.  The  new  Caesar, 
Charles  the  Great,  re-establishes  civilization  and  solidarity. 
His  weak  son  cannot  wield  the  sceptre.  The  three  grand- 
sons of  Charlemagne  divide  western  Europe  between 
themselves,  by  the  compact  of  Verdun,  August  8,  a.d. 
843.  Thenceforward  there  are  Germans,  Frenchmen,  and 
Italians. 

The  Netherlands  are  not  assigned  to  Louis  the  German 
to  be  identified  with  the  German  Empire,  but  become 
part  of  Lotharingia,  or  the  domain  of  Lothair.  For  sev- 
eral centuries  after  the  Verdun  compact,  the  fortunes  of 
the  Low  Countries,  and  especially  of  the  Belgic  portion, 
are  closely  connected  with  the  shifting  political  struct- 
ures lying  southward,  rather  than  with  either  the  great 
Gallic  domain  on  the  west  or  the  Teutonic  realm  on  the 
east. 

For  centuries  the  Rhine's  delta  lands  and  the  interior 
regions  reached  by  the  three  rivers  flowing  from  France 
and  Germany,  the  Scheldt,  the  Maas,  and  the  Rhine,  are 
harried  and  devastated  by  the  Norsemen.  This  outward 
pressure  of  enemies,  together  with  equally  potent  causes 
from  within,  compels  the  development  of  feudalism. 

Under  this  system  there  is  no  unity  of  government,  but 


xiv  HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION 

only  a  great  variety  and  complexity  of  functions  and 
methods  of  administration.  Society  is  roughly  divided 
into  two  classes — the  owners  of  land,  who  are  few,  and 
those  who  own  no  land,  who  are  many.  The  age  of  the 
dukes  and  counts  begins,  lasting  from  the  tenth  to  the 
sixteenth  century.  The  townships  and  dukedoms  be- 
come "  Staatjes,''  as  the  Dutch  say — little  states  which, 
jealous  and  aspiring,  begin  those  petty  civil  wars  that 
seem  to  be  the  necessary  phenomena  of  feudalism  in  every 
country  of  the  world. 

The  great  movement,  called  the  Crusades,  saves  society 
from  stagnation,  moves  hosts  of  ignorant  men  towards 
the  old  seats  of  light  and  culture,  causes  commerce  to 
spring  up,  helps,  powerfully,  first  to  mitigate  and  after- 
wards to  abolish  slavery,  promotes  the  rise  of  cities,  and 
develops  a  merchant  and  middle  class  that  steadily  wins 
from  the  lords  of  the  soil  privileges,  rights,  and  charters. 
Along  with  the  wealth  and  refinement  of  feudal  courts, 
and  of  noble  families  destined  to  become  historic,  there 
proceeds  also  the  growth  of  a  common  public  sentiment. 
This  reveals  itself  in  new  phases  of  politics,  which,  how- 
ever grotesque  when  viewed  in  the  abounding  light  of  our 
age,  show  a  struggle  for  the  rights  of  humanity.  Though 
full  of  travail,  these  movements  mean  life  and  progress. 

So  must  we  interpret  the  uproar,  riot,  and  bloodshed 
between  the  rival  and  hostile  parties,  the  Hooks  and  the 
Cods,  with  their  curious  head-gear  and  their  strange  ban- 
ners. States,  in  the  political  development  of  which 
others  besides  the  armed  leaders  and  shorn  priests  are 
interested,  are  being  shaped  and  their  features  become 
clear.  We  see  in  Utrecht,  Gelderland,  Friesland,  Bra- 
bant, and  Flanders  communities  of  people  who  have  ever- 
increasing  unity  in  common  hopes  and  fears,  in  language 
and  traits  of  character,  which  are  ever  molded  and  inten- 
sified by  physical  environment. 

Through  marriage  and  diplomacy  it  comes  to  pass  that 
the  House  of  Burgundy  rises  to  be  paramount  over  most 
of  the  Netherlands ;  and,  again,  through  marriage,  Maxi- 
milian of  Austria  makes  himself  master  of  many  cities 
and  ends  the  strife  of  the  Hooks  and  Cods.     A  brilliant 


HISTORICAL   INTRODUCTION  XV 

period  of  prosperity  is  ushered  in.  Agriculture^,  com- 
merce, art,  and  literature  are  cultivated,  and  the  seven- 
teen provinces  of  the  Netherlands,  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Ems  to  the  fountains  of  the  Maas,  form  one  of  the 
richest  and  most  populous  portions  in  Europe.  The  lan- 
guages spoken — Frisian,  Dutch  or  Flemish,  and  French — 
are  now  well  established,  and  find  enthusiastic  cultiva- 
tors who  mold  their  speech  into  forms  of  strength  and 
beauty.  The  Renaissance  stimulates  art,  makes  the  can- 
vas bloom,  uprears  cathedrals  and  town-halls,  and  covers 
the  land  with  churches  that,  imposing  to  the  outward 
view,  are  within  made  glorious  with  statuary,  jewels,  and 
the  spoils  of  the  sea.  Within  these  brick  and  stone  tem- 
ples it  seems  as  though  forest  and  grotto  and  fabled  pal- 
ace under  the  sea  were  transfigured  and  brought  to  the 
service  of  religion.  The  wealth,  the  spices,  the  rare  and 
curious  products  of  the  East  pour  into  the  lap  of  the 
Netherlands,  and  strange  seeds  and  oriental  fruits  fall 
upon  her  soil.  Grander  than  the  golden-fleece  of  fable 
are  the  flocks  of  sheep  and  the  fields  of  flax,  making  these 
delta  lands  richer  than  those  reached  by  the  Argonauts. 
With  the  needle  and  the  pillow,  the  printing-press  and 
the  loom,  there  arise  in  this  home  of.  industry  wonderful 
schools  of  lace-makers,  printers  and  illustrators  of  books, 
and  weavers  whose  webs  astonish  the  world.  The  build- 
ers and  decorators  of  lordly  facades  and  daring  spires, 
and  of  arches  and  columns  and  ceilings,  seem  to  vie  with 
the  nimble  weavers,  makers  of  lace,  and  beautifiers  of 
books.  To  the  glory  of  God  stone  becomes  tracery  or 
blooms  with  the  flowers  of  the  chisel,  and  oaken  ceilings 
blossom  in  color  like  parterres.  In  ordinary  life,  costume 
of  the  richest  kind  adorns  the  person.  The  nobles  vie 
with  each  other  in  brilliancy  of  colors,  rich  stuffs,  jewels, 
and  decorations  for  man,  woman,  and  horse.  Even  the 
burghers  or  citizens  become  oriental  in  the  splendor  of 
their  apparel. 

So  it  was  that  this  land,  lying  between  the  slopes  and 
the  sea-coast  of  western  Europe,  was  the  fairest  and  most 
promising  part  of  Europe,  even  as  its  people  were  the 
richest,  when,  in  1500,  the  new  history  of  the  Netherlands 


xvi  HISTORICAL  INTKOBUCTION 

began,  and  Charles  the  Fifth,  born  a  Netherlander,  entered 
upon  his  career.  It  was  he  who  gave  possibilities  of  union 
to  the  seventeen  provinces  of  the  Netherlands.  Whether 
his  motive  was  noble  or  base,  his  aim  from  the  first  was 
to  annul,  as  far  as  possible,  the  disintegrating  and  divi- 
sive influences  which  would  prevent  those  provinces  from 
the  attainment  of  solidarity.  Even  in  his  terrible  mis- 
takes and  in  the  crudest  of  those  acts  most  condemned 
by  modern  historians,  Charles  the  Fifth  had  but  one  idea 
and  purpose — the  unity  of  the  Netherlands.  AVith  this  end 
in  view  he  became  an  intelligent  and  personally  active 
ruler.  He  was  as  fierce  an  advocate  of  uniformity  in 
belief  and  ritual  as  was  Queen  Elizabeth.  Like  all  princes 
of  that  age,  he  maintained  the  doctrine  that  the  people 
must  be  of  the  same  religion  with  their  ruler.  Even  his 
advocacy  of  the  inquisition  was  inspired  by  the  same 
motive.  With  all  his  faults,  he  was  popular  among  the 
people  of  the  Netherlands. 

Philip  the  Second,  the  son  of  Charles,  while  inheriting 
his  father's  idea  of  keeping  the  Netherlands  intact,  was 
controlled  by  a  desire  to  make  the  Low  Countries  a  mere 
annex  of  Spain.  In  those  days  such  a  project  was  cen- 
turies too  late,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  this  could  have 
been  accomplished  even  in  the  Middle  Ages  before  na- 
tionality had  been  wrought  out.  Being  not  merely  an 
advocate,  but,  indeed,  the  very  embodiment  of  that  kind  of 
religion  which  is  based  on  brute  force,  Philip  the  Second 
was  aided  in  his  plans,  first  by  Cardinal  Granvelle,  and  then 
by  the  Duke  of  Alva.  He  sent  this  soldier,  who  quailed 
at  nothing,  backed  by  the  finest  army  in  Europe,  to  melt 
these  "men  of  butter, '^  as  he  supposed  them  to  be,  into 
obedience  to  his  will.  He  imagined  that  he  could  shape 
the  Netherlanders  into  submissive  Spanish  subjects,  with 
consciences  moulded  from  Rome.  A  new  era  of  history 
began  in  the  year  1568,  with  a  war  lasting  for  eighty  years, 
during  which  the  events  at  Heiligerlee,  Brill,  Alkmaar, 
Haarlem,  and  Leyden  show  that,  in  the  northern  provinces 
at  least,  butter  was  not  the  chief  ingredient  in  the  com- 
position of  the  Netherlander. 

Confronting  and   surmounting   the  figures   of    Philip, 


HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION  xvii 

Granvelle,  Alva,  and  his  successors  was  the  German-born 
William  of  Orange.  With  him  were  three  brothers,  not, 
indeed,  equalling  the  Silent  One  in  ability,  but  ready  to 
pour  out  their  generous  blood  and  their  gold  in  freedom's 
cause.  Adolph  found  a  grave  at  Heiligerlee,  Louis  on 
the  heath  at  Mook,  while  John,  the  constructive  statesman, 
lived  to  see  wrought  out  that  Union  of  Utrecht  which 
made  the  Dutch  Republic. 

William  of  Orange  became  the  true  Father  of  the  Dutch 
Fatherland,  and  with  true  paternal  love  gave  his  all  to 
save  it.  He  appealed  first  to  the  nobles.  The  nobles 
were  selfish,  suspicious,  turbulent,  and  failed  both  him 
and  their  country.  Then  William  appealed  to  the  burgh-  ,( 
ers ;  but  the  burghers  were  jealous,  narrow-minded,  ab-  7 
sorbed  in  local  and  petty  interests,  and  unable  to  rise  to 
the  needs  of  the  hour  and  of  true  nationalit}^,  and,  except 
a  few  who  were  faithful,  they  too  failed  him,  and  by  them 
the  salvation  of  the  country  was  not  wrought.  Then  Will- 
iam the  Silent  appealed  to  the  common  people,  and  they, 
with  an  instinct  truer  than  that  of  noble  or  burgher,  re- 
sponded. They  perceived  what  the  hard-drinking,  spoils- 
seeking,  luxury-loving  seigniors  could  not  see ;  what  town 
magistrate,  rich  merchant,  local  politician,  and  slave  of 
legal  precedent  could  not  discern — that  a  nation  had  been 
born.  The  common  people  proved  to  be  the  prophets. 
They  beheld  union,  and  they  resolved  that  it  should  be 
preserved.  They  hailed  AVilliam  as  the  Father  of  their 
country.  ''In  Netherland  story,  the  people  is  ever  the 
true  hero,"  wrote  Mr.  Motley,  and  this  is  as  true  at  the 
end  of  the  nineteenth  as  it  was  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

Mr.  Motley  begins  his  story  of  "The  Rise  of  the  Dutch 
Republic "  with  the  abdication  of  Charles  the  Fifth.  A 
survey  of  the  previous  rulers  of  the  Dutch  nation  shows 
that  these  belonged  to  six  dynasties,  or  "  Stamhuizen,''  as 
the  Dutch  call  them,  as  follows  : 

1.  The  Holland  dynasty  {Het  Hollandsche  Huis),  which 
was  founded  in  the  year  923  by  Count  Dirk  I.,  to  whom 
Charles  the  Simple  granted  some  lands  in  fee,  situated 
in  Holland.  Of  this  dynasty,  sixteen  counts  and  one 
countess  ruled  for  376  years,  and  with  the  death,  in  1299, 


xviii  HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTIOX 

of  Jan  (John)  I.,  who  left  no  issue,  it  became  extinct,  and 
the  land  was  inherited  by — 

2.  The  dynasty  of  Hainanlt  {Het  Huis  van  Henegouwen), 
Three  counts  and  one  countess  of  this  dynasty  were  rulers 
during  half  a  century  only ;  Margaretha,  wife  of  Louis  of 
Bavaria,  having  abdicated  in  favor  of  her  son,  William  V. 
of  Bavaria,  in  the  year  1349. 

3.  The  dynasty  of  Bavaria  {Het  Huis  van  Beijeren) 
ruled  for  79  years  by  three  counts  and  one  countess, 
Jacoba  (the  unfortunate  Jacqueline).  The  latter  trans- 
ferred her  rights  to  Philip  the  Good,  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
in  1428. 

4.  The  dynasty  of  Burgundy  {Het  Huis  van  Bourgon- 
die)  ruled  for  50  years.  From  this  dynasty  two  counts 
and  one  countess  issued.  The  latter  was  Maria,  wife  of 
Maximilian,  Emperor  of  Austria,  and  after  her  death,  in 
1482,  the  dynasty  of  Burgundy  passed  over  by  inheritance 
to— 

5.  The  dynasty  of  Austria  {Het  Oostenrijksche  Huis), 
From  this  dynasty,  for  a  period  of  86  years,  ruled  Philip 
the  Fair,  King  of  Castile,  who  died  in  1529  ;  Charles  V., 
Emperor  of  Germany  and  King  of  Spain,  who  abdicated 
in  1555,  and  his  son,  Philip  II.,  King  of  Spain,  against 
whom  the  Low  Countries  revolted,  and  commenced  their 
war  of  independence  in  1568. 

6.  The  dynasty  of  Orange  -  Nassau  {Het  Huis  van 
Oranje- Nassau),  of  which,  as  far  as  regards  the  Nether- 
lands, William  of  Orange,  surnamed  The  Silent,  is  the 
founder,  and  who,  in  1568,  took  up  arms  against  Philip  II., 
Count  of  Holland,  and  became  the  head  and  leader  of  the 
revolt. 

Mr.  Motley  closes  his  own  historical  introduction  of 
ninety-two  pages  with  this  graphic  summary  : 

^'Within  the  little  circle  which  encloses  the  seventeen 
provinces  are  208  walled  cities,  many  of  them  among  the 
most  stately  in  Christendom ;  150  chartered  towns,  6300 
villages,  with  their  watch-towers  and  steeples,  besides 
numerous  other  more  insignificant  hamlets ;  the  whole 
guarded  by  a  belt  of  sixty  fortresses  of  surpassing 
strength. 


HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION  xix 

"  In  this  rapid  sketch  of  the  course  and  development 
of  the  Netherland  nation  during  sixteen  centuries,  we 
have  seen  it  ever  marked  by  one  prevailing  characteristic, 
one  master-passion  —  the  love  of  liberty,  the  instinct  of 
self-government.  Largely  compounded  of  the  bravest 
Teutonic  elements,  Batavian  and  Frisian,  the  race  ever 
battles  to  the  death  with  tyranny,  organizes  extensive 
revolts  in  the  age  of  Vespasian,  maintains  a  partial  inde- 
pendence even  against  the  sagacious  dominion  of  Char- 
lemagne, refuses  in  Friesland  to  accept  the  papal  yoke  or 
feudal  chain,  and,  throughout  the  dark  ages,  struggles 
resolutely  towards  the  light,  wresting  from  a  series  of 
petty  sovereigns  a  gradual  and  practical  recognition  of 
the  claims  of  humanity.  With  the  advent  of  the  Burgun- 
dian  family,  the  power  of  the  commons  has  reached  so 
high  a  point  that  it  is  able  to  measure  itself,  undaunted, 
with  the  spirit  of  arbitrary  rule,  of  which  that  engrossing 
and  tyrannical  house  is  the  embodiment.  For  more  than 
a  century  the  struggle  for  freedom,  for  civic  life,  goes  on  ; 
Philip  the  Good,  Charles  the  Bold,  Mary's  husband,  Max- 
imilian, Charles  V.,  in  turn  assailing  or  undermining  the 
bulwarks  raised,  age  after  age,  against  the  despotic  princi- 
ple. The  combat  is  ever  renewed.  Liberty,  often  crushed, 
rises  again  and  again  from  her  native  earth  with  redoubled 
energy.  'At  last)^  in  the  sixteenth  century,  a  new  and 
more  powerful  spirit,  the  genius  of  religious  freedom, 
comes  to  participate  in  the  great  conflict.  Arbitrary 
power,  incarnated  in  the  second  Charlemagne,  assails  the 
new  combination  with  unscrupulous,  unforgiving  fierce- 
ness. Venerable  civic  magistrates,  haltered,  grovel  in 
sackcloth  and  ashes  ;  innocent  religious  reformers  burn 
in  holocausts.  By  the  middle  of  the  century  the  battle 
rages  more  fiercely  than  ever.  In  the  little  Ketherland 
territory.  Humanity,  bleeding  but  not  killed,  still  stands 
at  bay  and  defies  the  hunters.  The  two  great  powers 
have  been  gathering  strength  for  centuries.  They  are 
soon  to  be  matched  in  a  longer  and  more  determined  com-  .  / 
bat  than  the  world  had  ever  seen.  The  emperor  is  about  /  / 
to  leave  the  stage.  The  provinces,  so  passionate  for  na-  /  / 
tionality,  for  municipal  freedom,  for  religious  reforma-  h 

'/ 


XX  HISTORICAL  INTRODUCTION 

tion,  are  to  become  the  property  of  an  utter  stranger ;  a 
prince  foreign  to  their  blood,  their  tongue,  their  religion, 
their  whole  habits  of  life  and  thought. 

^^  Such  was  the  political,  religious,  and  social  condition 
of  a  nation  who  were  now  to  witness  a  new  and  momen- 
tous spectacle/' 


BIOGKAPHICAL  NOTES 


Sidney  Smith's  sneering  question,  "Who  reads  an 
American  book  ?"  was  very  quickly  answered  in  1855, 
when  Mr.  John  Lothrop  Motley  published  his  three  octavo 
volumes  on  Tlie  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic.  Trans- 
lated into  Dutch,  French,  and  German,  this  old  story, 
told  in  new  style  and  with  surprising  freshness,  was  read 
all  over  Europe  and  in  the  Dutch  and  English  colonies 
throughout  the  world.  After  this  auspicious  beginning, 
thougli  with  intervals  of  some  years,  Mr.  Motley  followed 
with  four  volumes  on  The  History  of  the  U^iited  Nether- 
lands and  two  volumes  on  The  Life  and  Death  of  John  of 
Barneveld,  These  nine  volumes  told  in  brilliant  detail  and 
with  masterly  insight  the  story  of  the  heroic  period  of 
Netherlandish  history,  from  1555  to  1G19. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  work,  Mr.  Motley  was  compara- 
tively unknown.  Before  his  death  he  was  a  leading  Ameri- 
can man  of  letters,  an  acknowledged  master  of  histori- 
ography, and  an  honored  plenipotentiary  of  the  United 
States  of  America  at  the  capitals  of  the  Austro-Hungarian 
and  British  empires. 

The  story  of  his  life  has  been  told  by  his  friend,  Dr. 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,*  and  in  his  own  letters,  edited  by 
George  William  Curtis,  f  Descended  from  Irish  and  Non- 
conformist English  ancestry,  John  Lothrop  Motley,  named 

*  John  Lothrop  Motley:  A  Memoir^  by  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes.  New 
York,  1891,  Harper  &  Brothers. 

f  T}ie  Correspondence  of  John  Lothrop  Motley,  with  portrait.  New  York, 
1889,  Harper  &  Brothers. 


xxii  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 

after  his  maternal  grandfather,  was  born  in  Dorchester, 
Massachusetts,  now  a  part  of  Boston,  on  the  15th  of  April, 
1814.     Of  delicate  organization  he  was  fond  of  few  out- 
door sports.     He  delighted  in  reading  Scott  and  Cooper. 
The  novelists  and  the  poets  were  his  favorite   authors. 
Among  his  playmates  were  Thomas  Gold  Appleton  and 
Wendell  Phillips.     Among  his  teachers  was  George  Ban- 
croft, the  historian.  Young  Motley  "had  a  remarkable  facili- 
ty for  acquiring  languages,  excelled  as  a  reader  and  as  a 
writer,  and  was  the  object  of  general  admiration  for  his 
many  gifts. ^'  At  eleven  he  began  a  novel,  writing,  at  least, 
two  chapters.     At  thirteen  he  entered  Harvard  College. 
After  graduation,  he  spent  a  year  of  reading  and  travel  in 
Europe.     Eeturning  to  America  he  studied  law,  married, 
on  the  2d  of  March,  1837,  Miss  Mary  Benjamin,  daughter 
of  Mr.  Park  Benjamin.  In  1839  he  published  his  first  novel, 
Morto7i's   Hope,  which  is   now  a  rare   literary  curiosity. 
Appointed  Secretary  to  the  Legation  of  the  United  States 
of  America  in  St.  Petersburg,  he  spent  a  few  months  in 
Eussia  during  1841  and  1842.     Three  years  later,  in  the 
JVorth  American  Bevieiv  for  October,  1844,  he  published 
his  first  serious  effort  in  historical  composition.     In  this 
essay  on  "Peter  the  Great  and  Russia,^'  "he  showed  in 
epitome  his  qualities  as  a  historian  and  biographer."    A 
critical  essay  on  " Balzac "^ and  another  on  the  "Polity  of 
the  Puritans  "  followed  in  the  same  periodical.    He  wrote  : 
"We  enjoy  an  inestimable  advantage  in  America.     One 
can  be  a  Republican,  a  Democrat,  without/being  a  radical. 
A  radical,  one  who  would  uproot,  is  a  mpai  whose  trade  is 
dangerous  to  society.     Here  is  but  little  to  uproot.     The 
trade  cannot  flourish.     All  classes  are  conservative  by  ne- 
cessity, for  none  can  wish  to  change  the  structure  of  our 
polity." 

Mr.  Motley  served  one  term  in  the  Massachusetts  House 
of  Representatives,  and  then  wrote  his  second  novel,  Merry 
Mount,  a  Bomance  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  This, 
though  not  lacking  appreciative  literary  notices  at  the 
time  of  its  appearance,  is  a  rarity  even  in  Boston  libraries. 
*^  The  half  historical  ground  he  had  chosen  had  already 
led  him  to  the  entrance  into  the  broader  domain  of  his- 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES  xxiii; 

tory/^  While  engaged  in  collecting  materials  for  his 
history,  the  future  author  of  The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Re2mUic 
learned  that  Mr.  W.  H.  Prescott  contemplated  writing  A 
History  of  Philip  the  Second.  The  young  aspirant  called 
upon  the  veteran  scholar  and  frankly  stated  his  own  desire 
and  purpose.  With  hearty  personal  encouragement,  and 
later  with  a  complimentary  notice  of  Motley's  forthcoming 
work  in  the  Preface  of  his  own,  Prescott  showed  a  rare 
example  of  disinterested  kindness. 

After  several  years  of  preparatory  reading  and  research, 
Mr.  Motley  went  to  Europe  and  spent  five  years  in  investi- 
gating the  archives  of  Berlin,  Dresden^  the  Hague,  and 
Brussels,  finding  everywhere  courtesy  and  kindness  from 
librarians  and  archivists.  When  his  mass  of  manuscript 
was  ready,  he  could  find  no  publisher  willing  to  risk 
capital  on  its  publication ;  so  the  author  issued  it  at  his 
own  risk  and  charges.  Its  reception  was  most  gratifying. 
He  spent  a  year  in  America  and  then  returned  to  England. 
Titles  and  honors  began  to  pour  upon  him,  and  his  wel- 
come into  English  society  was  warm  and  sincere. 

The  first  two  volumes  of  his  History  of  the  United  Nether- 
lands appeared  in  18G0.  When  the  slave-holder's  rebellion 
precipitated  civil  war  in  America,  he  became  one  of  the 
first  defenders  of  union  and  the  flag  by  writing  a  remarka- 
ble letter  to  the  London  Times,  which  cleared  the  situation 
to  the  British  mind  and  was  powerfully  effective  in  setting 
forth  the  real  cause  of  the  war  and  the  mighty  issues  at 
stake.  He  paid  a  visit  to  America  in  1861,  and  visited  the 
camps  on  the  Potomac.  He  was  appointed  by  President 
Lincoln  Minister  to  Vienna.  After  serving  six  years,  he 
sent  his  resignation  to  President  Johnson.  By  this  time 
his  two  concluding  volumes  of  the  History  of  the  United 
Netherlands  were  ready  for  the  press.  They  appeared  in 
1868,  and,  like  his  former  writings,  won  high  encomiums 
from  Dutch  scholars.  Returning  once  more  to  America, 
and  living  at  2  Park  Street,  Boston,  he  took  an  active  in- 
terest in  the  election  of  General  Grant  to  the  Presidency,  and 
delivered  an  address  on  the  Historic  Progress  ot  American 
Democracy  before  the  New  York  Historical  Society.  He 
was  appointed  Minister  to  Great  Britain  and  charged  with 


xxiv  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 

the  especial  business  of  settling  the  Alabama  claims,  but 
was  recalled  by  President  Grant ;  becoming,  it  is  now  gen- 
erally believed,  the  innocent  victim  of  the  personal  hostil- 
ity between  the  chief  executive  and  the  chairman  of  the 
Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs.  Mr.  Motley  then 
went  to  live  in  the  Hague,  occupying  the  house  of  which 
the  great  Pensionary,  John  de  Witt,  had  been  the  former 
tenant.  Here  he  wrote  his  last  work,  which  he  had  origin- 
ally intended  to  be  "  the  natural  sequel  to  the  first  works — 
viz.  The  TJiirty  Years'  War."  In  pursuit  of  his  purpose 
he  was  able  to  carry  out  only  a  portion  of  his  programme, 
and  to  issue  two  volumes  entitled  Jolm  of  Barneveld,  which 
brought  the  narrative  of  events  only  to  1619,  instead  of 
1648.  The  death  of  his  wife  on  the  last  day  of  1874  was 
a  crushing  blow  to  the  historian,  and  one  from  which  he 
never  recovered.  After  another  visit  to  his  native  land, 
he  returned  to  Europe,  dying  near  Dorchester,  England, 
May  29, 1877.  He  was  buried  in  Kensal  Green  Cemetery, 
just  outside  of  London.  His  tomb  is  inscribed,  at  his  own 
request,  with  his  name,  with  dates  and  place  of  birth  and 
death,  and  the  Scripture,  "In  God  is  light  and  in  Him  is 
no  darkness  at  all." 

Beside  the  honors  most  appropriate  and  gratifying  to 
an  author — wide  public  recognition  of  his  labors,  as  shown 
in  the  reading  of  his  books  by  whole  nations,  and  their 
translation  into  tongues  other  than  his  own — Mr.  Motley 
was  honored  with  direct  recognition  and  praise  from  emi- 
nent scholars  and  critics  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  and 
election  into  the  membership  of  many  learned  historical 
societies  in  Europe  and  America.  Honorary  degrees  were 
awarded  him  by  the  leading  universities  of  England, 
Netherlands,  and  the  United  States.  The  highest  degree 
as  Foreign  Associate  of  the  French  Academy  of  Moral  and 
Political  Sciences  was  also  conferred  upon  him,  only  one 
other  American  having  received  it. 

In  person  Mr.  Motley  was  strikingly  handsome,  having 
inherited  much  of  his  mother's  almost  regal  beauty.  His 
portraits  and  the  marble  bust  in  the  Boston  Public  Library 
show  this.  The  qualities  of  his  mind — an  inheritance  of 
Celtic  fire  and   wit  blended  with   Teutonic  calm   and 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES  XXV 

thoroughness  —  are  apparent  in  his  works.  His  industry 
was  prodigious,  astonishing  even  the  Dutchmen.  To  have 
read  Bor,  Brandt,  Hooft,  Van  Meteren,  Orlers,  Strada, 
Gachard,  Kluit,  and  Van  Prinsterer,  besides  immense 
masses  of  Spanish,  Italian,  French,  Dutch,  and  English 
correspondence  —  all  in  the  involved  and  stilted  idiom  of 
former  days  and  often  in  the  most  hideous  and  repulsive 
handwriting — required  an  iron  will,  heroic  perseverance, 
and  giant  industry.  Of  the  very  worst  script  —  that  of 
Olden-Barneveldt,  copies  were  indeed  made,  but  those  fa- 
miliar with  the  Netherlandish  archives — admirably  as  they 
are  kept,  are  divided  in  their  admiration,  not  knowing 
which  to  admire  the  more.  Motley's  genius  or  his  patience. 
Bnsken  Huet,  the  leading  modern  critic,  praises  the  Amer- 
ican for  succeeding  where  Schiller  failed  —  in  making  the 
Netherland's  story  interesting.  Dr.  T.  Blom  Coster,  the 
family  physician  of  Queen  Sophia  and  of  Mr.  Motley,  told 
me  that  the  author  of  De  Opkmnst  van  de  Nederlandsche 
RepiiUieh  had  read  through  Wagenaar's  Vaderlandsche 
Historie  nine  times.  My  copy  of  Wagenaar  contains 
seventy-eight  closely-printed  volumes.  Motley's  favorite 
Dutch  author  was  Hooft,  whose  love  of  truth  and  superb, 
style  fascinated  his  American  admirer,  who  knew  much  of 
the  text  of  his  single  octavo  by  heart.  In  the  fine  por- 
trait which  Queen  Sophia  had  painted  of  her  friend,  Mr. 
Motley,  and  which  now  hangs  in  the  House  in  the  Woods, 
near  the  Hague,  the  American  historian  of  the  Dutch  Re- 
public holds  a  copy  of  Hooft  in  his  hand. 

Apart  from  his  great  merits  and  influence  as  a  writer 
and  as  a  historian.  Motley's  example  has  been  powerful  in 
other  directions  and  provocative  to  research  everywhere. 
His  methods  were  directly  the  reverse  of  not  a  few  of  the 
older  historians  ;  for  example,  of  Alison,  who  began  writ- 
ing the  History  of  Europe,  without  making  any  special 
preparation.  On  the  contrary.  Motley  made  long  and 
laborious  researches  and  manifold  preparations  before 
writing  a  line  of  his  Rise  of  The  Dutch  BepuhUc.  In  mod- 
ern historiography  he  led  the  van  of  the  great  company, 
in  which  are  the  names  of  Freeman,  Froude,  and  Gardner, 
in  England,  and  Van  Prinsterer,  Fruin,  and  Blok,  in  the 


xxvi  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 

Netherlands.  Without  question,  Motley  gave  a  tremen- 
dous impetus  to  historical  research  in  the  Netherlands, 
and  no  writers  are  more  generous  in  their  acknowledg- 
ment of  stimulus  and  benefit  received  from  the  American 
than  Dutch  and  Belgian  authors. 

Of  the  limitations  which  belong  to  all  human  personal- 
ity and  labor,  this  is  not  the  place  to  speak.  Mr.  Motley 
was  essentially  a  painter  and  a  dramatist.  From  early 
childhood  he  loved  color,  costume,  and  the  brilliant  and 
moving  representation  of  character  and  action.  In  the 
Netherlands,  the  home  of  art  in  Northern  Europe,  he 
studied,  and  was  stimulated  for  his  own  work  before  the 
triumphs  of  the  pencil  and  brush  almost  as  much  as  by 
his  delving  among  manuscripts  of  the  archives.  It  would 
be  strange,  indeed,,  if  Motley  had  been  unique  among  men 
in  rising  above  all  subjective  influences  and  eliminating 
all  danger  of  personal  opinions  ;  yet,  after  all  deductions 
and  criticisms,  his  work  on  The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Eepub- 
lie  bids  fair  to  remain  a  classic. 


part  f 

PHILIP  THE  SECOND  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS 
1556-1559 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  ABDICATION  OF  THE  EMPEROB 

On  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  October,  1555,  the  estates 
of  the  Netherlands  were  assembled  in  the  great  hall  of 
the  palace  at  Brussels.  They  had  been  summoned  to  be 
the  witnesses  and  the  guarantees  of  the  abdication  which 
Charles  the  Fifth  had  long  before  resolved  upon,  and  which 
he  was  that  day  to  execute.  The  Emperor,  like  many  po- 
tentates before  and  since,  was  fond  of  great  political  spec- 
tacles. He  knew  their  influence  upon  the  masses  of  man- 
kind. Although  plain,  even  to  shabbiness,  in  his  own 
costume,  and  usually  attired  in  black,  no  one  ever  under- 
stood better  than  he  how  to  arrange  such  exhibitions  in 
a  striking  and  artistic  style.  The  closing  scene  of  his 
long  and  energetic  reign  he  had  now  arranged  with  pro- 
found study,  and  with  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  requisite  effects  were  to  be  produced. 
The  termination  of  his  own  career,  the  opening  of  his  be- 
loved Philip's,  were  to  be  dramatized  in  a  manner  worthy 
the  august  character  of  the  actors,  and  the  importance  of 
the  great  stage  where  they  played  their  parts.  The  eyes 
of  the  whole  world  were  directed  upon  that  day  towards 
Brussels;  for  an  imperial  abdication  was  an  event  which 
had  not,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  been  staled  by  custom. 

The  gay  capital  of  Brabant— of  that  province  which  re- 
joiced in  the  liberal  constitution  known  by  the  cheerful 
title  of  the  ''  joyful  entrance,"  was  worthy  to  be  the  scene 
of  the  imposing  show.  Brussels  had  been  a  city  for  more 
than  five  centuries,  and,  at  that  day,  numbered  about 
one  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  Its  walls,  six  miles  in 
circumference,  were  already  two  hundred  years  old.    Un- 


4  HISTOilY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1665 

like  most  Netherland  cities,  lying  usually  upon  extensive 
plains,  it  was  built  along  the  sides  of  an  abrupt  promon- 
tory. A  wide  expanse  of  living  verdure,  cultivated  gar- 
dens, shady  groves,  fertile  corn-fields,  flowed  round  it  like 
a  sea.  The  foot  of  the  town  was  washed  by  the  little 
river  Senne,  while  the  irregular  but  picturesque  streets 
rose  up  the  steep  sides  of  the  hill  like  the  semicircles 
and  stairways  of  an  amphitheatre.  Nearly  in  the  heart  of 
the  place  rose  the  audacious  and  exquisitely  embroidered 
tower  of  the  town-house,  three  hundred  and  sixty-six  feet 
in  height,  a  miracle  of  needle -work  in  stone,  rivalling 
in  its  intricate  carving  the  cobweb  tracery  of  that  lace 
which  has  for  centuries  been  synonymous  with  the  city, 
and  rearing  itself  above  a  fagade  of  profusely  decorated 
and  brocaded  architecture.  The  crest  of  the  elevation 
was  crowned  by  the  towers  of  the  old  ducal  palace  of 
Brabant,  with  its  extensive  and  thickly  wooded  park  on 
the  left,  and  by  the  stately  mansions  of  Orange,  Eg- 
mont,  Aremberg,  Oulemburg,  and  other  Flemish  grandees, 
on  the  right.  The  great  forest  of  Soignies,  dotted  with 
monasteries  and  convents,  swarming  with  every  variety  of 
game,  whither  the  citizens  made  their  summer  pilgrim- 
ages, and  where  the  nobles  chased  the  wild-boar  and  the 
stag,  extended  to  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  city 
walls.  The  population,  as  thrifty,  as  intelligent,  as  pros- 
perous as  that  of  any  city  in  Europe,  was  divided  into 
fifty-two  guilds  of  artisans,  among  which  the  most  impor- 
tant were  the  armorers,  whose  suits  of  mail  would  turn  a 
musket-ball ;  the  gardeners,  upon  whose  gentler  creations 
incredible  sums  were  annually  lavished  ;  and  the  tap- 
estry-workers, whose  gorgeous  fabrics  were  the  wonder 
of  the  world.  Seven  principal  churches,  of  which  the 
most  striking  was  that  of  St.  Grudule,  with  its  twin  tow- 
ers, its  charming  fa9ade,  and  its  magnificently  painted 
windows,  adorned  the  upper  part  of  the  city.  The  num- 
L-^'^er  seven  was  a  magic  number  in  Brussels,  and  was  sup- 
posed at  that  epoch,  during  which  astronomy  was  in  its 
infancy  and  astrology  in  its  prime,  to  denote  the  seven 
planets  which  governed  all  things  terrestrial  by  their 
aspects  and  influences.     Seven  noble  families,  springing 


1555]   '  THE  PALACE  5 

from  seven  ancient  castles,  supplied  the  stock  from  which 
the  seven  senators  were  selected  who  composed  the  upper 
council  of  the  city.  There  were  seven  great  squares, 
seven  city  gates,  and  upon  the  occasion  of  the  present 
ceremony,  it  was  observed  by  the  lovers  of  wonderful  co- 
incidences, that -seven  crowned  heads  would  be  congre- 
gated under  a  single  roof  in  the  liberty-loving  city. 

The  palace  where  the  states  -  general  were  upon  this 
occasion  convened  had  been  the  residence  of  the  Dukes 
of  Brabant  since  the  days  of  John  the  Second,  who  had 
built  it  about  the  year  1300.  It  was  a  spacious  and  con- 
venient building,  but  not  distinguished  for  the  beauty  of 
its  architecture.  In  front  was  a  large  open  square,  en- 
closed by  an  iron  railing ;  in  the  rear  an  extensive  and 
beautiful  park,  filled  with  forest  trees,  and  containing 
gardens  and  labyrinths,  fish-ponds  and  game  preserves, 
fountains  and  promenades,  race  -  courses  and  archery 
grounds.  The  main  entrance  to  this  edifice  opened  upon 
a  spacious  hall,  connected  with  a  beautiful  and  symmetri- 
cal chapel.  The  hall  was  celebrated  for  its  size,  harmoni- 
ous proportions,  and  the  richness  of  its  decorations.  It 
was  the  place  where  the  chapters  of  the  famous  order  of 
the  Golden  Fleece  were  held.  Its  walls  were  hung  with  a 
magnificent  tapestry  of  Arras,  representing  the  life  and 
achievements  of  Gideon  the  Midianite,  and  giving  partic- 
ular prominence  to  the  miracle  of  the  "  fleece  of  wool," 
vouchsafed  to  that  renowned  champion,  the  great  patron 
of  the  Knights  of  the  Fleece.  On  the  present  occasion 
there  were  various  additional  embellishments  of  flowers 
and  votive  garlands.  At  the  western  end  a  spacious  plat- 
form or  stage,  with  six  or  seven  steps,  had  been  construct- 
ed, below  which  was  a  range  of  benches  for  the  deputies 
of  the  seventeen  provinces.  Upon  the  stage  itself  there 
were  rows  of  seats,  covered  with  tapestry,  upon  the  right 
hand  and  upon  the  left.  These  were  respectively  to  ac- 
commodate the  knights  of  the  order  and  the  guests  of 
high  distinction.  In  the  rear  of  these  were  other  benches, 
for  the  members  of  the  three  great  councils.  In  the  cen- 
tre of  the  stage  was  a  splendid  canopy,  decorated  with  the 
arms  of  Burgundy,  beneath  which  were  placed  three  gild- 


6  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1555 

ed  arm-chairs.  All  the  seats  upon  the  platform  were  va- 
cant, but  the  benches  below,  assigned  to  the  deputies  of 
the  provinces,  were  already  filled.  Numerous  representa- 
tives from  all  the  states  but  two — Gelderland  and  Over- 
yssel — had  already  taken  their  places.  Grave  magistrates, 
in  chain  and  gown,  and  executive  officers  in  the  splendid 
civic  uniforms  for  which  the  Netherlands  were  celebrated, 
already  filled  every  seat  within  the  space  allotted.  The 
remainder  of  the  hall  was  crowded  with  the  more  favored 
portion  of  the  multitude  which  had  been  fortunate  enough 
to  procure  admission  to  the  exhibition.  The  archers  and 
hallebardiers  of  the  body-guard  kept  watch  at  all  the 
doors.  The  theatre  was  filled  —  the  audience  was  eager 
with  expectation — the  actors  were  yet  to  arrive.  As  the 
clock  struck  three,  the  hero  of  the  scene  appeared.  Cae- 
sar, as  he  was  always  designated  in  the  classic  language 
of  the  day,  entered,  leaning  on  the  shoulder  of  William  of 
Orange.  They  came  from  the  chapel,  and  were  imme- 
diately followed  by  Philip  the  Second  and  Queen  Mary  of 
Hungary.  The  Archduke  Maximilian,  the  Duke  of  Savoy, 
and  other  great  personages  came  afterwards,  accompanied 
by  a  glittering  throng  of  warriors,  councillors,  governors, 
and  Knights  of  the  Fleece. 

Many  individuals  of  existing  or  future  historic  celebrity 
in  the  Netherlands,  whose  names  are  so  familiar  to  the 
student  of  the  epoch,  seemed  to  have  been  grouped,  as 
if  by  premeditated  design,  upon  this  imposing  platform, 
where  the  curtain  was  to  fall  forever  upon  the  mightiest 
emperor  since  Charlemagne,  and  where  the  opening  scene 
of  the  long  and  tremendous  tragedy  of  Philip's  reign  was 
to  be  simultaneously  enacted.  There  was  the  Bishop  of 
Arras,  soon  to  be  known  throughout  Christendom  by  the 
more  celebrated  title  of  Cardinal  Granvelle,  the  serene 
and  smiling  priest  whose  subtle  influence  over  the  desti- 
nies of  so  many  individuals  then  present,  and  over  the  fort- 
unes of  the  whole  land,  was  to  be  so  extensive  and  so 
deadly.  There  was  that  flower  of  Flemish  chivalry,  the 
lineal  descendant  of  ancient  Frisian  kings,  already  distin- 
guished for  his  bravery  in  many  fields,  but  not  having  yet 
won  those  two  remarkable  victories  which  were  soon  to 


1655]  CONSPICUOUS  PERSONAGES  7 

make  the  name  of  Egmont  like  the  sound  of  a  trumpet 
throughout  the  whole  country.  Tall,  magnificent  in  cos- 
tume, with  dark  flowing  hair,  soft  brown  eye,  smooth 
cheek,  a  slight  mustache,  and  features  of  almost  femi- 
nine delicacy ;  such  was  the  gallant  and  ill-fated  Lamoral 
Egmont.  The  Count  of  Horn,  too,  with  bold,  sullen  face 
and  fan -shaped  beard  —  a  brave,  honest,  discontented, 
quarrelsome,  unpopular  man  ;  those  other  twins  in  doom 
— the  Marquis  Berghen  and  the  Lord  of  Montigny ;  the 
Baron  Berlaymont,  brave,  intensely  loyal,  insatiably 
greedy  for  office  and  wages,  but  who,  at  least,  never  served 
but  one  party ;  the  Duke  of  Aerschot,  who  was  to  serve  all, 
essay  to  rule  all,  and  to  betray  all  —  a  splendid  seignor, 
magnificent  in  cramoisy  velvet,  but  a  poor  creature,  who 
traced  his  pedigree  from  Adam,  according  to  the  family 
monumental  inscriptions  at  Louvain,  but  who  was  better 
known  as  grand-nephew  of  the  Emperor's  famous  tutor, 
Chievres  ;  the  bold,  debauched  Brederode,  with  handsome, 
reckless  face  and  turbulent  demeanor ;  the  infamous 
Noircarmes,  whose  name  was  to  be  covered  with  eternal 
execration,  for  aping  towards  his  own  compatriots  and 
kindred  as  much  of  Alva's  atrocities  and  avarice  as  he 
was  permitted  to  exercise ;  the  distinguished  soldiers 
Meghen  and  Aremberg  —  these,  with  many  others  whose 
deeds  of  arms  were  to  become  celebrated  throughout 
Europe,  were  all  conspicuous  in  the  brilliant  crowd. 
There,  too,  was  that  learned  Frisian,  President  Viglius, 
crafty,  plausible,  adroit,  eloquent  —  a  small,  brisk  man, 
with  long  yellow  hair,  glittering  green  eyes,  round,  tumid, 
rosy  cheeks,  and  flowing  beard.  Foremost  among  the 
Spanish  grandees,  and  close  to  Philip,  stood  the  famous 
favorite,  Euy  Gomez,  or,  as  he  was  familiarly  called,  ''Re 
i  Gomez"  (King  and  Gomez),  a  man  of  meridional  as- 
pect, with  coal-black  hair  and  beard,  gleaming  eyes,  a  face 
pallid  with  intense  application,  and  slender  but  hand- 
some figure,  while  in  immediate  attendance  upon  the  Em- 
peror was  the  immortal  Prince  of  Orange. 
\  Such  were  a  few  only  of  the  most  prominent  in  that  gay 
throng,  whose  fortunes,  in  part,  it  will  be  our  humble 
duty  to  narrate ;  how  many  of  them  passing  through  all 


8  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1555 

this  glitter  to  a  dark  and  mysterious  doom  ! — some  to  per- 
^,„^sh  on  public  scaffolds,  some  by  midnight  assassination ; 
others,  more  fortunate,  to  fall  on  the  battle-field — nearly 
all,  sooner  or  later,  to  be  laid  in  bloody  graves  ! 

All  the  company  present  had  risen  to  their  feet  as  the 
Emperor  entered.  By  his  command,  all  immediately  af- 
terwards resumed  their  places.  The  benches  at  either 
end  of  the  platform  were  accordingly  filled  with  the  royal 
and  princely  personages  invited,  with  the  Fleece  Knights, 
wearing  the  insignia  of  their  order,  with  the  members  of 
the  three  great  councils,  and  with  the  governors.  The 
Emperor,  thaJSing,  and  the  Queen^of  Hungary,  were  left 
conspicuous  in  the  centre  of  the  scene!  As^e  whole  ob- 
ject of  the  ceremony  was  to  present  an  impressive  exhibi- 
tion, it  is  worth  our  while  to  examine  minutely  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  two  principal  characters. 

Charles  the  Fifth  was  th^n  fifty -five  years  and  eight 
months  old;  but  he  was  already  decrepit  with  premature 
old  age.  He  was  of  about  the  middle  height,  and  had 
been  athletic  and  well  proportioned.  Broad  in  the  shoul- 
ders, deep  in  the  chest,  thin  in  the  flank,  very  muscular 
in  the  arms  and  legs,  he  had  been  able  to  match  himself 
with  all  competitors  in  the  tourney  and  the  ring,  and  to 
vanquish  the  bull  with  his  own  hand  in  the  favorite 
national  amusement  of  Spain.  He  had  been  able  in  the 
field  to  do  the  duty  of  captain  and  soldier,  to  endure  fa- 
tigue and  exposure,  and  every  privation  except  fasting. 
These  personal  advantages  were  now  departed.  Crippled 
in  hands,  knees,  and  legs,  he  supported  himself  with  diffi- 
culty upon  a  crutch,  with  the  aid  of  an  attendants  shoul- 
der. In  face  he  had  always  been  extremely  ugly,  and 
time  had  certainly  not  improved  his  physiognomy.  His 
hair,  once  of  a  light  color,  was  now  white  with  age,  close- 
clipped  and  bristling ;  his  beard  was  gray,  coarse,  and 
shaggy.  His  forehead  was  spacious  and  commanding  ; 
the  eye  was  dark-blue,  with  an  expression  both  majestic 
and  benignant.  His  nose  was  aquiline,  but  crooked. 
The  lower  part  of  his  face  was  famous  for  its  deformity. 
The  under  lip,  a  Burgundian  inheritance,  as  faithfully 
transmitted  as  the   duchy  and  county,  was  heavy  and 


1565]  CHARLES  AND    PHILIP  9 

hanging ;  the  lower  jaw  protruding  so  far  beyond  the  up- 
per that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  bring  together  the 
few  fragments  of  teeth  which  still  remained,  or  to  speak  a 
whole  sentence  in  an  intelligible  voice.  Eating  and  talk- 
ing, occupations  to  which  he  was  always  much  addict- 
ed, were  becoming  daily  more  arduous,  in  consequence 
of  this  original  defect,  which  now  seemed  hardly  human, 
but  rather  an  original  deformity. 

So  much  for  the  father.  The  son,  Philip  the  Second, 
was  a  small,  meagre  man,  much  below  the  middle  height, 
with  thin  legs,  a  narrow  chest,  and  the  shrinking,  timid 
air  of  an  habitual  invalid.  He  seemed  so  little,  upon  his 
first  visit  to  his  aunts,  the  Queens  Eleanor  and  Mary, 
accustomed  to  look  upon  proper  men  in  Flanders  and 
Germany,  that  he  was  fain  to  win  their  favor  by  making 
certain  attempts  in  the  tournament,  in  which  his  success 
was  sufficiently  problematical.  *'  His  body,"'  says  his  pro- 
fessed panegyrist,  ''was  but  a  human  cage,  in  which, 
however  brief  and  narrow,  dwelt  a  soul  to  whose  flight 
the  immeasurable  expanse  of  heaven  was  too  contracted.'' 
The  same  wholesale  admirer  adds  that  ''his  aspect  was 
so  reverend  that  rustics  who  met  him  alone  in  a  wood, 
without  knowing  him,  bowed  down  with  instinctive  ven- 
eration." In  face,  he  was  the  living  image  of  his  father, 
having  the  same  broad  forehead  and  blue  eye,  with  the 
same  aquiline,  but  better  proportioned,  nose.  In  the 
lower  part  of  the  countenance,  the  remarkable  Burgun- 
dian  deformity  was  likewise  reproduced.  He  had  the 
same  heavy,  hanging  lip,  with  a  vast  mouth,  and  mon- 
strously protruding  lower  jaw.  His  complexion  was  fair, 
his  hair  light  and  thin,  his  beard  yellow,  short,  and 
pointed.  He  had  the  aspect  of  a  Fleming,  but  the  lofti- 
ness of  a  Spaniard.  His  demeanor  in  public  was  still,' 
silent,  almost  sepulchral.  He  looked  habitually  on  the 
ground  when  he  conversed,  was  chary  of  speech,  embar- 
rassed, and  even  suffering  in  manner.  This  was  ascribed 
partly  to  a  natural  haughtiness  which  he  had  occasional- 
ly endeavored  to  overcome,  and  partly  to  habitual  pains 
in  the  stomach,  occasioned  by  his  inordinate  fondness  for 
pastry. 


U- 


10  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1555 

Such  was  the  personal  appearance  of  the  man  who  was 
about  to  receive  into  his  single  hand  the  destinies  of  half 
the  world ;  whose  single  will  was,  for  the  future,  to  shape 
^/  the  fortunes  of  every  individual  then  present,  of  many 
millions  more  in  Europe,  America,  and  at  the  ends  of  the 
earth,  and  of  countless  millions  yet  unborn. 

The  three  royal  personages  being  seated  upon  chairs 
placed  triangularly  under  the  canopy,  such  of  the  audience 
as  had  seats  provided  for  them,  now  took  their  places,  and 
the  proceedings  commenced.  Philibert  de  Bruxelles,  a 
member  of  the  privy  council  of  the  Netherlands,  arose  at 
the  Emperor's  command,  and  made  a  long  oration,  which 
has  been  fully  reported  by  several  historians  who  were 
present  at  the  ceremony.  He  then  proceeded  to  read  the 
deed  of  cession,  by  which  Philip,  already  sovereign  of  Sic- 
ily, Naples,  Milan,  and  titular  King  of  England,  France, 
and  Jerusalem,  now  received  all  the  duchies,  marquis- 
ates,  earldoms,  baronies,  cities,  towns,  and  castles  of  the 
Burgundian  property,  including,  of  course,  the  seventeen 
Netherlands. 

As  De  Bruxelles  finished,  there  was  a  buzz  of  admira- 
tion throughout  the  assembly,  mingled  with  murmurs  of 
regret  that,  in  the  present  great  danger  upon  the  frontiers 
from  the  belligerent  King  of  France  and  his  warlike  and 
^  restless  nation,  the  provinces  should  be  left  without  their 
ancient  and  puissant  defender.  The  Emperor  then  rose 
to  his  feet.  Leaning  on  his  crutch,  he  beckoned  from 
his  seat  the  personage  upon  whose  arm  he  had  leaned  as 
he  entered  the  hall.  A  tall,  handsome  youth  of  twenty- 
two  came  forward — a  man  whose  name  from  that  time 
forward,  and  as  long  as  history  shall  endure,  has  been, 
3,nd  will  be,  more  familiar  than  any  other  in  the  mouths 
of  Netherlanders.  At  that  day  he  had  rather  a  southern 
than  a  German  or  Flemish  appearance.  He  had  a  Spanish 
cast  of  features,  dark,  well  chiselled,  and  symmetrical. 
His  head  was  small  and  well  placed  upon  his  shoulders. 
His  hair  was  dark-brown,  as  were  also  his  mustache  and 
peaked  beard.  His  forehead  was  lofty,  spacious,  and 
already  prematurely  engraved  with  the  anxious  lines  of 
thought.      His  eyes  were  full,  brown,  well  opened,  and 


1665]  A  PATHETIC  SCENE  11 

expressive  of  profound  reflection.  He  was  dressed  in  the 
magnificent  apparel  for  which  the  Netherlanders  were 
celebrated  above  all  other  nations,  and  which  the  cere- 
mony rendered  necessary.  His  presence  being  considered 
indispensable  at  this  great  ceremony,  he  had  been  sum- 
moned but  recently  from  the  camp  on  the  frontier,  where, 
notwithstanding  his  youth,  the  Emperor  had  appointed 
him  to  command  his  army  in  chief  against  such  antago- 
nists as  Admiral  Coligny  and  the  Due  de  Nevers. 

Thus  supported  upon  his  crutch  and  upon  the  shoulder 
of  William  of  Orange,  the  Emperor  proceeded  to  address 
the  states,  by  the  aid  of  a  closely  written  brief  which  he 
held  in  his  hand,  reviewing  rapidly  the  progress  of  events 
from  his  seventeenth  year  up  to  that  day.  In  conclusion, 
he  entreated  the  estates,  and  through  them  the  nation,  to 
render  obedience  to  their  new  Prince,  to  maintain  concord, 
and  to  preserve  inviolate  the  Catholic  faith  ;  begging  them, 
at  the  same  time,  to  pardon  him  all  errors  or  offences 
which  he  might  have  committed  towards  them  during  his 
reign,  and  assuring  them  that  he  should  unceasingly  re- 
member their  obedience  and  affection  in  his  every  prayer 
to  that  Being  to  whom  the  remainder  of  his  life  was  to  be 
dedicated. 

Such  brave  words  as  these,  so  many  vigorous  assever- 
ations of  attempted  performance  of  duty,*such  fervent 
hopes  expressed  of  a  benign  administration  in  behalf  of 
the  son,  could  not  but  affect  the  sensibilities  of  the  audi- 
ence, already  excited  and  softened  by  the  impressive  char- 
acter of  the  whole  display.  Sobs  were  heard  through- 
out every  portion  of  the  hall,  and  tears  poured  profusely 
from  every  eye.  The  Fleece  Knights  on  the  platform  and 
the  burghers  in  the  background  were  all  melted  with  the 
same  emotion.  As  for  the  Emperor  himself,  he  sank  al- 
most fainting  upon  his  chair  as  he  concluded  his  ad- 
dress. An  ashy  paleness  overspread  his  countenance,  and 
he  wept  like  a  child.  Even  the  icy  Philip  was  almost 
softened,  as  he  rose  to  perform  his  part  in  the  ceremony. 
Dropping  upon  his  knees  before  his  father's  feet,  he  rev- 
erently kissed  his  hand.  Charles  placed  his  hand  solemn- 
ly upon  his  son's  head,  made  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and 


12  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1555 

blessed  him  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Trinity.  Then  raising 
him  in  his  arms,  he  tenderly  embraced  him,  saying,  as  he 
did  so,  to  the  great  potentates  around  him,  that  he  felt 
a  sincere  compassion  for  the  son  on  whose  shoulders  so 
heavy  a  weight  had  just  devolved,  and  which  only  a  life- 
long labor  would  enable  him  to  support.  Philip  now 
uttered  a  few  words  expressive  of  his  duty  to  his  father 
and  his  affection  for  his  people.  Turning  to  the  orders, 
he  signified  his  regret  that  he  was  unable  to  address  them 
either  in  the  French  or  Flemish  language,  and  was  there- 
fore obliged  to  ask  their  attention  to  the  Bishop  of  Arras, 
who  would  act  as  his  interpreter.  Antony  Perrenot  ac- 
cordingly arose,  and,  in  smooth,  fluent,  and  well-turned 
commonplaces,  expressed  at  great  length  the  gratitude  of 
Philip  towards  his  father,  with  his  firm  determination  to 
walk  in  the  path  of  duty,  and  to  obey  his  father^s  counsels 
and  example  in  the  future  administration  of  the  provinces. 
This  long  address  of  the  prelate  was  responded  to  at  equal 
length  by  Jacob  Maas,  member  of  the  Council  of  Brabant, 
a  man  of  great  learning,  eloquence,  and  prolixity,  who  had 
been  selected  to  reply  on  behalf  of  the  states-general,  and 
who  now,  in  the  name  of  these  bodies,  accepted  the  abdi- 
cation in  an  elegant  and  complimentary  harangue.  Queen 
Mary  of  Hungary,  the  "  Christian  widow  "  of  Erasmus, 
and  Re^fiirt  of  the  Netherlands  during  the  past  twenty- 
five  years,  then  rose  to  resign  her  office,  making  a  brief 
address  expressive  of  her  affection  for  the  people,  her  re- 
grets at  leaving  them,  and  her  hopes  that  all  errors  which 
she  might  have  committed  during  her  long  administration 
would  be  forgiven  her.  Again  the  redundant  Maas  re- 
sponded, asserting  in  terms  of  fresh  compliment  and  ele- 
gance the  uniform  satisfaction  of  the  provinces  with  her 
conduct  during  her  whole  career. 

The  orations  and  replies  having  now  been  brought  to  a 
close,  the  ceremony  was  terminated.  The  Emperor,  lean- 
ing on  the  shoulders  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  of  the 
Count  de  Buren,  slowly  left  the  hall,  followed  by  Philip, 
the  Queen  of  Hungary,  and  the  whole  court ;  all  in  the 
same  order  in  which  they  had  entered,  and  by  the  same 
passage  into  the  chapel. 


1556]  CAUSES   OF   THE   ABDICATION  13 

It  is  obvious  that  the  drama  had  been  completely  suc- 
cessful. 

The  transfer  of  the  other  crowns  and  dignitaries  to 
Philip  was  accomplished  a  month  afterwards  in  a  quiet 
manner.  Spain,  Sicily,  the  Balearic  Islands,  America, 
and  other  portions  of  the  globe,  were  made  over  without 
more  display  than  an  ordinary  donatio  inter  vivos.  The 
empire  occasioned  some  difficulty.  Delay  ensued  on 
account  of  war  and  the  deaths  of  electors.  Though 
chosen  Emperor  in  February,  1553,  Ferdinand  was  first 
recognized  as  such  by  Pope  Pius  IV. 

It  had  been  already  signified  to  Ferdinand  that  his 
brother  was  to  resign  the  imperial  crown  in  his  favor, 
and  the  symbols  of  sovereignty  were  accordingly  trans- 
mitted to  him  by  the  hands  of  William  of  Orange.  Charles 
occupied  a  private  house  in  Brussels,  near  the  gate  of 
Louvain,  until  August  of  the  year  1556,  and  on  the  17th 
of  September  he  set  sail  from  Zeeland  for  Spain. 

Had  the  Emperor  continued  to  reign,  he  would  have 
found  himself  engaged  in  mortal  combat  with  the  great 
religious  movement  in  the  Netherlands,  which  he  would 
not  have  been  able  many  years  longer  to  suppress,  and 
which  he  left  as  a  legacy  of  blood  and  fire  to  his  succes- 
sor. Born  in  the  same  year  with  his  century,  Charles 
was  a  decrepit,  exhausted  man  at  fifty -five,  while  that 
glorious  age  in  which  humanity  was  to  burst  forever  the 
cerements  in  which  it  had  so  long  been  buried  was  but 
awakening  to  a  consciousness  of  its  strength. 

Disappointed  in  his  schemes,  broken  in  his  fortunes, 
with  income  anticipated,  estates  mortgaged,  all  his  affairs 
in  confusion,  failing  in  mental  powers,  and  with  a  con- 
stitution hopelessly  shattered,  it  was  time  for  him  to  re- 
tire. He  showed  his  keenness  in  recognizing  the  fact 
that  neither  his  power  nor  his  glory  would  be  increased 
should  he  lag  superfluous  on  the  stage,  where  mortifica- 
tion instead  of  applause  was  likely  to  be  his  portion.  His 
frame  was  indeed  but  a  wreck.  Forty  years  of  unex- 
ampled gluttony  had  done  their  work.  He  was  a  victim 
to  gout,  asthma,  dyspepsia,  gravel.  He  was  crippled  in 
the  neck,  arms,  knees,  and  hands.     He  was  troubled  with 


^^4  HISTOKY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1555 

chronic  cutaneous  eruptions.  His  appetite  remained,  while 
his  stomach,  unable  longer  to  perform  the  task  still  imposed 
upon  it,  occasioned  him  constant  suffering.  Physiologists, 
who  know  how  important  a  part  this  organ  plays  in  the 
affairs  of  life,  will  perhaps  see  in  this  physical  condition 
of  the  Emperor  a  sufficient  explanation,  if  explanation  were 
required,  of  his  descent  from  the  throne. 

The  romantic  picture  of  his  philosophical  retirement  at 
Juste,  painted  originally  by  Sandoval  and  Siguenza,  repro- 
duced by  the  fascinating  pencil  of  Strada,  and  imitated  in 
frequent  succession  by  authors  of  every  age  and  country, 
is  unfortunately  but  a  sketch  of  fancy.  The  investigations 
of  modern  writers  have  entirely  thrown  down  the  scaffold- 
ing on  which  the  airy  fabric,  so  delightful  to  poets  and 
moralists,  reposed.  The  departing  Emperor  stands  no 
longer  in  a  transparency  robed  in  shining  garments.  His 
transfiguration  is  at  an  end.  Every  action,  almost  every 
moment,  of  his  retirement,  accurately  chronicled  by  those 
who  shared  his  solitude,  have  been  placed  before  our  eyes, 
in  the  most  felicitous  manner,  by  able  and  brilliant  writers. 
The  Emperor,  shorn  of  the  philosophical  robe  in  which  he 
had  been  conventionally  arrayed  for  three  centuries,  shiv- 
ers now  in  the  cold  air  of  reality. 

So  far  from  his  having  immersed  himself  in  profound 
and  pious  contemplation,  below  the  current  of  the  world's 
events,  his  thoughts,  on  the  contrary,  were  never  for  a 
moment  diverted  from  the  political  surface  of  the  times. 
Bitter  regrets  that  he  should  have  kept  his  word  to  Luther, 
as  if  he  had  not  broken  faith  enough  to  reflect  upon  in 
his  retirement ;  stern  self-reproach  for  omitting  to  put  to 
death,  while  he  had  him  in  his  power,  the  man  who  had 
caused  all  the  mischief  of  the  age ;  fierce  instructions 
thundered  from  his  retreat  to  the  inquisitors  to  hasten 
the  execution  of  all  heretics — including  particularly  his 
ancient  friends,  preachers,  and  almoners,  Cazalla  and  Con- 
stantine  de  Fuente ;  furious  exhortations  to  Philip — as  if 
Philip  needed  a  prompter  in  such  a  work — that  he  should 
set  himself  to  "  cutting  out  the  root  of  heresy  with  rigor 
and  rude  chastisement";  such  explosions  of  savage  big- 
otry as  these,  alternating  with  exhibitions  of  revolting 


1555]  A  REVOLTING   SPECTACLE  15 

gluttony,  with  surfeits  of  sardine  omelettes,  Estramadnra 
sausages,  eel -pies,  pickled  partridges,  fat  capons,  quince 
syrups,  iced  beer,  and  flagons  of  Ehenish,  relieved  by 
copious  draughts  of  senna  and  rhubarb,  to  which  his 
horror-stricken  doctor  doomed  him  as  he  ate — compose  a 
spectacle  less  attractive  to  the  imagination  than  the  an- 
cient portrait  of  the  cloistered  Charles.  Unfortunately  it 
is  the  one  which  was  painted  from  life. 


CHAPTER  II 

EGMOJTT   AT   ST.   QUENTIInT   AI^D   GRAVELIN-ES 

Philip  the  Secon'd  had  received  the  investiture  of  Milan 
and  the  crown  of  Naples  previously  to  his  marriage  with 
Mary  Tudor.  The  imperial  crown  he  had  been  obliged, 
much  against  his  will,  to  forego.  The  archduchy  of 
Austria,  with  the  hereditary  German  dependencies  of  his 
father's  family,  had  been  transferred  by  the  Emperor  to 
his  brother  Ferdinand,  on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage 
of  that  Prince  with  Anna,  only  sister  of  King  Louis  of 
Hungary.  Ten  years  afterwards,  Ferdinand  (King  of 
Hungary  and  Bohemia  since  the  death  of  Louis,  slain  in 
1526  at  the  battle  of  Mohacz)  was  elected  King  of  the 
Komans,  and  steadily  refused  all  the  entreaties  afterwards 
made  to  him  in  behalf  of  Philip,  to  resign  his  crown 
and  his  succession  to  the  empire  in  favor  of  his  nephew. 
With  these  diminutions,  Philip  had  now  received  all  the 
dominions  of  his  father.  He  was  King  of  all  the  Spanish 
kingdoms  and  of  both  the  Sicilies.  He  was  titular  King 
of  England,  France,  and  Jerusalem.  He  was  "  Absolute 
Dominator"  in  Asia,  Africa,  and  America;  he  was  Duke 
of  Milan  and  of  both  Burgundies,  and  Hereditary  Sover- 
eign of  the  seventeen  Netherlands. 

Thus  the  provinces  had  received  a  new  master.  A  man 
of  foreign  birth  and  breeding,  not  speaking  a  word  of 
their  language,  nor  of  any  language  which  the  mass  of  the 
inhabitants  understood,  was  now  placed  in  supreme  au- 
thority over  them,  because  he  represented,  through  the 
females,  the  ^'good'^  Philip  of  Burgundy,  who  a  century 
before  had  possessed  himself  by  inheritance,  purchase, 
force,  or  fraud,  of  the  sovereignty  in  most  of  those  prov- 


1666]  PHILIP'S  YOUTH  17 

inces.  It  is  necessary  to  say  an  introductory  word  or  two 
concerning  the  previous  history  of  the  man  to  whose  hands 
the  destiny  of  so  many  millions  was  now  intrusted. 

He  was  born  in  May,  1527,  and  was  now  therefore  twenty- 
eight  years  of  age.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  had  been 
united  to  his  cousin,  Maria  of  Portugal,  daughter  of  John 
the  Third,  and  of  the  Emperor's  sister.  Donna  Catalina. 
In  the  following  year  (1544)  he  became  father  of  the  cele- 
brated and  ill-starred  Don  Carlos,  and  a  widower.  The 
Princess  owed  her  death,  it  was  said,  to  her  own  impru- 
dence and  to  the  negligence  or  bigotry  of  her  attendants. 
The  Duchess  of  Alva,  and  other  ladies  who  had  charge 
of  her  during  her  confinement,  deserted  her  chamber  in 
order  to  obtain  absolution  by  witnessing  an  auto-da-fe  of 
heretics.  During  their  absence,  the  Princess  partook  vora- 
ciously of  a  melon,  and  forfeited  her  life  in  consequence. 
In  1548  Don  Philip  had  made  his  first  appearance  in  the 
Netherlands.  He  came  thither  to  receive  homage  in  the 
various  provinces  as  their  future  sovereign,  and  to  ex- 
change oaths  of  mutual  fidelity  with  them  all.  Andrew 
Doria,  with  a  fleet  of  fifty  ships,  had  brought  him  to 
Genoa,  whence  he  had  passed  to  Milan,  where  he  was  re- 
ceived with  great  rejoicing.  At  Trent  he  was  met  by 
Duke  Maurice  of  Saxony,  who  warmly  begged  his  inter- 
cession with  the  Emperor  in  behalf  of  the  imprisoned 
Landgrave  of  Hesse.  This  boon  Philip  was  graciously 
pleased  to  promise,  and  to  keep  the  pledge  as  sacredly  as 
most  of  the  vows  plighted  by  him  during  this  memorable 
year.  The  Duke  of  Aerschot  met  him  in  Germany  with  a 
regiment  of  cavalry  and  escorted  him  to  Brussels.  A  sum- 
mer was  spent  in  great  festivities,  the  cities  of  the  Nether- 
lands vying  with  each  other  in  magnificent  celebrations 
of  the  ceremonies  by  which  Philip  successively  swore  al- 
legiance to  the  various  constitutions  and  charters  of  the 
provinces,  and  received  their  oaths  of  future  fealty  in  re- 
turn. His  oath  to  support  all  the  constitutions  and  privi- 
leges was  without  reservation,  while  his  father  and  grand-  ^ 
father  had  only  sworn  to  maintain  the  charters  granted  or 
confirmed  by  Philip  and  Charles  of  Burgundy.  Suspicion 
was  disarmed  by  these  indiscriminate  concessions,  which 


/ 


y 


18  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1655 

had  been  resolved  upon  by  the  unscrupulous  Charles  to 
conciliate  the  good -will  of  the  people.  In  view  of  the 
pretensions  which  might  be  preferred  by  the  Brederode 
family  in  Holland,  and  by  other  descendants  of  ancient 
sovereign  races  in  other  provinces,  the  Emperor,  wishing 
to  insure  the  succession  to  his  sisters  in  case  of  the  deaths 
of  himself,  Philip,  and  Don  Carlos  without  issue,  was  un- 
sparing in  those  promises  which  he  knew  to  be  binding 
only  upon  the  weak.  Although  the  house  of  Burgundy 
had  usurped  many  of  the  provinces  on  the  express  pretext 
that  females  could  not  inherit,  the  rule  had  been  already 
violated,  and  he  determined  to  spare  no  pains  to  concili- 
ate the  estates,  in  order  that  they  might  be  content  with  a 
new  violation,  should  the  contingency  occur.  Philip's 
oaths  were  therefore  without  reserve,  and  the  light-heart- 
ed Flemings,  Brabantines,  and  Walloons  received  him  with 
open  arms.  In  Valenciennes  the  festivities  which  attend- 
ed his  entrance  were  on  a  most  gorgeous  scale,  but  the 
"  joyous  entrance  ''  arranged  for  him  at  -^j^twerp  was  of 
unparalleled  magnificence.  A  cavalcade  of  the  magistrates 
and  notable  burghers,  "^all  attired  in  cramoisy  velvet," 
attended  by  lackeys  in  splendid  liveries  and  followed  by 
four  thousand  citizen  soldiers  in  full  uniform,  went  forth 
from  the  gates  to  receive  him.  Twenty-eight  triumphal 
arches,  which  alone,  according  to  the  thrifty  chronicler, 
had  cost  26,800  Carolus  guldens,  were  erected  in  the  dif- 
ferent streets  and  squares,  and  every  possible  demonstra- 
tion of  affectionate  welcome  was  lavished  upon  the  Prince 
and  the  Emperor.  The  rich  and  prosperous  city,  uncon- 
scious of  the  doom  which  awaited  it  in  the  future,  seemed 
to  have  covered  itself  with  garlands  to  honor  the  approach 
of  its  master.  Yet  icy  was  the  deportment  with  which 
Philip  received  these  demonstrations  of  affection,  and 
haughty  the  glance  with  which  he  looked  down  upon  these 
exhibitions  of  civic  hilarity,  as  from  the  height  of  a  grim 
and  inaccessible  tower.  The  impression  made  upon  the 
Netherlanders  was  anything  but  favorable,  and  when  he 
had  fully  experienced  the  futility  of  the  projects  on  the 
empire  which  it  was  so  difficult  both  for  his  father  and 
himself  to  resign,  he  returned  to  the  more  congenial  soil 


1556]  PHILIP  m  ENGLAND  10 

of  Spain.  In  1554  he  had  again  issned  from  the  peninsula 
to  marry  the  Queen  of  England,  a  privilege  which  his  fa- 
ther had  graciously  resigned  to  him.  He  was  united  to 
Mary  Tudor  at  Winchester,  on  the  25  th  of  July  of  that  year,  ^ 
and  if  congeniality  of  tastes  could  have  made  a  marriage 
happy,  that  union  should  have  been  thrice  blessed.  To 
maintain  the  supremacy  of  the  Church  seemed  to  both  the 
main  object  of  existence,  to  execute  unbelievers  the  most 
sacred  duty  imposed  by  the  Deity  upon  anointed  princes, 
to  convert  their  kingdoms  into  a  hell  the  surest  means  of 
winning  heaven  for  themselves. 

When  her  chronic  maladies  had  assumed  the  memora- 
ble form  which  caused  Philip  and  Mary  to  unite  in  a  let- 
ter to  Cardinal  Pole,  announcing  not  the  expected  but  the 
actual  birth  of  a  prince,  but  judiciously  leaving  the  date 
in  blank,  the  momentary  satisfaction  and  delusion  of  the 
Queen  were  unbounded.  The  false  intelligence  was  trans- 
mitted everywhere.  Great  were  the  joy  and  the  festivi- 
ties in  the  Netherlands,  where  people  were  so  easily  made 
to  rejoice  and  keep  holiday  for  anything.  When  the  futil- 
ity of  the  royal  hopes  could  no  longer  be  concealed,  Philip 
left  the  country,  never  to  return  till  his  war  with  France 
made  him  require  troops,  subsidies,  and  a  declaration  of 
hostilities  from  England. 

Philip's  mental  capacity,  in  general,  was  not  very  highly 
esteemed.  His  talents  were,  in  truth,  very  much  below 
mediocrity.  His  mind  was  incredibly  small.  A  petty 
passion  for  contemptible  details  characterized  him  from 
his  youth,  and  as  long  as  he  lived  he  could  neither  learn 
to  generalize,  nor  understand  that  one  man,  however  dili- 
gent, could  not  be  minutely  acquainted  with  all  the  public 
and  private  affairs  of  fifty  millions  of  other  men.  He  was 
a  glutton  for  work.  He  was  born  to  write  despatches,  and 
to  scrawl  comments  upon  those  which  he  received.  He 
often  remained  at  the  council-board  four  or  five  hours  at 
a  time,  and  he  lived  in  his  cabinet.  He  gave  audiences  to 
ambassadors  and  deputies  very  willingly,  listening  atten- 
tively to  all  that  was  said  to  him,  and  answering  in  mono- 
syllables. He  spoke  no  tongue  but  Spanish,  and  was  suf- 
ficiently sparing  of  that,  but  he  was  indefatigable  with  his 


20  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1555 

pen.  He  hated  to  converse^  but  he  could  write  a  letter 
eighteen  pages  long  when  his  correspondent  was  in  the 
next  room  and  when  the  subject  was,  perhaps,  one  which 
a  man  of  talent  could  have  settled  with  six  words  of  his 
tongue.  The  world,  in  his  opinion,  was  to  move  upon 
protocols  and  apostils.  Events  had  no  right  to  be  born 
throughout  his  dominions  without  a  preparatory  course 
of  his  obstetrical  pedantry.     He  could  never  learn  that 

y  the  earth  would  not  rest  on  its  axis  while  he  wrote  a  pro- 
gramme of  the  way  it  was  to  turn.  He  was  slow  in  decid- 
ing, slower  in  communicating  his  decisions.  He  was  prolix 
with  his  pen,  not  from  affluence,  but  from  paucity  of 
ideas.  He  took  refuge  in  a  cloud  of  words,  sometimes  to 
conceal  his  meaning,  oftener  to  conceal  the  absence  of 
any  meaning,  thus  mystifying  not  only  others  but  himself. 
To  one  great  purpose,  formed  early,  he  adhered  inflexibly. 
This,  however,  was  rather  an  instinct  than  an  opinion ; 
born  with  him,  not  created  by  him.  The  idea  seemed  to 
express  itself  through  him,  and  to  master  him,  rather  than 
to  form  one  of  a  stock  of  sentiments  which  a  free  agent 
might  be  expected  to  possess.  Although  at  certain  times 
even  this  master  -  feeling  could  yield  to  the  pressure  of 
a  predominant  self-interest — thus  showing  that  even  in 
Philip  bigotry  was  not  absolute — yet  he  appeared  on  the 
whole  the  embodiment  of  Spanish  chivalry  and  Spanish 

^  religious  enthusiasm,  in  its  late  and  corrupted  form.  He 
was  entirely  a  Spaniard.  The  Burgundian  and  Austrian 
elements  of  his  blood  seemed  to  have  evaporated,  and  his 
veins  were  filled  alone  with  the  ancient  ardor,  which  in 
heroic  centuries  had  animated  the  Gothic  champions  of 
Spain.  The  fierce  enthusiasm  for  the  Cross,  which  in  the 
long  internal  warfare  against  the  Crescent  had  been  the 
romantic  and  distinguishing  feature  of  the  natiohal  char- 
acter, had  degenerated  into  bigotry.  That  which  had 
been  a  nation's  glory  now  made  the  monarch'fe  shame. 
The  Christian  heretic  was  to  be  regarded  with  a  more  in- 
tense hatred  than  even  Moor  or  Jew  had  excitqd  in  the 
most  Christian  ages,  and  Philip  was  to  be  thellatest  and 
most  perfect  incarnation  of  all  this  traditional  eJ^thusiasm, 
thia  perpetual  hate.     Thus  he  was  likely  to  be  single- 


1555]  SOME  CHARACTERISTICS  21 

hearted  in  his  life.  It  was  believed  that  his  ambition 
would  be  less  to  extend  his  dominions  than  to  vindicate 
his  title  of  the  Most  Catholic  King.  There  could  be  little 
doubt  entertained  that  he  would  be,  at  least,  dutiful  to 
his  father  in  this  respect,  and  that  the  edicts  would  be  en- 
forced to  the  letter. 

He  was  by  birth,  education,  and  character  a  Spaniard, 
and  that  so  exclusively  that  the  circumstance  would  alone 
have  made  him  unfit  to  govern  a  country  so  totally  differ- 
ent in  habits  and  national  sentiments  from  his  native  land. 
He  was  more  a  foreigner  in  Brussels,  even,  than  in  Eng- 
land. The  gay,  babbling,  energetic,  noisy  life  of  Flanders 
and  Brabant  was  detestable  to  him.  The  loquacity  of  the 
Netherlanders  was  a  continual  reproach  upon  his  taciturn- 
ity. His  education  had  imbued  him,  too,  with  the  anti- 
quated international  hatred  of  Spaniard  and  Fleming, 
which  had  been  strengthening  in  the  metropolis,  while  the 
more  rapid  current  of  life  had  rather  tended  to  obliterate 
the  sentiment  in  the  provinces. 

The  flippancy  and  profligacy  of  Philip  the  Handsome, 
the  extortion  and  insolence  of  his  Flemish  courtiers,  had 
not  been  forgotten  in  Spain,  nor  had  Philip  the  Second 
forgiven  his  grandfather  for  having  been  a  foreigner.  And 
now  his  mad  old  grandmother,  Joanna,  who  had  for  years 
been  chasing  cats  in  the  lonely  tower  where  she  had  been 
so  long  imprisoned,  had  just  died  ;  and  her  funeral,  cele- 
brated with  great  pomp  by  both  her  sons,  by  Charles  at 
Brussels  and  Ferdinand  at  Augsburg,  seemed  to  revive  a 
history  which  had  begun  to  fade,  and  to  recall  the  image 
of  Castilian  sovereignty  which  had  been  so  long  obscured 
in  the  blaze  of  imperial  grandeur. 

His  education  had  been  but  meagre.  In  an  age  when 
all  kings  and  noblemen  possessed  maiiy  languages,  he 
spoke  not  a  word  of  any  tongue  but  Spanish,  although  he 
had  a  slender  knowledge  of  French  and  Italian,  which  he 
afterwards  learned  to  read  with  comparative  facility.  He 
had  studied  a  little  history  and  geography,  and  he  had  a 
taste  for  sculpture,  painting,  and  architecture.  Certainly 
if  he  had  not  possessed  a  feeling  for  art,  he  would  have 
been  a  monster.     To  have  been  born  in  the  earlier  part  of 


22  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1655 

I 

the  sixteenth  century,  to  have  been  a  king,  to  have  had 
Spain,  Italy,  and  the  Netherlands  as  a  birthright,  and  not 
to  have  been  inspired  with  a  spark  of  that  fire  which  glow- 
ed so  intensely  in  those  favored  lands  and  in  that  golden 
age,  had  indeed  been  difficult. 

The  King's  personal  habits  were  regular.  His  delicate 
health  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  attend  to  his  diet, 
although  he  was  apt  to  exceed  in  sweetmeats  and  pastry. 
He  slept  much,  and  took  little  exercise  habitually,  but  he 
had  recently  been  urged  by  the  physicians  to  try  the  effect 
of  the  chase  as  a  corrective  to  his  sedentary  habits.  He 
was  most  strict  in  religious  observances,  as  regular  at 
mass,  sermons,  and  vespers  as  a  monk  ;  much  more,  it 
was  thought  by  many  good  Catholics,  than  was  becoming 
to  his  rank  and  age.  Besides  several  friars  who  preached 
regularly  for  his  instruction,  he  had  daily  discussions 
with  others  on  abstruse  theological  points.  He  consulted 
his  confessor  most  minutely  as  to  all  the  actions  of  life, 
inquiring  anxiously  whether  this  proceeding  or  that  were 
^  likely  to  burden  his  conscience.  He  was  grossly  licen- 
'  tious.  It  was  his  chief  amusement  to  issue  forth  at  night 
disguised,  that  he  might  indulge  in  vulgar  and  miscel- 
laneous incontinence  in  the  common  haunts  of  vice.  This 
y^was  his  solace  at  Brussels  in  the  midst  of  the  gravest 
affairs  of  state.  He  was  not  illiberal,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
it  was  thought  that  he  would  have  been  even  generous 
had  he  not  been  straitened  for  money  at  the  outset  of  his 
career.  During  a  cold  winter  he  distributed  alms  to  the 
poor  of  Brussels  with  an  open  hand.  He  was  fond  of 
jests  in  private,  and  would  laugh  immoderately,  when 
with  a  few  intimate  associates,  at  buffooneries  which  he 
checked  in  public  by  the  icy  gravity  of  his  deportment. 
He  dressed  usu'ally  in  the  Spanish  fashion,  with  close 
doublet,  trunk  hose,  and  short  cloak,  although  at  times 
he  indulged  in  the  more  airy  fashions  of  France  and 
Burgundy,  wearing  buttons  on  his  coats  and  feathers 
in  his  hat.  He  was  not  thought  at  that  time  to  be 
cruel  by  nature,  but  was  usually  spoken  of,  in  the  con- 
ventional language  appropriated  to  monarchs,  as  a 
prince   ''clement,   benign,   and    debonair."      Time    was 


1565]  THE   COUNCIL  23 

to  show  the  justice  of  his  claims  to  snch  honorable  ep- 
ithets. 

The  court  was  organized  during  his  residence  at  Brus- 
sels on  the  Burgundian,  not  the  Spanish,  model,  but  of  the 
one  hundred  and  fifty  persons  who  composed  it,  nine- 
tenths  of  the  whole  were  Spaniards ;  the  other  fifteen  or  ^^ 
sixteen  being  of  various  nations — Flemings,  Burgundians, 
Italians,  English,  and  Germans.  Thus  it  is  obvious  how 
soon  he  disregarded  his  father's  precept  and  practice  in 
this  respect,  and  began  to  lay  the  foundation  of  that  re- 
newed hatred  to  Spaniards  which  was  soon  to  become  so 
intense,  exuberant,  and  fatal  throughout  every  class  of 
Netherlanders.  He  esteemed  no  nation  but  the  Spanish ;  ^^ 
with  Spaniards  he  consorted,  with  Spaniards  he  counselled, 
through  Spaniards  he  governed. 

His  council  consisted  of  five  or  six  Spanish  grandees, 
the  famous  Ruy  Gomez,  then  Count  of  Melito,  afterwards 
Prince  of  Eboli ;  the  Duke  of  Alva,  the  Count  de  Feria, 
the  Duke  of  Franca  Villa,  Don  Antonio  Toledo,  and  Don 
Juan  Manrique  de  Lara.  The  ^'  two  columns,"  said  Suri- 
ano,  "which  sustain  this  great  machine  are  Ruy  Gomez 
and  Alva,  and  from  their  councils  depends  the  govern- 
ment of  half  the  world."  The  two  were  ever  bitterly  i^ 
opposed  to  each  other.  Incessant  were  their  bickerings, 
intense  their  mutual  hate,  desperate  and  difficult  the 
situation  of  any  man,  whether  foreigner  or  native,  who 
had  to  transact  business  with  the  government.  If  he  had 
secured  the  favor  of  Gomez,  he  had  already  earned  the 
enmity  of  Alva.  Was  he  protected  by  the  Duke,  he  was 
sure  to  be  cast  into  outer  darkness  by  the  favorite.  Alva 
represented  the  war  party,  Ruy  Gomez  the  pacific  polity, 
more  congenial  to  the  heart  of  Philip. 

The  Queen  of  Hungary  had  resigned  the  office  of  Re- 
gent of  the  Netherlands,  as  has  been  seen,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  Emperor's  abdication.  She  was  a  woman  of 
masculine  character,  a  great  huntress  before  the  Lord,  a 
celebrated  horsewoman,  a  worthy  descendant  of  the  Lady 
Mary  of  Burgundy.  Notwithstanding  all  the  fine  phrases 
exchanged  between  herself  and  the  eloquent  Maas,  at  the 
great  ceremony  of  the  25tli  of  October,  she  was,  in  re- 


24  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1555 

ality,  much  detested  in  the  provinces,  and  she  repaid 
their  aversion  with  abhorrence. 

The  new  Regent  was  to  be  the  Duke  of  Savoy.  This 
wandering  and  adventurous  potentate  had  attached  himself 
to  Philip's  fortunes,  and  had  been  received  by  the  King 
with  as  much  favor  as  he  had  ever  enjoyed  at  the  hands 
of  the  Emperor.  Emanuel  Philibert  of  Savoy,  then  about 
twenty-six  or  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  was  the  son  of  the 
late  unfortunate  Duke,  by  Donna  Beatrice  of  Portugal, 
sister  of  the  Empress.  He  was  the  nephew  of  Charles, 
and  first  cousin  to  Philip.  War  was  not  only  his  passion, 
but  his  trade.  Every  one  of  his  campaigns  was  a  specula- 
tion, and  he  had  long  derived  a  satisfactory  income  by 
purchasing  distinguished  prisoners  of  war  at  a  low  price 
from  the  soldiers  who  had  captured  them,  and  were  igno- 
rant of  their  rank,  and  by  ransoming  them  afterwards  at 
an  immense  advance.  This  sort  of  traffic  in  men  was 
frequent  in  that  age,  and  was  considered  perfectly  hon- 
orable. Marshal  Strozzi,  Count  Mansfeld,  and  other  pro- 
fessional soldiers  derived  their  main  income  from  the 
system.  They  were  naturally  inclined,  therefore,  to  look 
impatiently  upon  a  state  of  peace  as  an  unnatural  con- 
dition of  affairs  which  cut  off  all  the  profits  of  their  par- 
ticular branch  of  industry,  and  condemned  them  to  both 
idleness  and  poverty.  He  had  many  accomplishments. 
He  spoke  Latin,  French,  Spanish,  and  Italian  with  equal 
fluency,  was  celebrated  for  his  attachment  to  the  fine  arts, 
and  wrote  much  and  with  great  elegance.  With  his  new 
salary  as  governor,  his  pensions,  and  the  remains  of  his 
possessions  in  Nice  and  Piedmont,  he  had  now  the  splen- 
did annual  income  of  one  hundred  thousand  crowns,  and 
was  sure  to  spend  it  all. 

Charles,  in  order  to  smooth  the  commencement  of 
Philip's  path,  had  made  a  vigorous  effort  to  undo,  as  it 
were,  the  whole  work  of  his  reign,  to  suspend  the  opera- 
tion of  his  whole  political  system.  The  Emperor  and 
conqueror,  who  had  been  warring  all  his  lifetime,  had 
attempted,  as  the  last  act  of  his  reign,  to  improvise  a 
peace,  but  the  commissioners,  who  had  been  assembled  at 
Vaucelles  since  the  beginning  of  the  year  1556,  signed 


1666]  ULTERIOR  PURPOSES  25 

a  treaty  of  truce,  rather  than  of  peace,  upon  the  5th  of 
February.  It  was  to  be  an  armistice  of  five  years,  both 
by  land  and  sea,  for  France,  Spain,  Flanders,  and  Italy, 
throughout  all  the  dominions  of  the  French  and  Span- 
ish monarchs.  The  Pope  was  expressly  included  in  the 
truce,  which  was  signed  on  the  part  of  France  by  Admiral 
Coligny  and  Sebastian  TAubespine ;  on  that  of  Spain  by 
Count  de  Lalain,  Philibert  de  Bruxelles,  Simon  Renard, 
and  Jean  Baptiste  Sciceio,  a  jurisconsult  of  Cremona. 
During  the  previous  month  of  December,  however,  the 
Pope  had  concluded  with  the  French  monarch  a  treaty, 
by  which  this  solemn  armistice  was  rendered  an  egregious 
farce. 

The  secret  treaty  of  the  Pope  was  of  course  not  so  secret 
but  that  the  hollow  intentions  of  the  contracting  parties  to 
the  truce  of  Vaucelles  were  thoroughly  suspected  ;  inten- 
tions which  certainly  went  far  to  justify  the  maxims  and 
the  practice  of  the  new  Governor-General  of  the  Nether- 
lands upon  the  subject  of  armistices.  Philip,  understand- 
ing his  position,  was  revolving  renewed  military  projects 
while  his  subjects  were  ringing  merry  bells  and  lighting 
bonfires  in  the  Netherlands.  These  schemes,  which  were 
to  be  carried  out  in  the  immediate  future,  caused,  how- 
ever, a  temporary  delay  in  the  great  purpose  to  which  he 
was  to  devote  his  life. 

The  Emperor  Charles  had  always  desired  to  regard  the 
Netherlands  as  a  whole,  and  he  hated  the  antiquated 
charters  and  obstinate  privileges  which  interfered  with 
his  ideas  of  symmetry.  Two  great  machines,  the  court  of 
Mechlin  and  the  inquisition,  would  effectually  simplify  and 
assimilate  all  these  irregular  and  heterogeneous  rights. 
The  civil  tribunal  was  to  annihilate  all  diversities  in  their 
laws  by  a  general  cassation  of  their  constitutions,  and 
the  ecclesiastical  court  was  to  burn  out  all  differences  in 
their  religious  faith.  Between  two  such  millstones  it 
was  thought  that  the  Netherlands  might  be  crushed  into 
uniformity.  Philip  succeeded  to  these  traditions.  The 
father  had  never  sufficient  leisure  to  carry  out  all  his 
schemes,  but  it  seemed  probable  that  the  son  would  be  a 
worthy  successor,  at  least  in  all  which  concerned  the  re- 


26  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1556 

ligions  part  of  his  system.  One  of  the  earliest  measures 
^  of  his  reign  was  to  re-enact  the  dread  edict  of  1550.  This 
he  did  by  the  express  advice  of  the  Bishop  of  Arras,  who 
represented  to  him  the  expediency  of  making  use  of  the 
popularity  of  his  father's  name  to  sustain  the  horrible 
system  resolved  upon.  As  Charles  was  the  author  of  the 
edict,  it  could  be  always  argued  that  nothing  new  was  in- 
troduced ;  that  burning,  hanging,  and  drowning  for  re- 
ligious differences  constituted  a  part  of  the  national  in- 
stitutions ;  that  they  had  received  the  sanction  of  the  wise 
Emperor,  and  had  been  sustained  by  the  sagacity  of  past 
generations.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  subtle,  as  the 
event  proved,  than  this  advice.  Innumerable  were  the  ap- 
peals made  in  subsequent  years,  upon  this  subject,  to  the 
patriotism  and  the  conservative  sentiments  of  the  Nether- 
landers.  Repeatedly  they  were  summoned  to  maintain  the 
inquisition,  on  the  ground  that  it  had  been  submitted  to 
by  their  ancestors,  and  that  no  change  had  been  made  by 
Philip,  who  desired  only  to  maintain  Church  and  Crown 
in  the  authority  which  they  had  enjoyed  in  the  days  of 
his  father,  ^^of  very  laudable  memory." 

Nevertheless,  the  King^s  military  plans  seemed  to  inter- 
fere for  the  moment  with  this  cherished  object.  He  seemed 
to  swerve,  at  starting,  from  pursuing  the  goal  which  he 
was  only  to  abandon  with  life.  The  edict  of  1550  was 
re-enacted  and  confirmed,  and  all  office-holders  were  com- 
manded faithfully  to  enforce  it  upon  pain  of  immediate 
dismissal.  Nevertheless,  it  was  not  vigorously  carried 
.  into  effect  anywhere.  It  was  openly  resisted  in  Holland, 
V  its  proclamation  was  flatly  refused  in  Antwerp  and  re- 
pudiated throughout  Brabant.  It  was  strange  that  such 
disobedience  should  be  tolerated,  but  the  King  wanted 
money.  He  was  willing  to  refrain  for  a  season  from  ex- 
asperating the  provinces  by  fresh  religious  persecution  at 
the  moment  when  he  was  endeavoring  to  extort  every 
penny  which  it  was  possible  to  wring  from  their  purses. 

The  joy,  therefore,  with  which  the  pacification  had 
been  hailed  by  the  people  was  far  from  an  agreeable  spec- 
tacle to  the  King.  The  provinces  would  expect  that  the 
forces  which  had  been  maintained  at  their  expense  during 


1566]  PAUL  IV.  27 

the  war  would  be  disbanded,  whereas  he  had  no  intention 
of  disbanding  them.  As  the  truce  was  sure  to  be  tempo- 
rary, he  had  no  disposition  to  diminish  his  available  re- 
sources for  a  war  which  might  be  renewed  at  any  moment. 
To  maintain  the  existing  military  establishment  in  the 
Netherlands,  a  large  sum  of  money  was  required,  for  the 
pay  was  very  much  in  arrear.  The  King  had  made  a  state- 
ment to  the  provincial  estates  upon  this  subject,  but  the 
matter  was  kept  secret  during  the  negotiations  with 
France.  The  way  had  thus  been  paved  for  the  "Re- 
quest," or  "  Bede,"  which  he  now  made  to  the  estates 
assembled  at  Brussels  in  the  spring  of  1556.  It  was  to 
consist  of  a  tax  of  one  per  cent,  (the  hundredth  penny) 
upon  all  real  estate,  and  of  two  per  cent,  upon  all  mer- 
chandise ;  to  be  collected  in  three  payments.  The  re- 
quest, in  so  far  as  the  imposition  of  the  proposed  tax  was 
concerned,  was  refused  by  Flanders,  Brabant,  Holland,i 
and  all  the  other  important  provinces;  but,  as  usual,  a 
moderate,  even  a  generous,  commutation  in  money  was 
offered  by  the  estates.  This  was  finally  accepted  by 
Philip,  after  he  had  become  convinced  that  at  this  mo- 
ment, when  he  was  contemplating  a  war  with  France,  it 
would  be  extremely  impolitic  to  insist  upon  the  tax.  The 
publication  of  the  truce  in  Italy  had  been  long  delayed, 
and  the  first  infractions  which  it  suffered  were  committed 
in  that  country.  The  arts  of  politicians,  the  schemes  of 
individual  ambition,  united  with  the  short-lived  military 
ardor  of  Philip  to  place  the  monarchy  in  an  eminently 
false  position,  that  of  hostility  to  the  Pope.  As  was  un- 
avoidable, the  secret  treaty  of  December  acted  as  an  im- 
mediate dissolvent  to  the  truce  of  February. 

Great  was  the  indignation  of  Paul  Caraffa  when  that 
truce  was  first  communicated  to  him  by  the  Cardinal  de 
Tournon,  on  the  part  of  the  French  government.  Not- 
withstanding the  protestations  of  France  that  the  secret 
league  was  still  binding,  the  Pontiff  complained  that  he 
was  likely  to  be  abandoned  to  his  own  resources,  and  to 
be  left  single-handed  to  contend  with  the  vast  power  of 
Spain. 

War  was  let  loose  again  in  Europe — a  war  of  politics 


L^ 


28  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1557 

and  chicane  in  which  there  was  hardly  a  pitched  battle, 
and  scarcely  an  event  of  striking  interest.  The  Duke  of 
Alva  conducted  the  Italian  campaign,  making  peace  with 
the  Pope  in  a  treaty  signed  the  14th  of  September,  1557. 
France  made  an  inglorious  retreat  and  the  Pontiff  a 
ludicrous  capitulation.  Cosmo  de'  Medici,  who  had  duped 
Spain,  France,  and  Eome,  was  the  only  individual  in  Italy 
who  gained  territorial  advantage  from  the  war,  being 
granted  the  sovereignty  of  Siena. 

Simultaneously  with  the  descent  of  the  French  troops 
upon  Italy,  hostilities  had  broken  out  upon  the  Flemish 
border.  Admiral  Coligny,  who  had  been  appointed  Gov- 
ernor of  Picardy,  had  received  orders  to  make  a  foray 
upon  the  frontier  of  Flanders.  According  to  a  cunningly 
devised  plot,  he  was  to  seize,  with  the  help  of  an  ally  in- 
side the  walls,  the  unsuspecting  city  of  Douai. 

The  plot  was  a  good  one,  but  the  Admiral  of  France, 
on  the  6th  of  January,  1557,  was  foiled  by  an  old  woman. 
This  person,  apparently  the  only  creature  awake  in  the 
town,  perceived  the  danger,  ran  shrieking  through  the 
streets,  alarmed  the  citizens  while  it  was  yet  time,  and 
thus  prevented  the  attack.  Coligny,  disappointed  in  his 
plan,  recompensed  his  soldiers  by  a  sudden  onslaught 
upon  Lens,  in  Artois,  which  he  sacked  and  then  levelled 
to  the  ground.  Such  was  the  wretched  condition  of 
frontier  cities,  standing,  even  in  time  of  peace,  with  the 
ground  undermined  beneath  them,  and  existing  every  mo- 
ment, as  it  were,  upon  the  brink  of  explosion. 

Hostilities  having  been  thus  fairly  commenced,  the 
French  government  was  in  some  embarrassment.  The 
Duke  of  Guise,  with  the  most  available  forces  of  the  king- 
dom, having  crossed  the  Alps,  it  became  necessary  forth- 
with to  collect  another  army.  The  place  of  rendezvous 
appointed  was  Pierrepont,  where  an  army  of  eighteen 
thousand  infantry  and  five  thousand  horse  were  assembled 
early  in  the  spring.  In  the  mean  time  Philip,  finding  the 
war  fairly  afoot,  had  crossed  to  England  for  the  purpose 
(exactly  in  contravention  of  all  his  marriage  stipulations) 
of  cajoling  his  wife  and  browbeating  her  ministers  into  a 
participation  in  his  war  with  France.     This  was  easily  ac- 


1567]  DECLARATION  OF   WAR  BY  ENGLAND  29 

complished.  The  English  people  found  themselves  ac- 
cordingly engaged  in  a  contest  with  which  they  had  no 
concern,  which,  as  the  event  proved,  was  very  much 
against  their  interests,  and  in  which  the  moving  cause 
for  their  entanglement  was  the  devotion  of  a  weak,  bad, 
ferocious  woman  for  a  husband  who  hated  her!  A  lierald  ^ 
sent  from  ±!Jnglana  arrived  m  France,  disguised,  and 
was  presented  to  King  Henry  at  Rheims.  Here,  dropping 
on  one  knee,  he  recited  a  list  of  complaints  against  his 
majesty,  on  behalf  of  the  English  Queen,  all  of  them  fab- 
ricated or  exaggerated  for  the  occasion,  and  none  of  them 
furnishing  even  a  decorous  pretext  for  the  war  which  was 
now  formally  declared  in  consequence.  The  French  mon- 
arch expressed  his  regret  and  surprise  that  the  firm  and 
amicable  relations  secured  by  treaty  between  the  two 
countries  should  thus,  without  sufficient  cause,  be  violated. 
In  accepting  the  wager  of  warfare  thus  forced  upon  him, 
he  bade  the  herald,  Norris,  inform  his  mistress  that  her 
messenger  was  treated  with  courtesy  only  because  he 
represented  a  lady,  and  that,  had  he  come  from  a  king, 
the  language  with  which  he  would  have  been  greeted 
would  have  befitted  the  perfidy  manifested  on  the  occasion. 
God  would  punish  this  shameless  violation  of  faith,  and 
this  wanton  interruption  to  the  friendship  of  two  great 
nations.  With  this  the  herald  was  dismissed  from  the 
royal  presence,  but  treated  with  great  distinction,  con- 
ducted to  the  hotel  of  the  English  ambassador,  and  pre- 
sented on  the  part  of  the  French  sovereign  with  a  chain 
of  gold. 

Philip  had  despatched  Ruy  Gomez  to  Spain  for  the  pur- 
pose of  providing  ways  and  means,  while  he  was  himself 
occupied  with  the  same  task  in  England.  He  stayed  there 
three  months.  During  this  time,  he  "did  more,"  says  a 
Spanish  contemporary,  "than  any  one  could  have  believed 
possible  with  that  proud  and  indomitable  nation.  He 
caused  them  to  declare  war  against  France  with  fire  and 
sword,  by  sea  and  land."  Hostilities  having  been  thus  ^^ 
chivalrously  and  formally  established,  the  Queen  sent  an 
army  of  eight  thousand  men — cavalry,  infantry,  and  pio- 
neers— who,  "  all  clad  in  blue  uniform,"  commanded  by 


^" 


\^ 


30  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [ISSY 

Lords  Pembroke  and  Clinton,  with  the  three  sons  of  the 
Earl  of  Northumberland,  and  ofi&cered  by  many  other  sci- 
ons of  England's  aristocracy,  disembarked  at  Calais,  and 
shortly  afterwards  joined  the  camp  before  Saint-Quentin. 

Philip  meantime  had  left  England,  and,  with  more  bus- 
tle and  activity  than  were  usual  with  him,  had  given  direc- 
tions for  organizing  at  once  a  considerable  army.  It  was 
composed  mainly  of  troops  belonging  to  the  Netherlands, 
with  the  addition  of  some  German  auxiliaries.  Thirty- 
five  thousand  foot  and  twelve  thousand  horse  had,  by  the 
middle  of  July,  advanced  through  the  province  of  Namur, 
and  were  assembled  at  Grivet  under  the  Duke  of  Savoy, 
who,  as  Governor -General  of  the  Netherlands,  held  the 
chief  command.  All  the  most  eminent  grandees  of  the 
provinces — Orange,  Aerschot,  Berlaymont,  Meghen,  Bre- 
derode — were  present  with  the  troops,  but  the  life  and 
soul  of  the  army,  upon  this  memorable  occasion,  was  the 
Count  of  Egmont. 

Lamoral,  Count  of  Egmont,  Prince  of  Gavre,  was  now 
in  the  thirty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  in  the  very  noon  of 
that  brilliant  life  which  was  destined  to  be  so  soon  and  so 
fatally  overshadowed.  Not  one  of  the  dark  clouds  which 
were  in  the  future  to  accumulate  around  him  had  yet 
rolled  above  his  horizon.  Young,  noble,  wealthy,  hand- 
some, valiant,  he  saw  no  threatening  phantom  in  the  fut- 
ure, and  caught  eagerly  at  the  golden  opportunity,  which 
the  present  placed  within  his  grasp,  of  winning  fresh 
laurels  on  a  wider  and  more  fruitful  field  than  any  in 
which  he  had  hitherto  been  a  reaper.  The  campaign 
about  to  take  place  was  likely  to  be  an  imposing  if  not  an 
important  one,  and  could  not  fail  to  be  attractive  to  a 
noble  of  so  ardent  and  showy  a  character  as  Egmont.  If 
there  were  no  loftly  principles  or  extensive  interests  to  be 
contended  for,  as  there  certainly  were  not,  there  was  yet 
much  that  was  stately  and  exciting  to  the  imagination  in 
the  warfare  which  had  been  so  deliberately  and  pompously 
Arranged.  The  contending  armies,  although  of  moderate 
size,  were  composed  of  picked  troops,  and  were  command- 
ed by  the  flower  of  Europe's  chivalry.  Kings,  princes, 
and  the  most  illustrious  paladins  of  Christendom  were 


1657]        COUNT  EGMONl'— HIS  PERSONAL  CHARACTER  31 

arming  for  the  great  tournament,  to  which  they  had  been 
summoned  by  herald  and  trumpet ;  and  the  Batavian  hero,*^jC\ 
without  a  crown  or  even  a  country,  but  with  as  lofty  a  lin- 
eage as  many  anointed  sovereigns  could  boast,  was  ambi- 
tious to  distinguish  himself  in  the  proud  array. 

Upon  the  northwestern  edge  of  the  narrow  peninsula 
of  North  Holland,  washed  by  the  stormy  waters  of  the 
German  Ocean,  were  the  ancient  castle,  town,  and  lord- 
ship whence  Egmont  derived  his  family  name,  and  the 
title  by  which  he  was  most  familiarly  known.  He  was 
supposed  to  trace  his  descent,  through  aline  of  chivalrous 
champions  and  crusaders,  up  to  the  pagan  kings  of  the 
most  ancient  of  existing  Teutonic  races.  The  eighth  cen- 
tury names  of  the  Frisian  Radbold  and  Adgild  among  his 
ancestors  were  thought  to  denote  the  antiquity  of  a  house 
whose  lustre  had  been  increased  in  later  times  by  the 
splendor  of  its  alliances.  Personally,  he  was  distinguished 
for  his  bravery,  and  although  he  was  not  yet  the  idol  of 
the  camp  which  he  was  destined  to  become,  nor  had  yet 
commanded  in  chief  on  any  important  occasion,  he  was 
accounted  one  of  the  five  principal  generals  in  the  Span- 
ish service.  Eager  for  general  admiration,  he  was  at  the 
same  time  haughty  and  presumptuous,  attempting  to 
combine  the  characters  of  an  arrogant  magnate  and  a 
popular  chieftain.  Terrible  and  sudden  in  his  wrath,  he 
was  yet  of  inordinate  vanity,  and  was  easily  led  by  those  j 
who  understood  his  weakness.  With  a  limited  educa- 
tion, and  a  slender  capacity  for  all  affairs  except  those 
relating  to  the  camp,  he  was  destined  to  be  as  vacillating 
and  incompetent  as  a  statesman  as  he  was  prompt  and 
fortunately  audacious  in  the  field.  A  splendid  soldier, 
his  evil  sta^s  had  destined  him  to  tread,  as  a  politician, 
a  dark  and  dangerous  path,  in  which  not  even  genius, 
caution,  and  integrity  could  insure  success,  but  in  which 
rashness  alternating  with  hesitation,  and  credulity  with 
violence,  could  not  fail  to  bring  ruin.  Such  was  Count 
Egmont,  as  he  took  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  King's 
cavalry  in  the  summer  of  1557. 

The  early  operations  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  were  at  first 
intended  to  deceive  the  enemy.     The  army,  after  advanc- 


32  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1657 

ing  as  far  into  Picardy  as  the  town  of  Vervins,  which  they 
^fburned  and  pillaged,  made  a  demonstration  with  their 
whole  force  upon  the  city  of  Guise.  This,  however,  was 
but  a  feint,  by  which  attention  was  directed  and  forces 
drawn  off  from  Saint-Quentin,  which  was  to  be  the  real 
point  of  attack.  In  the  mean  time,  the  Constable  of 
France,  Montmorency,  arrived  upon  the  28th  of  July 
(1557),  to  take  command  of  the  French  troops.  He  was 
accompanied  by  Marechal  de  Saint  Andre  and  by  Ad- 
miral Ooligny.  The  most  illustrious  names  of  France, 
whether  for  station  or  valor,  were  in  the  officers'  list  of 
this  select  army.  Nevers  and  Montpensier,  Enghien  and 
Conde,  Vendome  and  Eochefoucauld,  were  already  there, 
and  now  the  Constable  and  the  Admiral  came  to  add  the 
strength  of  their  experience  and  lofty  reputation  to  sus- 
tain the  courage  of  the  troops.  The  French  were  at 
Pierrepont,  a  post  between  Champagne  and  Picardy,  and 
in  its  neighborhood.  The  Spanish  army  was  at  Vervins, 
and  threatening  Guise. 

It  soon  became  certain,  however,  that  the  thriving  city 
of  Saint-Quentin,  on  the  Somme,  was  the  real  object  of  at- 
tack by  the  allied  forces.  Before  Admiral  Coligny  could 
reinforce  the  garrison  commanded  by  Teligny,  his  son-in- 
law,  the  English  auxiliaries  arrived  in  the  camp  of  the 

uke  of  Savoy.  Coligny,  in  his  haste,  entered  the  city 
almost  alone.  In  one  of  the  disastrous  sorties,  Teligny 
received  a  mortal  wound.  On  the  10th  of  August  the 
Constable  Montmorency  with  an  army  of  twenty-one  thou- 
sand men  arrived  at  the  edge  of  the  morass  fronting  the 
city.  According  to  a  plan  suggested  by  Coligny,  but  in 
full  view  of  the  enemy,  he  boldly  attempted  the  intro- 
duction of  men  and  supplies  into  the  city.  The  enter- 
prise failed,  only  Andelot,  brother  of  Coligny,  with  about 
five  hundred  men,  securing  entrance,  while  many  miser- 
ably perished. 

Meantime  a  council  of  officers  was  held  in  Es^ont^s 
tent.  Opinions  were  undecided  as  to  the  course  to^e 
pursued  under  the  circumstances.  ^Should  an  engage- 
ment be  risked,  or  should  the  Constable,  who  had  but  in- 
differently accomplished  his  project  and  had  introduced 


1557]  THE   BATTLE   RESOLVED   UPON  33 

but  an  insignificant  number  of  troops  into  the  city,  be 
allowed  to  withdraw  with  the  rest  of  his  army  ?  The 
fiery  vehemence  of  Egmont  carried  all  before  it.  Here 
was  an  opportunity  to  measure  arms  at  advantage  with  ^y^ 
the  great  captain  of  the  age.  To  relinquish  the  prize 
which  the  fortune  of  war  had  now  placed  within  reach  of 
their  valor  was  a  thought  not  to  be  entertained.  Here 
was  the  great  Constable  Montmorency,  attended  by  princes 
of  the  royal  blood,  the  proudest  of  the  nobility,  the  very 
crown  and  flower  of  the  chivalry  of  France,  and  followed 
by  an  army  of  her  bravest  troops.  On  a  desperate  vent- 
ure he  had  placed  himself  within  their  grasp.  Should  he 
go  thence  alive  and  unmolested  ?  The  moral  effect  of  de- 
stroying such  an  army  would  be  greater  than  if  it  were 
twice  its  actual  strength.  It  would  be  dealing  a  blow  ^ 
at  the  very  heart  of  France,  from  which  she  could  not 
recover.  Was  the  opportunity  to  be  resigned  without  a 
struggle  of  laying  at  the  feet  of  Philip,  in  this  his  first 
campaign  since  his  accession  to  his  father's  realms,  a  prize 
worthy  of  the  proudest  hour  of  the  Emperor's  reign  ?  The 
eloquence  of  the  impetuous  Batavian  was  irresistible,  and 
it  was  determined  to  cut  off  the  Constable's  retreat.  ^-"^ 

Three  miles  from  the  Faubourg  d'Isle,  to  which  that 
general  had  now  advanced,  was  a  narrow  pass  or  defile, 
between  steep  and  closely  hanging  hills.  While  advancing 
through  this  ravine  in  the  morning,  the  Constable  had  ob- 
served that  the  enemy  might  have  it  in  their  power  to  in- 
tercept his  return  at  that  point.  He  had  therefore  left 
the  Rhinegrave,  with  his  company  of  mounted  carabineers, 
to  guard  the  passage.  Being  ready  to  commence  his  re- 
treat, he  now  sent  forward  the  Due  de  Nevers  with  four 
companies  of  cavalry  to  strengthen  that  important  po- 
sition, which  he  feared  might  be  inadequately  guarded. 
The  act  of  caution  came  too  late.  This  was  the  fatal 
point  which  the  quick  glance  of  Egmont  had  at  once  de- 
tected. As  Nevers  reached  the  spot,  two  thousand  of  the 
enemy's  cavalry  rode  through  and  occupied  the  narrow 
passage.  Inflamed  by  mortification  and  despair,  Nevers 
would  have  at  once  charged  those  troops,  although  out- 
numbering his  own  by  nearly  four  to  one.     His  officers  re- 

3 


34  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [155? 

strained  him  with  difficnlty,  recalling  to  his  memory  the 
peremptory  orders  which  he  had  received  from  the  Con- 
stable to  guard  the  passage,  but  on  no  account  to  hazard 
an  engagement  until  sustained  by  the  body  of  the  army. 
It  was  a  case  in  which  rashness  would  have  been  the  best 
discretion.  -The  headlong  charge  which  the  Duke  had 
been  about  to  make  might  possibly  have  cleared  the  path 
and  have  extricated  the  army,  provided  the  Constable  had 
followed  up  the  movement  by  a  rapid  advance  upon  his 
part.  As  it  was,  the  passage  was  soon  blocked  up  by 
freshly  advancing  bodies  of  Spanish  and  Flemish  cavalry, 
while  Nevers  slowly  and  reluctantly  fell  back  upon  the 
Prince  of  Conde,  who  was  stationed  with  the  light  horse 
at  the  mill  where  the  first  skirmish  had  taken  place.  They 
were  soon  joined  by  the  Constable,  with  the  main  body  of 
the  army.  The  whole  French  force  now  commenced  its 
retrograde  movement.  It  was,  however,  but  too  evident 
that  they  were  enveloped.  As  they  approached  the  fatal 
pass  through  which  lay  their  only  road  to  La  Fere,  and 
which  was  now  in  complete  possession  of  the  enemy,  the 
signal  of  assault  was  given  by  Count  Egmont.  That  gen- 
eral himself,  at  the  head  of  two  thousand  light  horse,  led 
the  charge  upon  the  left  flank.  The  other  side  was  as- 
saulted by  the  Dukes  Eric  and  Henry  of  Brunswick,  each 
with  a  thousand  heavy  dragoons,  sustained  by  Count  Horn, 
at  the  head  of  a  regiment  of  mounted  gendarmerie.  Mans- 
feld,  Lalain,  Hoogstraaten,  and  Vilain  at  the  same  time 
made  a  furious  attack  upon  the  front.  The  French  cav- 
alry wavered  with  the  shock  so  vigorously  given.  The 
camp-followers,  sutlers,  and  pedlers,  panic-struck,  at  once 
fled  helter-skelter,  and  in  their  precipitate  retreat  carried 
confusion  and  dismay  throughout  all  the  ranks  of  the 
army.  The  rout  was  sudden  and  total.  The  onset  and 
the  victory  were  simultaneous.  Nevers,  riding  through  a 
hollow  with  some  companies  of  cavalry,  in  the  hope  of 
making  a  detour  and  presenting  a  new  front  to  the  enemy, 
was  overwhelmed  at  once  by  the  retreating  French  and 
their  furious  pursuers.  The  day  was  lost,  retreat  hardly 
possible;  yet  by  a  daring  and  desperate  effort  tlxaJDpke 
accompanied  by  a   handful  of   followers,   cut    his   way 


1657]  THE  VICTORY  35 

through  the  enemy  and  effected  his  escape.  The  cavalry  ^ 
had  been  broken  at  the  first  onset  and  nearly  destroyed.  ^"^^ 
A  portion  of  the  infantry  still  held  firm,  and  attempted  to 
continue  their  retreat.  Some  pieces  of  artillery,  however, 
now  opened  upon  them,  and  before  they  reached  Essigny 
the  whole  army  was  completely  annihilated.  The  defeat 
was  absolute.  Half  the  French  troops  actually  engaged  in 
the  enterprise  lost  their  lives  upon  the  field.  The  re- 
mainder of  the  army  was  captured  or  utterly  disorganized. 
AVhen  Nevers  reviewed,  at  Laon,  the  wreck  of  the  Con- 
stable's whole  force,  he  found  some  thirteen  hundred 
French  and  three  hundred  German  cavalry,  with  four  com- 
panies of  French  infantry,  remaining  out  of  fifteen,  and 
four  thousand  German  foot  remaining  of  twelve  thousand. 
Of  twenty-one  or  twenty-two  thousand  remarkably  fine 
and  well-appointed  troops,  all  but  six  thousand  had  been  ^^ 
killed  or  made  prisoners  within  an  hour.  The  Constable 
himself,  with  a  wound  in  the  groin,  was  a  captive.  The 
Duke  of  Enghien,  after  behaving  with  brilliant  valor, 
and  many  times  rallying  the  troops,  was  shot  through  the 
body,  and  brought  into  the  enemy's  camp  only  to  expire. 
The  Due  de  Montpensier,  the  Marechal  de  Saint  Andre, 
the  Due  de  Longueville,  Prince  Ludovic  of  Mantua,  the 
Baron  Cor  ton  la  Roche  du  Mayne,  the  Rhinegrave,  the 
Counts  de  Rochefoucauld,  d'Aubigne,  de  Rochefort,  all 
were  taken.  The  Due  de  Nevers,  the  Prince  of  Conde, 
and  a  few  others,  escaped ;  although  so  absolute  was  the 
conviction  that  such  an  escape  was  impossible  that  it  was 
not  believed  by  the  victorious  army.  When  Nevers  sent  a 
trumpeter,  after  the  battle,  to  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  for  the 
purpose  of  negotiating  concerning  the  prisoners,  the 
trumpeter  was  pronounced  an  impostor  and  the  Duke's 
letter  a  forgery  ;  nor  was  it  till  after  the  whole  field  had_|,,.-'^ 
been  diligently  searched  for  his  dead  body  without  suc- 
cess that  Nevers  could  persuade  the  conquerors  that  he 
was  still  in  existence. 

Of  Philip's  army  but  fifty  lost  their  lives.  Lewis  of 
Brederode  was  smothered  in  his  armor ;  and  the  two  counts 
Spiegelberg  and  Count  Waldeck  were  also  killed  ;  besides 
these,  no  officer  of  distinction  fell.    All  the  French  stand- 


k 

36  HISTORY   OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1557 

ards  and  all  their  artillery  but  two  pieces  were  taken 
and  placed  before  the  King,  who  the  next  day  came  into 
the  camp  before  Saint-Quentin.  The  prisoners  of  distinc- 
tion were  likewise  presented  to  him  in  long  procession. 
I  ^  Rarely  had  a  monarch  of  Spain  enjoyed  a  more  signal 
*^  triumph  than  this  which  Philip  now  owed  to  the  gallantry 
and  promptness  of  Count  Egmont. 

Such  was  the  brilliant  victory  of  Saint-Quentin,  worthy 
to  be  placed  in  the  same  list  with  the  world -renowned 
combats  of  Crecy  and  Agincourt.  Like  those  battles, 
also,  it  derives  its  main  interest  from  the  personal  charac- 
ter of  the  leader,  while  it  seems  to  have  been  hallowed  by 
the  tender  emotions  which  sprang  from  his  subsequent 
fate.  The  victory  was  but  a  happy  move  in  a  winning 
game.  The  players  were  kings,  and  the  people  were 
stakes — not  parties.  It  was  a  chivalrous  display  in  a  war 
which  was  waged  without  honorable  purpose,  and  in  which 
no  single  lofty  sentiment  was  involved.  The  Flemish 
frontier  was,  however,  saved  for  the  time  from  the  misery 
which  was  now  to  be  inflicted  upon  the  French  border. 
This  was  sufficient  to  cause  the  victory  to  be  hailed  as 
rapturously  by  the  people  as  by  the  troops.  From  that 
forth  the  name  of  the  brave  Hollander  was  like  the 
sound  of  a  trumpet  to  the  army.  "  Egniont  and  Saint- 
Qfteuijn  V  rang  through  every  mouth  to  the  farthest  ex- 
tremity of  Philip's  realms.  A  deadly  blow  was  struck  to 
the  very  heart  of  France.  The  fruits  of  all  the  victories 
of  Francis  and  Henry  withered.  The  battle,  and  oth- 
ers which  were  to  follow  it  won  by  the  same  hand,  were 
^^^soon  to  compel  the  signature  of  the  most  disastrous  treaty 
which  had  ever  disgraced  the  history  of  France.. 

The  fame  and  power  of  the  Constable  faded — his  mis- 
fortunes and  captivity  fell  like  a  blight  upon  the  ancient 
L^-^ory  of  the  house  of  Montmorency — his  enemies  de- 
stroyed his  influence  and  his  popularity;  while  the  deg- 
radation of  the  kingdom  was  simultaneous  with  the  down- 
fall of  his  illustrious  name.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
exultation  of  Philip  was  as  keen  as  his  cold  and  stony 
nature  would  permit.  The  magnificent  palace-convent 
of  the  Escurial,  dedicated  to  the  saint  on  whoye  festival 


V/      sonr 


1557]  CRUELTY   TO  THE   POPULATION  37 

the  battle  had  been  fought,  and  built  in  the  shape  of  the 
gridiron  on  which  that  martyr  had  suffered,  was  soon 
afterwards  erected  in  pious  commemoration  of  the  event. 
Such  was  the  celebration  of  the  victory.  The  reward 
reserved  for  the  victor  was  to  be  recorded  on  a  later  page 
of  history. 

Philip,  against  the  advice  of  his  best  military  advisers, 
failed  to  seize  the  golden  fruits  of  his  triumphs  by  imme- 
diately advancing  upon  Paris.  After  mining  and  cannon- 
ade by  the  besiegers  and  a  valiant  defence  by  the  besieged, 
Saint-Quentin  was  taken  by  assault  on  the  27th  of  August.*^ 
The  carnage  was  succeeded  by  sack  and  conflagration,  and 
the  work  of  killing,  plundering,  and  burning  lasted  three 
days  and  nights. 

The  women,  meantime,  had  been  again  driven  into  the 
cathedral,  where  they  had  housed  during  the  siege,  and 
where  they  now  crouched  together  in  trembling  expecta- 
tion of  their  fate.  On  the  29th  of  August,  at  two  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  Philip  issued  an  order  that  every  woman, 
without  an  exception,  should  be  driven  out  of  the  city 
into  the  French  territory.  Saint-Quentin,  which  seventy 
years  before  had  been  a  Flemish  town,  was  to  be  rean- 
nexed,  and  not  a  single  man,  woman,  or  child  who  could 
speak  the  French  language  was  to  remain  another  hour  in 
the  place.     The  tongues  of  the  men  had  been  effectually 

silenced.     The  women,  to  the  number  of  three  thousand  | ^ 

five  hundred,  were  now  compelled  to  leave  the  cathedral 
and  the  city. 

The  most  distinguished  captives  upon  this  occasion 
were,  of  course,  Coligny  and  his  brother.  Andelot  was, 
however,  fortunate  enough  to  make  his  escape  that  night 
under  the  edge  of  the  tent  in  which  he  was  confined. 
The  Admiral  was  taken  to  Antwerp.  Here  he  lay  for 
many  weeks  sick  with  a  fever.  Upon  his  recovery,  hav- 
ing no  better  pastime,  he  fell  to  reading  the  Scriptures. 
The  result  was  his  conversion  to  Calvinism,  and  the  world 
shudders  yet  at  the  fate  in  which  that  conversion  involved 
him. 

Saint-Quentin  being  thus  reduced,  Philip  was  not  more 
disposed  to  push  his  fortune.     The  time  was  now  wasted 


38  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1557-8 

in  the  siege  of  several  comparatively  unimportant  places, 
so  that  the  fruits  of  Egmont's  valor  were  not  yet  allowed 
to  ripen.  Early  in  September  Le  Oatelet  was  taken.  On 
the  12th  of  the  same  month  the  citadel  of  Ham  yielded, 
after  receiving  two  thousand  shots  from  Philip^s  artillery, 
while  Nojon,  Ohanly,  and  some  other  places  of  less  im- 
portance, were  burned  to  the  ground.  After  all  this  smoke 
and  fire  upon  the  frontier,  productive  of  but  slender  con- 
sequences, Philip  disbanded  his  army  and  retired  to 
Brussels.  He  reached  that  city  on  the  12th  of  October. 
The  English  returned  to  their  own  country.  The  cam- 
paign of  1557  was  closed  without  a  material  result,  and 
^^-^ihe  victory  of  Saint-Quentin  remained  for  a  season  barren. 

In  the  mean  time  the  French  were  not  idle.  On  the  1st 
\^  of  January,  1558,  the  Due  de  Guise  appeared  before  Ca- 
lais. After  a  tremendous  cannonade,  which  lasted  a  week 
and  was  heard  in  Antwerp,  the  city  was  taken  by  assault. 
Thus  the  last  vestige  of  English  dominion,  the  last  sub- 
stantial pretext  of  the  English  sovereign  to  wear  the  title 
and  the  lilies  of  France,  was  lost  forever.  King  Henry 
visited  Calais,  which  after  two  centuries  of  estrangement 
had  now  become  a  French  town  again,  appointed  Paul  de 
Thermes  governor  of  the  place,  and  then  returned  to  Paris 
to  celebrate  soon  afterwards  the  marriage  of  the  Dauphin 
with  the  niece  of  the  Guises,  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots. 

^_ ^     These  events  secured  the  ascendency  of  the  Catholic 

party  in  the  kingdom.  Disastrous  eclipse  had  come  over 
the  houses  of  Montmorency  and  Coligny,  while  the  star  of 
Guise,  brilliant  with  the  conquest  of  Calais,  now  cul- 
minated. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  the  memorable  interview  be- 
tween the  two  ecclesiastics,  the  Bishop  of  Arras  and  the 
Cardinal  de  Lorraine,  took  place  at  Peronne.  From  this 
central  point  commenced  the  weaving  of  that  wide-spread 
scheme  in  which  the  fate  of  millions  was  to  be  involved. 
The  Duchess  Christina  de  Lorraine,  cousin  of  Philip,  had 
accompanied  him  to  Saint-Quentin.  Permission  had  been 
obtained  by  the  Due  de  Guise  and  his  brother,  the  Car- 
dinal, to  visit  her  at  Peronne.  The  Duchess  was  accom- 
panied by  the  Bishop  of  Arras,  and  the  consequence  was 


1558J  INTERVIEW   AT   PERONNE  39 

a  full  and  secret  negotiation  between  the  two  priests.  It 
may  be  supposed  that  Philip's  short-lived  military  ardor 
had  already  exhausted  itself.  He  had  mistaken  his  voca- 
tion, and  already  recognized  the  false  position  in  which 
he  was  placed.  He  was  contending  against  the  monarch 
in  whom  he  might  find  the  surest  ally  against  the  arch- 
enemy of  both  kingdoms,  and  of  the  world.  The  French 
monarch  held  heresy  in  horror,  while  for  himself,  Philip 
had  already  decided  upon  his  life's  mission. 

The  crafty  Bishop  was  more  than  a  match  for  the  vain 
and  ambitious  Cardinal.  That  prelate  was  assured  that 
Philip  considered  the  captivity  of  Coligny  and  Montmo- 
rency a  special  dispensation  of  Providence,  while  the  tute- 
lar genius  of  France,  notwithstanding  the  reverses  sus- 
tained by  that  kingdom,  was  still  preserved.  The  Cardinal 
and  his  brother,  it  was  suggested,  now  held  in  their  hands 
the  destiny  of  the  kingdom  and  of  Europe.  The  interests 
of  both  nations,  of  religion,  and  of  humanity,  made  it  im- 
perative upon  them  to  put  an  end  to  this  unnatural  war, 
in  order  that  the  two  monarchs  might  unite  hand  and 
heart  for  the  extirpation  of  heresy.  That  hydra-headed 
monster  had  already  extended  its  coils  through  France, 
while  its  pestilential  breath  was  now  wafted  into  Flanders 
from  the  German  as  well  as  the  French  border.  Philip 
placed  full  reliance  upon  the  wisdom  and  discretion  of  the 
Cardinal.  It  was  necessary  that  these  negotiations  should 
for  the  present  remain  a  profound  secret,  but  in  the  mean 
time  a  peace  ought  to  be  concluded  with  as  little  delay  as 
possible  ;  a  result  which,  it  was  affirmed,  was  as  heartily 
desired  by  Philip  as  it  could  be  by  Henry.  The  Bishop 
was  soon  aware  of  the  impression  which  his  artful  sugges- 
tions had  produced.  The  Cardinal,  inspired  by  the  flat- 
tery thus  freely  administered,  as  well  as  by  the  prompt- 
ings of  his  own  ambition,  lent  a  willing  ear  to  the  Bishop's 
plans.  Thus  was  laid  the  foundation  of  a  vast  scheme, 
which  time  was  to  complete.  A  crusade  with  the  whole 
strength  of  the  French  and  Spanish  crowns  was  resolved 
upon  against  their  own  subjects.  The  Bishop's  task  was 
accomplished.  The  Cardinal  returned  to  France,  deter- 
mined to  effect  a  peace  with  Spain.     He  was  convinced 


40  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1558 

that  the  glory  of  his  house  was  to  be  infinitely  enhanced, 
and  its  power  impregnably  established,  by  a  cordial  co- 
operation with  Philip  in  his  dark  schemes  against  religion 
and  humanity.  The  negotiations  were  kept,  however, 
profoundly  secret.  A  new  campaign  and  fresh  humilia- 
tions were  to  precede  the  acceptance  by  France  of  the 
peace  which  was  thus  proffered. 

Meantime  Philip,  who  was  at  Brussels,  had  directed  the 
Duke  of  Savoy  to  oppose  the  Due  de  Guise  with  an  army 
which  had  been  hastily  collected  and  organized  at  Mau- 
beuge,  in  the  province  of  Namur.  He  now  desired,  if 
possible,  to  attack  and  cut  off  the  forces  of  De  Thermes 
before  he  should  extend  the  hand  to  Guise,  or  make  good 
his  retreat  to  Calais. 

Flushed  with  victory  over  defenceless  peasants,  laden 
with  the  spoils  of  sacked  and  burning  towns,  the  army  of 
De  Thermes  was  already  on  its  homeward  march.  It  was 
the  moment  for  a  sudden  and  daring  blow.  Egmont,  in 
obedience  to  the  King's  command,  threw  himself  at  once 
into  the  field,  taking  up  his  position  directly  in  the  path 
of  the  French  army.  He  posted  his  army  at  Gravelines,  a 
small  town  lying  near  the  sea-shore  and  about  midway 
between  Calais  and  Dunkirk. 

On  the  13th  of  July  Egmont,  having  characteristically 
selected  the  post  of  danger  in  the  very  front  of  battle  for 
himself,  dashed  upon  the  enemy.  His  horse  was  shot  un- 
der him  at  the  commencement  of  the  action.  Mounting 
another,  he  again  cheered  his  cavalry  to  the  attack.  It 
was  a  wild,  hand-to-hand  conflict  —  general  and  soldier, 
cavalier  and  pikeman,  lancer  and  musketeer,  mingled  to- 
gether in  one  dark,  confused,  and  struggling  mass,  foot 
to  foot,  breast  to  breast,  horse  to  horse — a  fierce,  tumultu- 
ous battle  on  the  sands,  worthy  the  fitful  pencil  of  the 
national  painter  Wouvermans.  For  a  long  time  it  was 
doubtful  on  which  side  victory  was  to  incline,  but  at  last 
ten  English  vessels  unexpectedly  appeared  in  the  offing, 
and,  ranging  up  soon  afterwards  as  close  to  the  shore  as 
was  possible,  opened  their  fire  upon  the  still  unbroken  lines 
of  the  French.  The  spirit  of  the  enemy  was  broken  by  this 
attack  upon  their  seaward  side,  which  they  had  thought 


1558J  SPLENDID  TRIUMPH  41 

impregnable.     At  the  same  time,  too,  a  detachment  of 
German  cavalry,  which  had  been  directed  by  Egmont  to 
make  their  way  under  the  downs  to  the  southward,  now 
succeeded  in  turning  their  left  flank.     Egmont,  profiting 
by  their  confusion,  charged  them  again  with  redoubled 
vigor.     The  fate  of  the  day  was  decided.     The  rout  was 
total ;  horse  and  foot,  French,  Gascon,  and  German  fled 
from  the  field  together.     Fifteen  hundred  fell  in  the  ac; 
tion,  as  many  more  were  driven  into  the  sea,  while  great 
numbers  were  torn  to  pieces  by  the  exasperated  peasants, 
who  now  eagerly  washed  out  their  recent  injuries  in  the. 
blood  of  the  dispersed,  wandering,  and  wounded  soldiers. 
The  army  of  De  Thermes  was  totally  destroyed,  and  with 
it  the  last  hope  of  France  for  an  honorable  and  equal 
negotiation.      8he  was  now  at  Philip's  feet,  so  that  this 
brilliant  cavalry  action,  although  it  has  been  surpassed  in 
importance  by  many  others  in  respect  to  the  number  of 
the  combatants  and  the  principles  involved  in  the  contest, 
was  still,  in  regard  to  the  extent  both  of  its  immediate    | 
and  its  permanent  results,  one  of  the  most  decisive  and  Q 
striking  which  have  ever  been  fought.     The  French  mon-  A 
arch  was  soon  obliged  to  make  the  best  terms  which  he       J 
could,  and  to  consent  to  a  treaty  which  was  one  of  the       i 
most  ruinous  in  the  archives  of  France.  » 

Whatever  might  have  been  the  faults  of  De  Thermes 
or  of  Guise,  there  could  be  little  doubt  as  to  the  merit 
of  Egmont.  Thus  within  eleven  months  of  the  battle  of 
Saint-Quentin  had  the  Dutch  hero  gained  another  victory 
so  decisive  as  to  settle  the  fate  of  the  war,  and  to  elevate 
his  sovereign  to  a  position  from  which  he  might  dictate 
the  terms  of  a  triumphant  peace.  The  opening  scenes  of 
Philip's  reign  were  rendered  as  brilliant  as  the  proudest 
days  of  the  Emperor's  career,  while  the  provinces  were  en- 
raptured with  the  prospect  of  early  peace.  To  whom, 
then,  was  the  sacred  debt  of  national  and  royal  gratitude 
due  but  to  Lamoral  of  Egmont  ?  His  countrymen  gladly  i^ 
recognized  the  claim.  He  became  the  idol  of  the  army  ; 
the  familiar  hero  of  ballad  and  story  ;  the  mirror  of  chiv- 
alry, and  the  god  of  popular  worship.  Throughout  the 
Netherlands  he  was  hailed  as  the  right  hand  of  the  father- 


42  HISTORY    OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1558 

land,  the  saviour  of  Flanders  from  devastation  and  out- 
rage, the  protector  of  the  nation,  the  pillar  of  the  throne. 
The  victor  gained  many- friends  by  his  victory,  and  one 
enemy.  The  bitterness  of  that  foe  was  likely,  in  the 
X  tuture,  to  outweigh  all  the  plaudits  of  his  friends.  The 
Duke  of  Alva  had  strongly  advised  against  giving  battle 
to  De  Thermes.  He  depreciated  the  triumph,  after  it  had 
been  gained,  by  reflections  upon  the  consequences  which 
would  have  flowed,  had  a  defeat  been  suffered  instead.  He 
even  held  this  language  to  Egmont  himself  after  his  re- 
turn to  Brussels.  The  conqueror,  flushed  with  his  glory, 
was  not  inclined  to  digest  the  criticism,  nor  what  he  con- 
sidered the  venomous  detraction  of  the  Duke.  More  vain 
and  arrogant  than  ever,  he  treated  his  powerful  Spanish 
rival  with  insolence,  and  answered  his  observations  with 
angry  sarcasm,  even  in  the  presence  of  the  King.  Alva 
was  not  likely  to  forget  the  altercation,  nor  to  forgive  the 
triumph. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE   SPANISH   KING   LEAVES   THE   NETHERLANDS 

The  battle  of  Gravelines  had  decided  the  question. 
The  intrigues  of  the  two  ecclesiastics  at  Peronne  having 
been  sustained  by  Egmont's  victory,  all  parties  were  ready 
for  a  peace.  King  Henry  was  weary  of  the  losing  game 
which  he  had  so  long  been  playing ;  Philip  was  anxious  to 
relieve  himself  from  his  false  position,  and  to  concentrate 
his  whole  mind  and  the  strength  of  his  kingdom  upon  his 
great  enemy,  the  Netherlands  heresy;  while  the  Duke  of 
Savoy  felt  that  the  time  had  at  last  arrived  when  an  adroit 
diplomacy  might  stand  him  in  stead,  and  place  him  in  the 
enjoyment  of  those  rights  which  the  sword  had  taken  from 
him,  and  which  his  own  sword  had  done  so  much  towards 
winning  back.  The  sovereigns  were  inclined  to  peace, 
and  as  there  had  never  been  a  national  principle  or  in- 
stinct or  interest  involved  in  the  dispute,  it  was  very  cer- 
tain that  peace  would  be  popular  everywhere,  upon  what- 
ever terms  it  might  be  concluded. 

Montmorency  and  the  Prince  of  Orange  were  respec- 
tively empowered  to  open  secret  negotiations.  Early  in 
the  autumn  all  the  troops  were  disbanded,  while  the  com- 
missioners of  both  crowns  met  in  open  congress  at  the 
abbey  of  Cercamp,  near  Cambray,  by  the  middle  of  Oc- 
tober. The  envoys  on  the  part  of  Philip  were  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  the  Duke  of  Alva,  the  Bishop  of  Arras,  Ruy 
Gomez  de  Silva,  the  president  Viglius ;  on  that  of  the 
French  monarch,  the  Constable,  the  Marechal  de  Saint 
Andre,  the  Cardinal  de  Lorraine,  the  Bishop  of  Orleans, 
and  Claude  TAubespine.  There  were  also  envoys  sent 
by  the  Queen  of  England,  but  as  the  dispute  concerning 


44  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1558-9 

Calais  was  found  to  hamper  the  negotiations  at  Cercamp, 
the  English  question  was  left  to  be  settled  by  another 
congress,  and  was  kept  entirely  separate  from  the  arrange- 
ments concluded  between  France  and  Spain. 

The  death  of  Queen  Mary,  on  the  17th  of  November, 
'  caused  a  temporary  suspension  of  the  proceedings.     After 
>^  the  widower,  however,  had  made  a  fnuitlfiss  effort  to  obtain 
the  hand  of  her  successor,  and  had  been  unequivocally 
repulsed,  the  commissioners  again  met  in  February,  1559, 
at  Cateau  -  Cambresis.      The  English  difficulty  was  now 
arranged  by  separate   commissioners,  and  on  the  3d  of 
April  a  treaty  between  France  and  Spain  was  concluded. 
By  this  important  convention  both  Kings  bound  them- 
selves to  maintain  the  Catholic  worship  inviolate  by  all 

^  means  in  their  power,  and  agreed  that  an  oecumenical 
council  should  at  once  assemble,  to  compose  the  religious 
differences  and  to  extinguish  the  increasing  heresy  in  both 
kingdoms.  Furthermore,  it  was  arranged  that  the  con- 
quests made  by  each  country  during  the  preceding  eight 
years  should  be  restored.  Thus  all  the  gains  of  Francis 
and  Henry  were  annulled  by  a  single  word,  and  the  Duke 

r/of  Savoy  converted,  by  a  dash  of  the  pen,  from  a  land- 
less  soldier  of  fortune  into  a  sovereign  again.  He  was  to 
receive  back  all  his  estates,  and  was,  moreover,  to  marry 
Henry's  sister  Margaret,  with  a  dowry  of  three  hundred 
thousand   crowns.      Philip,   on  the   other  hand,  now   a 

i/ second  time  a  widower,  was  to  espouse  Henry's  daughter 
Isabella,  already  betrothed  to  the  Infant  Don  Carlos,  and 
to  receive  with  her  a  dowry  of  four  hundred  thou&and 
crowns.  The  restitutions  were  to  be  commenced  by 
Henry,  and  to  be  completed  within  three  months.  Philip 
was  to  restore  his  conquests  in  the  course  of  a  month 
afterwards. 

Most  of  the  powers  of  Europe  were  included  by  both 
parties  in  this  treaty — the  Pope,  the  Emperor,  all  the 
Electors,  the  republics  of  Venice,  Genoa,  and  Switzerland, 
the  kingdoms  of  England,  Scotland,  Poland,  Denmark, 
Sweden,  the  duchies  of  Ferrara,  Savoy,  and  Parma,  be- 
sides other  inferior  principalities.  Nearly  all  Christen- 
dom, in  short,  was  embraced  in  this  most  amicable  com- 


1559]  TREATY   OF   CATEAU-CAMBRESIS  45 

pact,  as  if  Philip  were  determined  that,  henceforth  and 
forever,  Calvinists  and  Mohammedans,  Turks  and  Flem-  v^ 
ings,  should  be  his  only  enemies. 

The  King  of  France  was  to  select  four  hostages  from 
among  Philip's  subjects,  to  accompany  him  to  Paris  as 
pledges  for  the  execution  of  all  the  terms  of  the  treaty. 
The  royal  choice  fell  upon  the  Prince  of  Orange,  the  Duke 
of  Alva,  the  Duke  of  Aerschot,  and  the  Count  of  Egmont. 

Such  was  the  treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis.  Thus  was  a 
termination  put  to  a  war  between  France  and  Spain 
which  had  been  so  wantonly  undertaken. 

Marshal  Monluc  wrote  that  a  treaty  so  disgraceful  and 
disastrous  had  never  before  been  ratified  by  a  French 
monarch.  The  accumulated  plunder  of  years,  which  was 
now  disgorged  by  France,  was  equal  in  value  to  one-third 
of  that  kingdom.  One  hundred  and  ninety-eight  forti- 
fied towns  were  surrendered,  making,  with  other  places 
of  greater  or  less  importance,  a  total  estimated  by  some 
writers  as  high  as  four  hundred. 

The  well-known  tragedy  by  which  the  solemnities  of 
this  pacification  were  abruptly  concluded  in  Paris  bore 
with  it  an  impressive  moral.  The  monarch  who,  in  viola- 
tion of  his  plighted  word  and  against  the  interests  of  his 
nation  and  the  world,  had  entered  precipitately  into  a 
causeless  war,  now  lost  his  life  in  fictitious  combat  at  the  '^ 
celebration  of  peace.  On  the  10th  of  July,  Henry  the  f^K  •M/ 
Second  died  of  the  wound  inflicted  by  Montgomery  in  the 
tournament  held  eleven  days  before.  Henry  had  lived 
long  enough,  however,  after  the  conclusion  of  the  secret 
agreement  to  reveal  it  to  one  whose  life  was  to  be  employed 
in  thwarting  this  foul  conspiracy  of  monarchs  against  v- 
their  subjects.  William  of  Orange,  then  a  hostage  for 
the  execution  of  the  treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis,  was  the 
man  with  whom  the  King  had  the  unfortunate  conception 
to  confer  on  the  subject  of  the  plot.  The  Prince,  who 
had  already  gained  the  esteem  of  Charles  the  Fifth  by  his 
habitual  discretion,  knew  how  to  profit  by  the  intelligence 
and  to  bide  his  time  ;  but  his  hostility  to  the  policy  of 
the  French  and  Spanish  courts  was  perhaps  dated  from 
that  hour. 


46  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1559 

Pending  the  peace  negotiations,  Philip  had  been  called 
upon  to  mourn  for  his  wife  and  father.  He  did  not 
affect  grief  for  the  death  of  Mary  Tudor,  but  he  honored 
the  Emperor's  departure  with  stately  obsequies  at  Brus- 
sels. The  ceremonies  lasted  two  days  (the  29th  and  30th 
of  December,  1558). 

The  early  part  of  the  year  1559  was  spent  by  Philip  in 
'organizing  the  government  of  the  provinces  and  in  making 
the  necessary  preparations  for  his  departure. 

The  Duchess  Margaret  of  Parma,  natural  daughter  of 
Charles  the  Fifth,  was  chosen  by  her  brother,  the  King, 
Eegent  of  the  Netherlands.  The  boards  of  council  or- 
ganized to  assist  the  new  Regent  were  three  in  numberz=::a_ 
statp  and  privycouncil,  and  one  of  finance.  They  were 
not  new  institutions,  having  been  originally  established 
by  the  Emperor,  and  were  now  arranged  by  his  successor 
upon  the  same  nominal  basis  upon  which  they  had  before 
existed.  The  finance  council,  which  had  superintendence 
of  all  matters  relating  to  the  royal  domains  and  to  the  an- 
nual budgets  of  the  government,  was  presided  over  by 
Baron  Berlaymont.  The  privy  council,  of  which  Viglius 
was  president,  was  composed  of  ten  or  twelve  learned  doc- 
tors, and  was  especially  intrusted  with  the  control  of  mat- 
ters relating  to  law,  pardons,  and  the  general  administra- 
tion of  justice.  The  state  council,  which  was  far  the  most 
important  of  the  three  boards,  was  to  superintend  all  high 
affairs  of  government — war,  treaties,  foreign  intercourse, 
internal  and  inter-provincial  affairs.  The  members  of  this 
council  were  the  Bishop  of  Arras,  Viglius,  Berlaymont, 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  Count  of  Egmont,  to  which  number 
were  afterwards  added  the  Seigneur  de  Grlayon,  the  Duke 
of  Aerschot,  and  Count  Horn.  The  last-named  nobleman, 
who  was  admiral  of  the  provinces,  had,  for  the  present, 
been  appointed  to  accompany  the  King  to  Spain,  there  to 
be  specially  intrusted  with  the  administration  of  affairs 
relating  to  the  Netherlands.  He  was  destined,  however, 
to  return  at  the  expiration  of  two  years. 

With  the  object,  as  it  was  thought,  of  curbing  the  power 
of  the  great  nobles,  it  had  been  arranged  that  the  three 
councils  should  be  entirely  distinct  from  one  another,  that 


1559]  THREE   COUNCILS  47 

the  members  of  the  state  council  should  have  no  partici- 
pation in  the  affairs  of  the  two  other  bodies ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  the  finance  and  privy  councillors,  as  well 
as  the  Knights  of  the  Fleece,  should  have  access  to  the 
deliberations  of  the  state  council.  In  the  course  of  events, 
however,  it  soon  became  evident  that  the  real  power  of 
the  government  was  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  con- 
sulta,  a  committee  of  three  members  of  the  state  council, 
by  whose  deliberations  the  Regent  was  secretly  instructed 
to  be  guided  on  all  important  occasions.  The  three — Vig- 
lius,  Berlaymont,  and  Arras  —  who  composed  the  secret 
conclave  or  cabinet  were  in  reality  but  one.  The  Bishop 
of  Arras  was  in  all  three,  and  the  three  together  consti- 
tuted only  the  Bishop  of  Arras. 

There  was  no  especial  governor,  or  stadholder,  appointed 
for  the  province  of  Brabant,  where  the  Regent  was  to  re- 
side and  to  exercise  executive  functions  in  person.  The 
stadholders  for  the  other  provinces  were,  for  Flanders  and 
Artois,  the  Count  of  Egmont ;  for  Holland,  Zealand,  and 
Utrecht,  the  Prince  of  Orange  ;  for  Guelders  and  Zutfen, 
the  Count  of  Meghen  ;  for  Friesland,  Groningen,  and  Over- 
yssel,  Count  Aremberg  ;  for  Hainault,  Valenciennes,  and 
Cambrai,  the  Marquis  of  Berghen  ;  for  Tournay  and  Tour- 
naisis.  Baron  Montigny  ;  for  Namur,  Baron  Berlaymont ; 
for  Luxemburg,  Count  Mansfeld  ;  for  Ryssel,  Douai,  and 
Orchies,  the  Baron  Courdires.  All  these  stadholders  were 
commanders-in-chief  of  the  military  forces  in  their  respec- 
tive provinces.  With  the  single  exception  of  the  Count  of 
Egmont,  in  whose  province  of  Flanders  the  stadholders 
were  excluded  from  the  administration  of  justice,  all  were 
likewise  supreme  judges  in  the  civil  and  criminal  tribunal. 
The  military  force  of  the  Netherlands  in  time  of  peace 
was  small,  for  the  provinces  were  jealous  of  the  presence 
of  soldiery.  The  only  standing  army  which  then  legally 
existed  in  the  Netherlands  were  the  Bandes  d'Ordonnance, 
a  body  of  mounted  gendarmerie  —  amounting  in  all  to 
three  thousand  men — which  ranked  among  the  most  ac- 
complished and  best  disciplined  cavalry  of  Europe.  They 
were  divided  into  fourteen  squadrons,  each  under  the 
command  of  a  stadholder,  or  of  a  distinguished  noble. 


48  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1559 

Besides  these  troops,  however,  there  still  remained  in  the 
provinces  a  foreign  force  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to 
four  thousand  men.  These  soldiers  were  the  remainder 
of  those  large  bodies  which  year  after  year  had  been  quar- 
tered upon  the  Netherlands  during  the  constant  warfare 
to  which  they  had  been  exposed.  Living  upon  the  sub- 
stance of  the  country,  paid  out  of  its  treasury,  and  as  of- 
fensive by  their  licentious  and  ribald  habits  of  life  as  were 
the  enemies  against  whom  they  were  enrolled,  these  troops 
had  become  an  intolerable  burden  to  the  people.  They 
were  now  disposed  in  different  garrisons,  nominally  to 
protect  the  frontier.  As  a  firm  peace,  however,  had  now 
been  concluded  between  Spain  and  France,  and  as  there 
was  no  pretext  for  compelling  the  provinces  to  accept  this 
protection,  the  presence  of  a  foreign  soldiery  strengthened 
y  a  suspicion  that  they  were  to  be  used  in  the  onslaught 
^  which  was  preparing  against  the  religious  freedom  and  the 
political  privileges  of  the  country.  They  were  to  be  the 
nucleus  of  a  larger  army,  it  was  believed,  by  which  the 
land  was  to  be  reduced  to  a  state  of  servile  subjection  to 
Spain.  A  low,  constant,  but  generally  unheeded  njurmur 
of  dissatisfaction  and  distrust  upon  this  subject  was* already 
perceptible  throughout  the  Netherlands  —  a  warning  pre- 
sage of  the  coming  storm.  . 

All  the  provinces  were  now  convoked  for  the  7th  of 
August  (1559),  at  Ghent,  there  to  receive  the  parting  com- 
munication and  farewell  of  the  King.  Previously  to  this 
day,  however,  Philip  appeared  in  person  upon  several  sol- 
emn occasions,  to  impress  upon  the  country  the  necessity 
of  attending  to  the  great  subject  with  which  his  mind  was 
exclusively  occupied.  He  came  before  the  great  council 
of  Mechlin,  in  order  to  address  that  body  with  his  own 
lips  upon  the  necessity  of  supporting  the  edicts  to  the  let- 
ter, and  of  trampling  out  every  vestige  of  heresy,  wherever 
it  should  appear,  by  the  immediate  immolation  of  all 
heretics,  whoever  they  might  be. 

He  likewise  caused  the  estates  of  Flanders  to  be  privately 
assembled,  that  he  might  harangue  them  upon  the  same 
great  topic.  In  the  latter  part  of  July  he  proceeded  to 
Ghent,  where  a  great  concourse  of  nobles,  citizens,  and 


1559]  FAREWELL   ADDRESS  49 


strangers  had  already  assembled.  Here,  in  the  last  week 
of  the  month,  the  twenty- third  chapter  of  the  Golden 
Fleece  was  held  with  much  pomp,  and  with  festivities 
which  lasted  three  days.  The  fourteen  vacancies  which 
existed  were  filled  with  the  names  of  various  distinguished 
personages.  With  this  last  celebration  the  public  history 
of  Philip  the  Good's  ostentatious  and  ambitious  order  of 
knighthood  was  closed.  The  subsequent  nominations  were 
made  ex  indultu  apostolico,  and  without  the  assembling  of 
a  chapter. 

The  estates  having  duly  assembled  upon  the  day  pre- 
scribed, Philip,  attended  by  Margaret  of  Parma,  the  Duke 
of  Savoy,  and  a  stately  retinue  of  ambassadors  and  gran- 
dees, made  his  appearance  before  them.  After  the  cus- 
tomary ceremonies  had  been  performed,  the  Bishop  of 
Arras  arose  and  delivered,  in  the  name  of  his  sovereign, 
an  elaborate  address  of  instructions  and  farewells.  Full 
of  pious  commonplaces  and  expressions  of  affectionate  so- 
licitude for  the  welfare  of  his  Netherlandish  subjects,  it 
concluded  with  the  announcement  that  his  Majesty  had 
commanded  the  Regent  Margaret  of  Parma,  for  the  sake 
of  religion  and  the  glory  of  God,  accurately  and  exactly  to 
cause  to  he  enforced  the  edicts  and  decrees  made  hy  his  im- 
perial Majesty y*  and  renewed  hy  his  present  Majesty,  for 
the  extirpation  of  all  sects  and  heresies.     All  governors. 


*  The  edict  of  1521,  issued  at  Worms,  described  Martin  Luther  as  "  not 
a  man,  but  a  devil  under  the  form  of  a  man,  and  clothed  in  the  dress  of  a 
priest  the  better  to  bring  the  human  race  to  hell  and  damnation  ;  therefore 
all  his  disciples  and  converts  are  to  be  punished  with  death  and  forfeiture 
of  all  tlieir  goods."  Issued  without  pretence  of  sanction  of  the  estates,  it 
was  immediately  carried  into  effect.  Though  the  Anabaptists  furnished  the 
first  martyrs  to  the  cause  of  truth  as  expressed  in  the  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion, to  Belgium  belongs  the  honor  of  having  given  the  first  martyrs  of 
evangelical  Lutheranism  in  Henry  Voes  and  John  Esch,  two  Augustinian 
monks,  who  were  burned  at  the  stake  in  Brussels,  July  1,  1523,  reciting 
the  Apostles'  Creed  and  singing  the  "Te  Deum."  See  Dr.  Philip  Schaff's 
Creeds  of  Christendom,  Vol.  I.,  page  503.  Luther  also  sang  the  praises  of 
these  two  martyrs  in  the  song  found  in  many  of  the  old  Lutheran  hymn- 
books —  "  Ein  neues  Lied  wir  haben  an."  One  verse  in  English  begins: 
"  Quiet  their  ashes  will  not  lie,"  etc.  Gieseler's  Church  History,  Vol,  IV., 
page  311. 
4 


•'. 


50  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1559 

councillors,  and  others  having  authority  were  also  in- 
structed to  do  their  utmost  to  accomplish  this  great  end. 

The  great  object  of  the  discourse  was  thus  announced 
in  the  most  impressive  manner,  and  with  all  that  conven- 
tional rhetoric  of  which  the  Bishop  of  Arras  was  considered 
a  consummate  master.  Not  a  word  was  said  on  the  sub- 
ject which  was  nearest  the  hearts  of  the  Netherlanders — 
the  withdrawal  of  the  Spanish  troops.  Not  a  hint  was 
held  out  that  a  reduction  of  the  taxation  under  which  the 
provinces  had  so  long  been  groaning  was  likely  to  take 
place ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  King  had  demanded  a 
new  levy  of  considerable  amount.  A  few  well-turned  para- 
graphs were  added  on  the  subject  of  the  administration  of 
justice — "without  which  the  republic  was  a  dead  body 
without  a  soul " — in  the  Bishop's  most  approved  style,  and 
the  discourse  concluded  with  a  fervent  exhortation  to  the 
provinces  to  trample  heresy  and  heretics  out  of  existence, 
and  with  the  hope  that  the  Lord  God,  in  such  case,  would 
bestow  upon  the  Netherlands  health  and  happiness. 

After  the  address  had  been  concluded,  the  deputies, 
according  to  ancient  form,  requested  permission  to  ad- 
journ, that  the  representatives  of  each  province  might 
deliberate  among  themselves  on  the  point  of  granting  or 
withholding  the  Request  for  the  three  millions.  On  the 
following  day  they  again  assembled  in  the  presence  of  the 
King,  for  the  purpose  of  returning  their  separate  answers 
to  the  propositions. 

The  address  first  read  was  that  of  the  estates  of  Artois. 
The  chairman  of  the  deputies  from  that  province  read 
a  series  of  resolutions,  drawn  up,  says  a  contemporary, 
"  with  that  elegance  which  characterized  all  the  public 
acts  of  the  Artesians,  bearing  witness  to  the  vivacity  of 
their  wits.''  The  deputies  spoke  of  the  extreme  affection 
which  their  province  had  always  borne  to  his  Majesty  and 
to  the  Emperor.  They  had  proved  it  by  the  constancy 
with  which  they  had  endured  the  calamities  of  war  so  long, 
and  they  now  cheerfully  consented  to  the  Request,  so  far 
as  their  contingent  went.  They  were  willing  to  place  at 
his  Majesty's  disposal,  not  only  the  remains  of  their  prop- 
erty, but  even  the  last  drop  of  their  blood. 


1659]  UNEXPECTED   CONDITIONS  51 

As  the  eloquent  chairman  reached  this  point  in  his  dis- 
course, Philip,  who  was  standing  with  his  arm  resting 
upon  Egmont's  shoulder,  listening  eagerly  to  the  Artesian 
address,  looked  upon  the  deputies  of  the  province  with  a 
smiling  face,  expressing  by  the  unwonted  benignity  of  his 
countenance  the  satisfaction  which  he  received  from  these 
loyal  expressions  of  affection  and  this  dutiful  compliance 
with  his  Bequest. 

The  deputy,  however,  proceeded  to  an  unexpected  con- 
clusion by  earnestly  entreating  his  Majesty,  as  a  compen- 
sation for  the  readiness  thus  evinced  in  the  royal  service,  u 
forthwith  to  order  the  departure  of  all  foreign  troops  then 
in  the  Netherlands.  Their  presence,  it  was  added,  was 
now  rendered  completely  superfluous  by  the  ratification 
of  the  treaty  of  peace  so  fortunately  arranged  with  all  the 
world. 

At  this  sudden  change  in  the  deputy's  language,  the 
King,  no  longer  smiling,  threw  himself  violently  upon  his 
chair  of  state,  where  he  remained,  brooding  with  a  gloomy 
countenance  upon  the  language  which  had  been  addressed 
to  him.  It  was  evident,  said  an  eye-witness,  that  he  was 
deeply  offended.  He  changed  color  frequently,  so  that  all 
present  "  could  remark,  from  the  working  of  his  face,  how 
much  his  mind  was  agitated." 

The  rest  of  the  provinces  were  even  more  explicit  than 
the  deputies  of  Artois.     All  had  voted  their  contingents 
to  the  Request,  but  all  had  made  the  withdrawal  of  the 
troops  an  express  antecedent  condition  to  the  payment  of  1^ 
their  respective  quotas. 

The  King  did  not  affect  to  conceal  his  rage  at  these 
conditions,  exclaiming  bitterly  to  Count  Egmont  and  other 
seigniors  near  the  throne  that  it  was  very  easy  to  estimate, 
by  these  proceedings,  the  value  of  the  protestations  made 
by  the  provinces  of  their  loyalty  and  affection. 

Besides,  however,  the  answers  thus  addressed  by  the 
separate  states  to  the  royal  address,  a  formal  remonstrance 
had  also  been  drawn  up  in  the  name  of  the  states-general, 
and  signed  by  the  Prince  of  Orange,  Count  Egmont,  and 
many  of  the  leading  patricians  of  the  Netherlands.  This 
document,  which  was  formally  presented  to  the  King  be- 


52  HISTORY    OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1559 

fore  the  adjournment  of  the  assembly,  represented  the  in- 
famous "  pillaging,  insults,  and  disorders  "  daily  exercised 
by  the  foreign  soldiery  ;  stating  that  the  burden  had  be- 
come intolerable,  and  that  the  inhabitants  of  Marienburg, 
and  of  many  other  large  towns  and  villages,  had  absolutely 
abandoned  their  homes  rather  than  remain  any  longer  ex- 
posed to  such  insolence  and  oppression. 
i  The  King,  already  enraged,  was  furious  at  the  presenta- 
tion of  this  petition.  He  arose  from  his  seat  and  rushed 
Impetuously  from  the  assembly,  demanding  of  the  mem- 
bers as  he  went  whether  he,  too,  as  a  Spaniard,  was  ex- 
pected immediately  to  leave  the  land,  and  to  resign  all 
authority  over  it.  The  Duke  of  Savoy  made  use  of  this 
last  occasion  in  which  he  appeared  in  public  as  Regent  vio- 
lently to  rebuke  the  estates  for  the  indignity  thus  offered 
to  their  sovereign. 

It  could  not  be  forgotten,  however,  by  nobles  and 
burghers,  who  had  not  yet  been  crushed  by  the  long 
course  of  oppression  which  was  in  store  for  them,  that 
there  had  been  a  day  when  Philip's  ancestors  had  been 
more  humble  in  their  deportment  in  the  face  of  the  pro- 
vincial authorities.  His  great-grandfather,  Maximilian, 
kept  in  durance  by  the  citizens  of  Bruges;  his  great- 
grandmother,  Mary  of  Burgundy,  with  streaming  eyes 
and  dishevelled  hair,  supplicating  in  the  market-place  for 
the  lives  of  her  treacherous  ambassadors,  were  wont  to 
hold  a  less  imperious  language  to  the  delegates  of  the 
i  states. 

This  burst  of  ill -temper  on  the  part  of  the  monarch 
was,  however,  succeeded  by  a  diiferent  humor.  It  was 
still  thought  advisable  to  dissemble,  and  to  return  rath- 
er an  expostulatory  than  a  peremptory  answer  to  the  re- 
monstrance of  the  states-general.  Accordingly  a  paper 
of  a  singular  tone  was,  after  the  delay  of  a  few  days,  sent 
into  the  assembly.  In  this  message  it  was  stated  that  the 
King  was  not  desirous  of  placing  strangers  in  the  govern- 
ment— a  fact  which  was  proved  by  the  appointment  of 
the  Duchess  Margaret ;  that  the  Spanish  infantry  was 
necessary  to  protect  the  land  from  invasion ;  that  the 
remnant  of  foreign  troops  only  amounted  to  three  or  four 


1559]  THE   ROYAL  RAGE— PHILIP'S  LETTER  53 

thousand  men,  who  claimed  considerable  arrears  of  pay, 
but  that  the  amount  due  would  be  forwarded  to  them 
immediately  after  his  Majesty's  return  to  Spain.  It  was 
suggested  that  the  troops  would  serve  as  an  escort  for 
Don  Carlos  when  he  should  arrive  in  the  Netherlands, 
although  the  King  would  have  been  glad  to  carry  them 
to  Spain  in  his  fleet,  had  he  known  the  wishes  of  the 
estates  in  time.  He  would,  however,  pay  for  their  sup- 
port himself,  although  they,  were  to  act  solely  for  the 
good  of  the  provinces.  He  observed,  moreover,  that  he 
had  selected  two  seigniors  of  the  provinces,  the  Prince  of 
Orange  and  Count  Egmont,  to  take  command  of  these 
foreign  troops,  and  he  promised  faithfully  that,  in  the 
course  of  three  or  four  months  at  furthest,  they  should  ^ 
all  be  withdrawn. 

On  the  same  day  in  which  the  estates  had  assembled 
at  Ghent,  Philip  had  addressed  an  elaborate  letter  to  the 
grand  council  of  Mechlin,  the  supreme  court  of  the  prov- 
inces, and  to  the  various  provincial  councils  and  tribunals 
of  the  whole  country.  The  object  of  the  communication 
was  to  give  his  final  orders  on  the  subject  of  the  edicts,  and 
for  the  execution  of  all  heretics  in  the  most  universal  and 
summary  manner.  He  gave  stringent  and  unequivocal 
instructions  that  these  decrees  for  burning,  strangling,  \^ 
and  burying  alive  should  be  fulfilled  to  the  letter.  He 
ordered  all  judicial  officers  and  magistrates  "  to  be  curious 
to  inquire  on  all  sides  as  to  the  execution  of  the  placards," 
stating  his  intention  that  *'the  utmost  rigor  should  be 
employed,  without  any  respect  of  persons,"  and  that  not 
only  *^the  transgressors  should  be  proceeded  against,  but 
also  the  judges  who  should  prove  remiss  in  their  prosecu- 
tion of  heretics."  He  alluded  to  a  false  opinion  which 
had  gained  currency  that  the  edicts  were  only  intended 
against  Anabaptists.*      Correcting  this  error,  he  stated 

*  The  term  "  anabaptist,"  or  rebaptizer,  was  little  better  than  an  oppro- 
brious nickname  invented  by  learned  hirelings  of  political  and  ecclesias- 
tical corporations,  and  intended  to  conceal  the  truth.  These  "  Brethren," 
vr  "  Believers,"  as  they  called  themselves,  were  the  pioneers  in  modern 
history  of  what  now  lies  at  the  basis  of  the  American  religious,  social,  and 
r«»litical  structure.     Amid  manifold  variations  of  tenet  and  doctrine,  their 


54  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1559 

that  they  were  to  be  "  enforced  against  all  sectaries,  with- 
out any  distinction  or  mercy,  who  might  be  spotted  merely 
with  the  errors  introduced  by  Luther/" 

The  King,  notwithstanding  the  violent  scenes  in  the 
assembl}^  took  leave  of  the  estates  at  another  meeting  with 
apparent  cordiality.  His  dissatisfaction  was  sufficiently 
manifest,  but  it  expressed  itself  principally  against  indi- 
viduals. His  displeasure  at  the  course  pursued  by  the 
leading  nobles,  particularly  by  the  Prince  of  Orange,  was 
already  no  secret. 

Philip,  soon  after  the  adjournment  of  the  assembly,  had 
completed  the  preparations  for  his  departure.  At  Middel- 
burg  he  was  met  by  the  agreeable  intelligence  that  the 
Pope  had  consented  to  issue  a  bull  for  the  creation  of  the 
new  bishoprics  which  he  desired  for  the  Netherlands.* 

general  basis  of  belief  was  as  follows  :  They  contended  for  the  separation  of 
Church  and  State ;  the  right  of  private  judgment  and  interpretation  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  ;  self-governing  churches,  with  the  rights  and  powers  of  the 
congregation  as  set  forth  in  the  New  Testament ;  no  official  intermeddling 
in  matters  of  conscience  or  persecution  on  account  of  religion;  no  damna- 
tion of  infants,  baptized  or  unbaptized ;  the  salvation  of  the  pious  heathen ; 
the  priesthood  of  all  believers  in  Christ ;  the  validity  of  ordination  by  the 
congregation  of  pastors  and  teachers,  who  were  not  necessarily  a  distinct 
class ;  honest  translations  of  the  Bible,  and  these  to  be  put  into  the  hands 
of  the  people ;  they  believed  in  home  and  foreign  missions,  in  congrega- 
tional singing,  in  prison  reform,  and  that  all  the  commands  of  Christ  were 
equally  binding.  Furthermore,  they  taught  that  the  Bible  was  to  be  honored, 
but  not  worshipped ;  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  to  be  constantly  sought  for 
aid  and  guidance.  These  Bible-readers  also  believed  in  social  and  political 
reconstruction  ;  in  the  abolition  of  the  death  penalty,  of  slavery,  and  of  serf- 
dom ;  in  the  education  of  women,  and  the  equalization  of  the  sexes  in  re- 
ligious life  and  privilege. 

Seeing  these  things,  it  is  slight  wonder  that  the  political  churches  of 
Europe,  both  Roman  and  Reformed,  and  the  practical  politicians,  both  lay 
and  clerical,  were  bent  on  the  annihilation  of  those  whom  they  not  only  put 
to  death  by  thousands,  but  whose  records  they  took  diligent  care  to  destroy. 
The  writings  of  their  enemies,  copied  into  the  popular  works  of  reference, 
have  made  public  the  excesses  and  errors  of  a  ininority  of  these  heralds  of 
modern  order  and  faith,  while  hiding  the  facts  and  true  belief  of  these 
Christians — "  the  pariahs  of  history."  See  *'  The  Anabaptists,"  in  The 
New  World,  Boston,  December  1895. 

*  That  is,  in  the  old  system  three  bishops  for  the  Belgic  and  one  for  the 
northern  provinces ;  or,  in  the  new  expansion  based  on  military  force,  five 
bishops  for  the  southern  and  one  bishop  for  the  northern  provinces.     Of 


15691  FAREWELL   EXPLOSION   OF  WRATH  55 

He  was  escorted  thither  by  the  Duchess  Regent,  the  Duke 
of  Savoy,  and  by  many  of  the  most  eminent  personages 
of  the  provinces.  Among  others,  William  of  Orange  was 
in  attendance  to  witness  the  final  departure  of  the  King, 
and  to  pay  him  his  farewell  respects.  As  Philip  was  pro- 
ceeding on  board  the  ship  which  was  to  bear  him  for- 
ever from  the  Netherlands,  his  eyes  lighted  upon  the 
Prince.  His  displeasure  could  no  longer  be  restrained. 
With  angry  face  he  turned  upon  him,  and  bitterly  re- 
proached him  for  having  thwarted  all  his  plans  by  means 
of  his  secret  intrigues.  William  replied  with  humility 
that  everything  which  had  taken  place  had  been  done 
through  the  regular  and  natural  movements  of  the  states. 
Upon  this  the  King,  boiling  with  rage,  seized  the  Prince 
by  the  wrist,  and  shaking  it  violently,  exclaimed  in  Span- 
ish, '*  No  los  estados,mas  vos,vos,  vos  !"  (Not  the  estates, 
but  you,  you,  you  !)  repeating  thrice  the  word  *' vos,"  which 
is  as  disrespectful  and  uncourteous  in  Spanish  as  "J.oi" 
in  French. 

After  this  severe  and  public  insult,  the  Prince  of  Orange 
did  not  go  on  board  his  Majesty's  vessel,  but  contented 
himself  with  wishing  Philip,  from  the  shore,  a  fortunate 
journey.  It  may  be  doubted,  moreover,  whether  he  would 
not  have  made  a  sudden  and  compulsory  voyage  to  Spain 
had  he  ventured  his  person  in  the  ship,  and  whether, 
under  the  circumstances,  he  would  have  been  likely  to 
effect  as  speedy  a  return.  His  caution  served  him  then 
as  it  was  destined  to  do  on  many  future  occasions,  and 
Philip  left  the  Netherlands  with  this  parting  explosion  of 
hatred  against  the  man  who,  as  he  perhaps  instinctively 
felt,  was  destined  to  circumvent  his  measures  and  resist 
his  tyranny  to  the  last. 

The  fleet,  which  consisted  of  ninety  vessels,  so  well 
provisioned  that,  among  other  matters,  fifteen  thousand 
capons  were  put  on  board,  according  to  the  Antwerp 
chronicler,  set  sail  upon  the  26th  of  August  (1559)  from 
Flushing.    The  voyage  proved  tempestuous,  so  that  much 


the  three  million  inhabitants  in  the  Netherlands,  all  except  eight  hundred 
thousand  lived  south  of  the  Waal  and  the  Scheldt. 


56  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1559 

of  the  rich  tapestry  and  other  merchandise  which  had 
been  accumulated  by  Charles  and  Philip  was  lost.  Some 
of  the  vessels  foundered ;  to  save  others^  it  was  necessary 
to  lighten  the  cargo,  and  ^'  to  enrobe  the  roaring  waters 
with  the  silks ''  for  which  the  Netherlands  were  so  famous; 
so  that  it  was  said  that  Philip  and  his  father  had  impov- 
erished the  earth  only  to  enrich  the  ocean.  The  fleet 
had  been  laden  Avith  much  valuable  property,  because  the 
King  had  determined  to  fix  for  the  future  the  wander- 

,  ing  capital  of  his  dominions  in  Spain.  Philip  landed  in 
safety,  however,  at  Laredo,  on  the  8th  of  September.  His 
escape  from  imminent  peril  confirmed  him  in  the  great 
purpose  to  which  he  had  consecrated  his  existence.  He 
believed  himself  to  have  been  reserved  from  shipwreck 
only  because  a  mighty  mission  had  been  confided  to  him, 
and  lest  his  enthusiasm  against  heresy  should  languish, 
his  eyes  were  soon  feasted,  upon  his  arrival  in  his  native 
country,  with  the  spectacle  of  an  auja-da-fe. 

Early  in  January  of  this  year,  the  King  being  persuaded 
that  it  was  necessary  everywhere  to  use  additional  means 
to  check  the  alarming  spread  of  Lutheran  opinions,  had 
written  to  the  Pope  for  authority  to  increase,  if  that  were 
possible,  the  stringency  of  the  Spanish  inquisition.  The 
Pontiff,  nothing  loath,  had  accordingly  issued  a  bull  di- 
rected to  the  Inquisitor-General,  Valdez,  by  which  he  was 
instructed  to  consign  to  the  flames  all  prisoners  whatever, 
even  those  who  were  not  accused  of  having  "relapsed.^' 
Great  preparations  had  been  made  to  strike  terror  into 
the  hearts  of  heretics  by  a  series  of  horrible  exhibitions, 
in  the  course  of  which  the  numerous  victims,  many  of 
them  persons  of  high  rank,  distinguished  learning,  and 
exemplary  lives,  who  had  long  been  languishing  in  the 
dungeons  of  the  holy  office,  were  to  be  consigned  to  the 

*-^  flames.  The  first  auto-da-fe  had  been  consummated  at 
Valladolid  on  the  21st  of  May  (1559),  in  the  absence  of  the 
King,  of  course,  but  in  the  presence  of  the  royal  family 
and  the  principal  notabilities,  civil,  ecclesiastical,  and  mil- 
itary. The  Princess  Eegent,  seated  on  her  throne,  close 
to  the  scaffold,  had  held  on  high  the  holy  sword.  The 
Archbishop  of  Seville,  followed  by  the  ministers  of  the 


1559]  AUTOS-DA-F^  UPON   PHILIP'S    RETURN  57 

inquisition  and  by  the  victims,  had  arrived  in  solemn  pro- 
cession at  the  '^cadahalso/'  where,  after  the  usual  sermon 
in  praise  of  the  holy  office  and  in  denunciation  of  heresy, 
he  had  administered  the  oath  to  the  Infante,  who  had 
duly  sworn  upon  the  crucifix  to  maintain  forever  the  sa- 
cred inquisition  and  the  apostolic  decrees.  The  Arch- 
bishop had  then  cried  aloud,  "^  So  may  God  prosper  your 
Highnesses  and  your  estates";  after  which  the  men  and 
women  who  formed  the  object  of  the  show  had  been  cast 
into  the  flames.  It  being  afterwards  ascertained  that  the 
King  himself  would  soon  be  enabled  to  return  to  Spain, 
the  next  festival  was  reserved  as  a  fitting  celebration  ior^^ 
his  arrival.  Upon  the  8th  of  October,  accordingly,  another 
auto-da-fe  took  place  at  Valladolid.  The  King,  with  his 
sister  and  his  son,  the  high  officers  of  state,  the  foreign 
ministers,  and  all  the  nobility  of  the  kingdom,  were  pres- 
ent, together  with  an  immense  concourse  of  soldiery, 
clergy,  and  populace.  The  sermon  was  preached  by  the 
Bishop  of  Cuenga.  When  it  was  finished,  Inquisitor-Gen- 
eral Valdez  cried,  with  a  loud  voice,  "  O  God,  make  speed 
to  help  us  !''  The  King  then  drew  his  sword.  Valdez, 
advancing  to  the  platform  upon  which  Philip  was  seated, 
proceeded  to  read  the  protestation:  **Your  Majesty 
swears  by  the  cross  of  the  sword,  whereon  your  royal  hand 
reposes,  that  you  will  give  all  necessary  favor  to  the  holy 
office  of  the  inquisition  against  heretics,  apostates,  and 
those  who  favor  them,  and  will  denounce  and  inform 
against  all  those  who,  to  your  royal  knowledge,  shall  act 
or  speak  against  the  faith."  The  King  answered  aloud, 
'^  I  swear  it,"  and  signed  the  paper.  The  oath  was  read 
to  the  whole  assembly  by  an  officer  of  the  inquisition. 
Thirteen  distinguished  victims  were  then  burned  before 
the  monarch's  eyes,  besides  one  body  which  a  friendly 
death  had  snatched  from  the  hands  of  the  holy  office,  and 
the  effigy  of  another  person  who  had  been  condemned, 
although  not  yet  tried  or  even  apprehended.  Among  the 
sufferers  was  Carlos  de  Sessa,  a  young  noble  of  distin- 
guished character  and  abilities,  who  said  to  the  King  as 
he  passed  by  the  throne  to  the  stake,  *^How  can  you  thus 
look  on  and  permit  me  to  be  burned  ?"    Philip  then  made 


58  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1552 

the  memorable  reply,  carefully  recorded  by  his  histori- 
ographer and  panegyrist  :  ""  I  would  carry  the  wood  to 
burn  my  own  son  withal,  were  he  as  wicked  as  you." 

In  Seville,  immediately  afterwards,  another  auto-da-fe 
was  held,  in  which  fifty  living  heretics  were  burned,  be- 
sides the  bones  of  Doctor  Constantino  Ponce  de  la  Fuente, 
once  the  friend,  chaplain,  and  almoner  of  Philip's  father. 
This  learned  and  distinguished  ecclesiastic  had  been  re- 
leased from  a  dreadful  dungeon  by  a  fortunate  fever. 
The  holy  office,  however,  not  content  with  punishing  his 
corpse,  wreaked  also  an  impotent  and  ludicrous  malice 
*upon  his  effigy.  A  stuffed  figure,  attired  in  his  robes  and 
with  its  arms  extended  in  the  attitude  which  was  habitual 
^ith  him  in  prayer,  was  placed  upon  the  scaffold  among 
the  living  victims,  and  then  cast  into  the  flames,  that  big- 
otry might  enjoy  a  fantastic  triumph  over  the  grave. 

Such  were  the  religious  ceremonies  with  which  Philip 
celebrated  his  escape  from  shipwreck,  and  his  marriage 
with  Elizabeth  of  France,  immediately  afterwards  solem- 
nized. These  human  victims,  chained  and  burning  at  the 
stake,  were  the  blazing  torches  which  lighted  the  monarch 
to  his  nuptial  couch. 


part  HI 

AIMINISTRATION  OF  THE  DUCHESS  MARGARET 

1559-1567 


CHAPTER  I 
THE   SISTER   OF    PHILIP 

Margaret  of  Parma,  newly  appointed  Regent  of  the 
Netherlands,  was  the  natural  daughter  of  Charles  the 
Fifth,  and  his  eldest  born  child.  Her  mother,  of  a  re- 
spectable family  called  Van  der  Genst,  in  Oudenarde,  had 
been  adopted  and  brought  up  bj  the  distinguished  house 
of  Hoogstraaten.  Peculiar  circumstances,  not  necessary 
to  relate  at  length,  had  palliated  the  fault  to  which  Mar- 
garet owed  her  imperial  origin,  and  gave  the  child  almost 
a  legitimate  claim  upon  its  father^s  protection.  The  claim 
was  honorably  acknowledged.  Margaret  was  in  her  in- 
fancy placed  by  the  Emperor  in  the  charge  of  his  paternal 
aunt,  Margaret  of  Savoy,  then  Regent  of  the  provinces. 
Upon  the  death  of  that  princess,  the  child  was  intrusted 
to  the  care  of  the  Emperor's  sister,  Mary,  Queen  Dowager 
of  Hungary,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  government,  and 
who  occupied  it  until  the  abdication.  The  huntress-queen 
communicated  her  tastes  to  her  youthful  niece,  and  Mar- 
garet soon  outri vailed  her  instructress  in  the  ardor  with 
which  she  pursued  the  stag  and  in  courageous  horseman- 
ship. She  was  married  at  twelve  to  the  Pope's  nephew, 
Alexander  de  Medici,  but  was  left  a  widow  within  a  year, 
through  the  assassination  of  her  profligate  husband  by  his 
kinsman,  Lorenzino  de  Medici.  A  few  years  later  she  was 
united  to  an  immature  youth  of  thirteen,  Ottavio  Farnese, 
nephew  of  Pope  Paul  the  Third.  Their  union  was  blessed 
with  twins,  one  of  whom  became  the  famous  Alexander 
of  Parma. 

Various  considerations  pointed  her  out  to  Philip  as  a 
suitable  person  for  the  office  of  Regent,  although  there 


62  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1569 

seemed  some  mystery  about  the  appointment  which  de- 
manded explanation.  It  was  thought  that  her  birth  would 
make  her  acceptable  to  the  people  ;  but  perhaps  the  secret 
reason  with  Philip  was  that  she  alone  of  all  other  candi- 
dates would  be  amenable  to  the  control  of  the  churchman 
in  whose  hand  he  intended  placing  the  real  administration 
of  the  provinces.  Moreover,  her  husband  was  very  desir- 
ous that  the  citadel  of  Piacenza,  still  garrisoned  by  Span- 
ish troops,  should  be  surrendered  to  him.  Philip  was  dis- 
posed to  conciliate  the  Duke,  but  unwilling  to  give  up 
the  fortress.  He  felt  that  Ottavio  would  be  flattered  by 
the  nomination  of  his  wife  to  so  important  an  office,  and 
be  not  too  much  dissatisfied  at  finding  himself  relieved 
for  a  time  from  her  imperious  fondness.  Her  residence 
in  the  Netherlands  would  guarantee  domestic  tranquillity 
to  her  husband,  and  peace  in  Italy  to  the  King.  Margaret 
would  be  a  hostage  for  the  fidelity  of  the  Duke,  who  had, 
moreover,  given  his  eldest  son  to  Philip  to  be  educated 
in  his  service. 

She  was  about  thirty-seven  years  of  age  when  she  ar- 
rived in  the  Netherlands,  with  the  reputation  of  possess- 
ing high  talents,  and  a  proud  and  energetic  character. 
She  was  an  enthusiastic  Catholic,  and  had  sat  at  the  feet 
of  Loyola,  who  had  been  her  confessor  and  spiritual  guide. 
She  felt  a  greater  horror  for  heretics  than  for  any  other 
species  of  malefactors,  and  looked  up  to  her  father^s  bloody 
edicts  as  if  they  had  been  special  revelations  from  on  high. 
She  was  most  strenuous  in  her  observance  of  Eoman  rites, 
and  was  accustomed  to  wash  the  feet  of  twelve  virgins 
every  holy  week,  and  to  endow  them  in  marriage  after- 
wards. 

Carefully  educated  in  the  Machiavelian  and  Medicean 
school  of  politics,  she  was  versed  in  that  "  dissimulation '" 
to  which  liberal  Anglo-Saxons  give  a  shorter  name,  but 
which  formed  the  main  substance  of  statesmanship  at  the 
court  of  Charles  and  Philip.  In  other  respects  her  accom- 
plishments were  but  meagre,  and  she  had  little  acquaint- 
ance with  any  language  but  Italian.  Her  personal  ap- 
pearance, which  was  masculine,  but  not  without  a  certain 
grand  and  imperial  fascination,  harmonized  with  the  opin- 


MARGARET  OF  PARMA 


1559]  BERLAYMONT   AND   VIGLIUS  63 

ion  generally  entertained  of  her  character.  The  famous 
mustache  upon  her  upper  lip  was  supposed  to  indicate 
authority  and  virility  of  purpose,  an  impression  which  was 
confirmed  by  the  circumstance  that  she  was  liable  to  se- 
vere attacks  of  gout,  a  disorder  usually  considered  more 
appropriate  to  the  sterner  sex. 

The  members  of  the  state  council,  as  already  observed, 
were  Berlaymont,  Viglius,  Arras,  Orange,  and  Egmont. 

The  first  was,  likewise,  chief  of  the  finance  department. 
Most  of  the  Catholic  writers  describe  him  as  a  noble  of 
loyal  and  highly  honorable  character.  Those  of  the  Prot- 
estant party,  on  the  contrary,  uniformly  denounce  him 
as  greedy,  avaricious,  and  extremly  sanguinary.  That  he 
was  a  brave  and  devoted  soldier,  a  bitter  papist,  and  an  in- 
flexible adherent  to  the  royal  cause,  has  never  been  dis- 
puted. The  Baron  himself,  with  his  four  courageous  and 
accomplished  sons,  were  ever  in  the  front  ranks  to  defend 
the  crown  against  the  nation. 

Viglius  van  Aytta  van  Zuichem  was  a  learned  Frisian, 
born,  according  to  some  writers,  of  '*  boors'  degree,  but 
having  no  inclination  for  boorish  work."  According  to 
other  authorities,  which  the  president  himself  favored,  he 
was  of  noble  origin  ;  but,  whatever  his  race,  it  is  certain 
that  whether  gentle  or  simple,  it  derived  its  first  and  only 
historical  illustration  from  his  remarkable  talents  and  ac- 
quirements. These  in  early  youth  were  so  great  as  to  ac- 
quire the  commendation  of  Erasmus.  He  had  studied  in 
Louvain,  Paris,  and  Padua,  had  refused  the  tutorship  of 
Philip  when  that  prince  was  still  a  child,  and  had  after- 
wards filled  a  professorship  at  Ingolstadt.  After  rejecting 
several  offers  of  promotion  from  the  Emperor,  he  had  at 
last  accepted  in  1542  a  seat  in  the  council  of  Mechlin,  of 
which  body  he  had  become  president  in  1545.  He  had  been 
one  of  the  peace  commissioners  to  France  in  1558,  and 
was  now  president  of  the  privy  council,  a  member  of  the 
state  council,  and  of  the  inner  and  secret  committee  of 
that  board,  called  the  Oonsulta.  Much  odium  was  attached 
CO  his  name  for  his  share  in  the  composition  of  the  famous 
edict  of  1550.  The  rough  draught  was  usually  attributed 
to  his  pen,  but  he  complained  bitterly,  in  letters  written 


64  UISTOHY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1559 

at  this  time,  of  injustice  done  him  in  this  respect,  and 
maintained  that  he  had  endeavored,  without  success,  to 
induce  the  Emperor  to  mitigate  the  severity  of  the  edict. 
One  does  not  feel  very  strongly  inclined  to  accept  his  ex- 
cuses, however,  when  his  general  opinions  on  the  subject 
of  religion  are  remembered.  He  was  most  bigoted  in  pre- 
cept and  practice.  Religious  liberty  he  regarded  as  the 
most  detestable  and  baleful  of  doctrines ;  heresy  he  de- 
nounced as  the  most  unpardonable  of  crimes. 

The  president  was  naturally  anxious  that  the  fold  of 
Christ  should  be  intrusted  to  none  but  regular  shepherds, 
for  he  looked  forward  to  taking  one  of  the  most  lucrative 
crooks  into  his  own  hand  when  he  should  retire  from  his 
secular  career. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  say  a  few  introductory  words  con- 
cerning the  man  who,  from  this  time  forth,  begins  to  rise 
upon  the  history  of  his  country  with  daily  increasing  gran- 
deur and  influence.  William  of  Nassau,  Prince  of  Orange, 
although  still  young  in  years,  is  already  the  central  per- 
sonage about  whom  the  events  and  the  characters  of  the 
epoch  most  naturally  group  themselves  ;  destined  as  he  is 
to  become  more  and  more  with  each  succeeding  year  the 
vivifying  source  of  light,  strength,  and  national  life  to  a 
whole  people. 

The  Nassau  family  first  emerges  into  distinct  existence 
in  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century.  It  divides  itself 
almost  as  soon  as  known  into  two  great  branches.  The 
elder  remained  in  Germany,  ascended  the  imperial  throne 
in  the  thirteenth  century  in  the  person  of  Adolph  of  Nas- 
sau, and  gave  to  the  country  many  electors,  bishops,  and 
generals.  The  younger  and  more  illustrious  branch  re- 
tained the  modest  property  and  petty  sovereignty  of  Nas- 
sau-Dillenburg,  but  at  the  same  time  transplanted  itself 
to  the  Netherlands,  where  it  attained  at  an  early  period  to 
great  power  and  large  possessions.  The  ancestors  of  Will- 
iam, as  Dukes  of  Gueldres,  had  begun  to  exercise  sov- 
ereignty in  the  provinces  four  centuries  before  the  advent 
of  the  house  of  Burgundy.  That  overshadowing  family 
afterwards  numbered  the  Netherland  Nassaus  among  its 
most  stanch  and  powerful  adherents.     Engelbert  the  Sec- 


1559]  THE   xVASSAU   FAMILY  65 

ond  was  distinguished  in  the  turbulent  councils  and  in  the 
battle-fields  of  Charles  the  Bold,  and  was  afterwards  the 
unwavering  supporter  of  Maximilian  in  court  and  camp. 
Dying  childless,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  brother  John, 
whose  two  sons,  Henry  and  William  of  Nassau,  divided 
the  great  inheritance  after  their  father^s  death.     William 
succeeded  to  the  German  estates,   became  a  convert  to 
Protestantism,  and  introduced  the  Reformation  into  his 
dominions.     Henry,  the   elder   son,  received   the  family 
possessions  and  titles  in  Luxemburg,  Brabant,  Flanders, 
and  Holland,  and  distinguished  himself  as  much  as  his 
uncle  Engelbert  in  the  service  of  the  Burgundo-Austrian 
house.    The  confidential  friend  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  whose 
governor  he  had  been  in  that  emperor's  boyhood,  he  was 
ever  his  most  efficient  and  reliable  adherent.     It  was  he 
whose  influence  placed  the  imperial  crown  upon  the  head 
of  Charles.     In  151*5  he  espoused  Claudia  de  Chalons,  sis- 
ter of  Prince  Philibert  of  Orange,  "in  order,"  as  he  Avrote 
to  his  father,  "to  be  obedient  to  his  imperial  Majesty,  to 
please  the  King  of  France,  and  more  particularly  for  the 
sake  of  his  oimi  lionor  and  profit."     His  son  Rene  de  Nas- 
sau-Chalons succeeded  Philibert.     The  little  principality 
of  Orange,  so  pleasantly  situated  between  Pi^ovence  and 
Dauphiny,  but  in  such  dangerous  proximity  to  the  seat  of 
the  "Babylonian  captivity  "  of  the  Popes  at  Avignon,  thus 
passed  to  the  family  of  Nassau.     The  title  was  of  high  an- 
tiquity.   Already  in  the  reign  of  Charlemagne,  Guillaume 
au  Court-Nez,  or  "  William  with  the  Short  Nose,"  had  de- 
fended the  little  town  of  Orange  against  the  assaults  of  the 
Saracens.     The  interest  and  authority  acquired  in  the  de- 
mesnes thus  preserved  by  his  valor  became  extensive,  and 
in  process  of  time  hereditary  in  his  race.    The  principality 
became  an  absolute  and  free  sovereignty,  and  had  already 
descended,  in  defiance  of  the  Salic  law,  through  the  three 
distinct  families  of  Orange,  Baux,  and  Chalons. 

In  1544,  Prince  Rene  died  at  the  Emperor's  feet  in 
the  trenches  of  Saint  Dizier.  Having  no  legitimate  chil- 
dren, he  left  all  his  titles  and  estates  to  his  cousin-german, 
William  of  Nassau,  son  of  his  father's  brother  William, 
who  thus  at  the  age  of  eleven  years  became  William  the 

5 


Q6  HISTORY   OF   THE   Nf:THERLANDS  [1559 

Ninth  of  Orange.  For  this  child,  whom  the  future  was  to 
summon  to  such  high  destinies  and  such  heroic  sacrifices, 
the  past  and  present  seemed  to  have  gathered  riches  and 
power  together  from  many  sources.  He  was  the  descend- 
ant of  the  Ottos,  the  Engelberts,  and  the  Henrys,  of  the 
Netherlands ;  the  representative  of  the  Philiberts  and  the 
Renes  of  France;  the  chief  of  a  house,  humbler  in  re- 
sources and  position  in  Germany,  but  still  of  high  rank, 
and  which  had  already  done  good  service  to  humanity  by 
being  among  the  first  to  embrace  the  great  principles  of 
the  Reformation. 

His  father,  younger  brother  of  the  Emperor's  friend 
Henry,  was  called  William  the  Rich.  He  was,  however, 
only  rich  in  children.  Of  these  he  had  five  sons  and  seven 
daughters  by  his  wife  Juliana  of  Stolberg.  She  was  a 
person  of  most  exemplary  character  and  unaffected  piety. 
She  instilled  into  the  minds  of  all  her  children  the  ele- 
ments of  that  devotional  sentiment  which  was  her  own 
striking  characteristic,  and  it  was  destined  that  the  seed 
sown  early  should  increase  to  an  abundant  harvest.  Noth- 
ing can  be  more  tender  or  more  touching  than  the  letters 
which  still  exist  from  her  hand,  written  to  her  illustrious 
sons  in  hours  of  anxiety  or  anguish,  and  to  the  last  rec- 
ommending to  them  with  as  much  earnest  simplicity  as  if 
they  were  still  little  children  at  her  knee,  to  rely  always, 
in  the  midst  of  the  trials  and  dangers  which  were  to  beset 
their  paths  through  life,  upon  the  great  hand  of  God. 
Among  the  mothers  of  great  men  Juliana  of  Stolberg  de- 
serves a  foremost  place,  and  it  is  no  slight  eulogy  that  she 
was  worthy  to  have  been  the  mother  of  William  of  Orange 
and  of  Louis,  Adolphus,  Henry,  and  John  of  Nassau. 

At  the  age  of  eleven  years,  William  having  thus  unex- 
pectedly succeeded  to  such  great  possessions,  was  sent  from 
his  father's  roof  to  be  educated  in  Brussels.  No  destiny 
seemed  to  lie  before  the  young  Prince  but  an  education  at 
the  Emperor's  court,  to  be  followed  by  military  advent- 
ures, embassies,  viceroyalties,  and  a  life  of  luxury  and 
magnificence.  At  a  very  early  age  he  came,  accordingly, 
as  a  page  into  the  Emperor's  family.  Charles  recognized, 
with  his  customary  quickness,  the  remarkable  character 


1659]  HIGH   FORTUNES  OF   ORANGE  67 

of  the  boy.  At  fifteen,  William  was  the  intimate,  almost 
confidential,  friend  of  the  Emperor,  who  prided  himself, 
above  all  other  gifts,  on  his  power  of  reading  and  of  using 
men.  The  youth  was  so  constant  an  attendant  upon  his 
imperial  chief  that  even  when  interviews  with  the  highest 
personages,  and  upon  the  gravest  affairs,  were  taking  place, 
Charles  would  never  suffer  him  to  be  considered  superflu- 
ous or  intrusive.  There  seemed  to  be  no  uCcrets  which 
the  Emperor  held  too  high  for  the  comprehension  or  dis- 
cretion of  his  page.  His  perceptive  and  reflective  facul- 
ties, naturally  of  remarkable  keenness  and  depth,  thus  ac- 
quired a  precocious  and  extraordinary  development.  He 
was  brought  up  behind  the  curtain  of  that  great  stage 
where  the  world's  dramas  were  daily  enacted.  The  ma- 
chinery and  the  masks  which  produced  the  grand  delu- 
sions of  history  had  no  deceptions  for  him.  Carefully  to 
observe  men's  actions,  and  silently  to  ponder  upon  their 
motives,  was  the  favorite  occupation  of  the  Prince  during 
his  apprenticeship  at  court.  As  he  advanced  to  man's 
estate,  he  was  selected  by  the  Emperor  for  the  highest 
duties.  Charles,  whose  only  merit,  so  far  as  the  provinces 
were  concerned,  was  in  having  been  born  in  Ghent,  and 
that  by  an  ignoble  accident,  was  glad  to  employ  this  repre- 
sentative of  so  many  great  Netherland  houses  in  the  de- 
fence of  the  land.  Before  the  Prince  was  twenty-one  he 
was  appointed  general-in-chief  of  the  army  on  the  French 
frontier,  in  the  absence  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy.  The  young 
Prince  acquitted  himself  of  his  high  command  in  a  man- 
ner which  justified  his  appointment. 

It  was  the  Prince's  shoulder  upon  which  the  Emperor 
leaned  at  the  abdication ;  the  Prince's  hand  which  bore 
the  imperial  insignia  of  the  discrowned  monarch  to  Ferdi- 
nand, at  Augsburg.  With  these  duties  his  relations  with 
Charles  were  ended  and  those  with  Philip  begun.  He 
was  with  the  army  during  the  hostilities  which  were  soon 
after  resumed  in  Picardy ;  he  was  the  secret  negotiator 
of  the  preliminary  arrangement  with  France,  soon  after- 
wards confirmed  by  the  triumphant  treaty  of  April,  1559. 
He  had  conducted  these  initiatory  conferences  with  the 
Constable  Montmorency  and  Marshal  de  Saint  Andre  with 


68  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1559 

great  sagacHy,  although  l^ardly  a  man  in  years,  and  by  so 
doing  he  had  laid  Philip  under  deep  obligations. 

With  so  great  impatience  fcr  peace  on  the  part  of  Philip, 
it  certainly  manifested  diplom.^tic  abilities  of  a  high  char- 
acter in  the  Prince  that  the  reaty  negotiated  by  him 
amounted  to  a  capitulation  by  a  ranee.  He  was  one  of 
the  hostages  selected  by  Henry  for  the  due  execution  of 
the  treaty,  and  while  in  France  made  that  remarkable  dis- 
covery which  was  to  color  his  life.  While  hunting  with 
the  King  in  the  forest  of  Vincennes,  the  Prince  and  Henry 
found  themselves  alone  together,  and  separated  from  the 
rest  of  the  company.  The  French  monarches  mind  was 
full  of  the  great  scheme  which  had  just  secretly  been 
formed  by  Philip  and  himself,  to  extirpate  Protestantism 
by  a  general  extirpation  of  Protestants.  Philip  had  been 
most  anxious  to  conclude  the  public  treaty  with  France, 
that  he  might  be  the  sooner  able  to  negotiate  that  secret 
convention  by  which  he  and  his  Most  Christian  Majesty 
were  solemnly  to  bind  themselves  to  massacre  all  the  con- 
verts to  the  new  religion  in  France  and  the  Netherlands. 
This  conspiracy  of  the  two  Kings  against  their  subjects 
was  the  matter  nearest  the  hearts  of  both.  The  Duke  of 
Alva,  a  fellow  hostage  with  William  of  Orange,  was  the 
plenipotentiary  to  conduct  this  more  important  arrange- 
ment. The  French  monarch,  somewhat  imprudently  im- 
agining that  the  Prince  was  also  a  party  to  the  plot,  opened 
the  whole  subject  to  him  without  reserve.  He  proceeded, 
with  cynical  minuteness,  to  lay  before  his  discreet  com- 
panion the  particulars  of  the  royal  plgt,  and  the  manner 
in  which  all  heretics,  whether  high  or  humble,  were  to  be 
discovered  and  massacred  at  the  most  convenient  season. 
For  the  furtherance  of  the  scheme  in  the  Netherlands,  it 
was  understood  that  the  Spanish  regiments  would  be  ex- 
ceedingly efficient.  The  Prince,  although  horror-struck 
and  indignant  at  the  royal  revelations,  held  his  peace  and 
kept  his  countenance.  The  King  was  not  aware  that,  in 
opening  this  delicate  negotiation  to  Alva^s  colleague  and 
Philip^s  plenipotentiary,  he  had  given  a  warning  of  inesti- 
mable value  to  the  man  who  had  been  born  to  resist  the 
machinations  of  Philip  and  of  Alva. 


WILLIAM   THE   SILENT,  PRINCE   OF   ORANGE 


1569]  THE   SILENT   PRINCE  69 

William  of  Orange  earned  the  surname  of  The  Silent 
from  the  manner  in  which  he  received  these  communica- 
tions of  Henry  without  revealing  to  the  monarch,  by  word 
or  look,  the  enormous  blunder  which  he  had  committed. 
His  purpose  was  fixed  from  that  hour.  A  few  days  after- 
wards he  obtained  permission  to  visit  the  Netherlands, 
where  he  took  measures  to  excite,  with  all  his  influence, 
the  strongest  and  most  general  opposition  to  the  continued 
presence  of  the  Spanish  troops,  of  which  forces,  much 
against  his  will,  he  had  been,  in  conjunction  with  Egmont, 
appointed  chief.  He  already  felt,  in  his  own  language, 
that  "  an  inquisition  for  the  Netherlands  had  been  resolved 
upon  more  cruel  than  that  of  Spain,  since  it  would  need  but 
to  look  askance  at  an  image  to  be  cast  into  the  flames." 
Although  having  as  yet  no  spark  of  religious  sympathy 
for  the  reformers,  he  could  not,  he  said,  "but  feel  com- 
passion for  so  many  virtuous  men  and  women  thus  de- 
voted to  massacre,"  and  he  determined  to  save  them  if 
he  could. 

At  the  departure  of  Philip  he  had  received  instructions, 
both  patent  and  secret,  for  his  guidance  as  stadholder  of 
Holland,  Friesland,  and  Utrecht.  He  was  ordered  "most 
expressly  to  correct  and  extirpate  the  sects  reprobated  by 
our  Holy  Mother  Church;  to  execute  the  edicts  of  his 
imperial  Majesty,  renewed  by  the  King,  with  absolute 
rigor.  He  was  to  see  that  the  judges  carried  out  the 
edicts,  without  infractioii,  alteratioUy  or  moderatmi,  since 
they  were  there  to  enforce,  not  to  make  or  to  discuss  the 
law."  In  his  secret  instructions  he  was  informed  that  the 
execution  of  the  edicts  was  to  be  with  all  rigor,  and  with- 
out any  respect  of  persons.  He  was  also  reminded  that, 
whereas  some  persons  had  imagined  the  severity  of  the 
law  "to  be  only  intended  against  Anabaptists,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  edicts  were  to  be  enforced  on  Lutherans  and 
all  other  sectaries  without  distinction."  Moreover,  in  one 
of  his  last  interviews  with  Philip,  the  King  had  given  him 
the  names  of  several  "excellent  persons  suspected  of  the 
new  religion,"  and  had  commanded  him  to  have  them  put 
to  death.  This,  however,  he  not  only  omitted  to  do,  but 
on  the  contrary  gave  them  warning,  so  that  they  might 


70  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1559 

effect  their  escape,  ^^  thinking  it  more  necessary  to  obey 
God  than  man/' 

William  of  Orange,  at  the  departure  of  the  King  for 
Spain,  was  in  his  twenty-seventh  year.  He  was  a  widower, 
his  first  wife,  Anne  of  Egmont,  having  died  in  1558,  after 
seven  years  of  wedlock.  This  lady,  to  whom  he  had  been 
united  when  they  were  both  eighteen  years  of  age,  was 
the  daughter  of  the  celebrated  general.  Count  de  Buren, 
and  the  greatest  heiress  in  the  Netherlands.  William 
had  thus  been  faithful  to  the  family  traditions,  and  had 
increased  his  possessions  by  a  wealthy  alliance.  He  had 
two  children,  Philip  and  Mary.  The  marriage  had  been 
more  amicable  than  princely  marriages  arranged  for  con- 
venience often  prove.  The  letters  of  the  Prince  to  his 
wife  indicate  tenderness  and  contentment. 

We  are  not  to  regard  William  of  Orange,  thus  on  the 
threshold  of  his  great  career,  by  the  light  diffused  from  a 
somewhat  later  period.  In  no  historical  character  more 
remarkably  than  in  his  is  the  law  of  constant  develop- 
ment and  progress  illustrated.  At  twenty-six  he  is  not 
the  ''  pater  pair  ice  "  the  great  man  struggling  upward  and 
onward  against  a  host  of  enemies  and  obstacles  almost  be- 
yond human  strength,  and  along  the  dark  and  dangerous 
path  leading  through  conflict,  privation,  and  ceaseless 
labor  to  no  repose  but  death.  On  the  contrary,  his  foot 
was  hardly  on  the  first  step  of  that  difficult  ascent  which 
was  to  rise  before  him  all  his  lifetime.  He  was  still 
among  the  primrose  paths.  He  was  rich,  powerful,  of 
sovereign  rank.  He  had  only  the  germs  within  him  of 
what  was  thereafter  to  expand  into  moral  and  intellectual 
greatness.  He  had  small  sympathy  for  the  religious  ref- 
ormation, of  which  he  was  to  be  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished champions.  He  was  a  Catholic,  nominally  and 
in  outward  observance.  With  doctrines  he  troubled  him- 
self but  little.  He  had  given  orders  to  enforce  conformity 
to  the  ancient  Church,  not  with  bloodshed,  yet  with  com- 
parative strictness,  in  his  principality  of  Orange.  Beyond 
the  compliance  with  rites  and  forms,  thought  indispensable 
in  those  days  to  a  personage  of  such  high  degree,  he  did 
not  occupy  himself  with  theology.     He  was  a  Catholic, 


1559]  PROGRESSIVE   DEVELOPMENT  71 

as  Egmont  and  Horn,  Berlaymont  and  Mansfeld,  Montigny 
and  even  Brederode,  were  Catholic.  It  was  only  tanners, 
dyers,  and  apostate  priests  who  were  Protestants  at  that 
day  in  the  Netherlands.  His  determination  to  protect  a 
multitude  of  his  harmless  inferiors  from  horrible  deaths 
did  not  proceed  from  sympathy  with  their  religious  senti- 
ments, but  merely  from  a  generous  and  manly  detestation 
of  murder.  He  carefully  averted  his  mind  from  sacred 
matters.  If,  indeed,  the  seed  implanted  by  his  pious 
parents  were  really  the  germ  of  his  future  conversion  to 
Protestantism,  it  must  be  confessed  that  it  lay  dormant 
a  long  time.  But  his  mind  was  in  other  pursuits.  He 
was  disposed  for  an  easy,  joyous,  luxurious,  princely  life. 
Banquets,  masquerades,  tournaments,  the  chase,  inter- 
spersed with  the  routine  of  official  duties,  civil  and  mili- 
tary, seemed  likely  to  fill  out  his  life.  His  hospitality, 
like  his  fortune,  was  almost  regal.  While  the  King  and 
the  foreign  envoys  were  still  in  the  Netherlands,  his  house, 
the  splendid  Nassau  palace  of  Brussels,  was  ever  open. 
He  entertained  for  the  monarch,  who  was,  or  who  im- 
agined himself  to  be,  too  poor  to  discharge  his  own  duties 
in  this  respect,  but  he  entertained  at  his  own  expense. 
This  splendid  household  was  still  continued.  Twenty- 
four  noblemen  and  eighteen  pages  of  gentle  birth  officiated 
regularly  in  his  family. 

Such,  then,  at  the  beginning  of  1560,  was  William  of 
Orange;  a  generous,  stately,  magnificent,  powerful  grandee. 
As  a  military  commander  he  had  acquitted  himself  very 
creditably  of  highly  important  functions  at  an  early  age. 
Nevertheless,  it  was  the  opinion  of  many  persons  that  he 
was  of  a  timid  temperament.  There  is  no  doubt  that  cau- 
tion was  a  predominant  characteristic  of  the  Prince.  It 
was  one  of  the  chief  sources  of  his  greatness.  At  that 
period — perhaps  at  any  period — he  would  have  been  inca- 
pable of  such  brilliant  and  dashing  exploits  as  had  made 
the  name  of  Egmont  so  famous.  It  had  even  become  a 
proverb,  *^the  counsel  of  Orange,  the  execution  of  Eg- 
mont"; yet  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see  how  far  this 
physical  promptness  which  had  heen  so  felicitous  upon 
the   battlefield  was  likely  to  avail  the   hero   of   Saint- 


72  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1559 

Quentin  in  the  great  political  combat  which  was  ap- 
proaching. 

As  to  the  talents  of  the  Prince,  there  was  no  difference 
of  opinion.  His  enemies  never  contested  the  subtlety  and 
breadth  of  his  intellect,  his  adroitness  and  capacity  in 
conducting  state  affairs,  his  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
and  the  profoundness  of  his  views.  In  many  respects  it 
must  be  confessed  that  his  surname  of  The  Silent,  like 
many  similar  appellations,  was  a  misnomer.  William  of 
Orange  was  neither  "^"^  silent  ^^  nor  ^'^  taciturn,"  yet  these 
are  the  epithets  which  will  be  forever  associated  with  the 
name  of  a  man  who,  in  private,  was  the  most  affable, 
cheerful,  and  delightful  of  companions,  and  who  on  a 
thousand  great  public  occasions  was  to  prove  himself, 
both  by  pen  and  by  speech,  the  most  eloquent  man  of 
his  age.  His  mental  accomplishments  were  consider- 
able. He  had  studied  history  with  attention,  and  he 
spoke  and  wrote  with  facility  Latin,  French,  German, 
Flemish,  and  Spanish. 

The  man,  however,  in  whose  hands  the  administration 
of  the  Netherlands  was  in  reality  placed  was  Anthony 
Perrenot,  then  Bishop  of  Arras,  soon  to  be  known  by  the 
more  celebrated  title  of  Cardinal  Granvelle.  He  was  the 
chief  of  the  Oonsulta,  or  secret  council  of  three,  by  whose 
deliberations  the  Duchess  Regent  was  to  be  governed. 
His  father,  Nicholas  Perrenot,  of  an  obscure  family  in 
Burgundy,  had  been  long  the  favorite  minister  and  man 
of  business  to  the  Emperor  Charles.  Anthony,  the  eldest 
of  thirteen  children,  was  born  in  1517.  He  was  early  dis- 
tinguished for  his  talents.  He  studied  at  Dole,  Padua, 
Paris,  and  Louvain.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  spoke  seven 
languages  with  perfect  facility,  while  his  acquaintance 
with  civil  and  ecclesiastical  laws  was  considered  prodig- 
ious. At  the  age  of  twenty-three  he  became  a  canon  of 
Liege  Cathedral.  The  necessary  eight  quarters  of  gentil- 
ity produced  upon  that  occasion  have  accordingly  been 
displayed  by  his  panegyrists  in  triumphant  refutation  of 
that  theory  which  gave  him  a  blacksmith  for  his  grand- 
father. At  the  same  period,  although  he  had  not  reached 
the  requisite  age,  the  rich  bishopric  of  Arras  had  already 


I 


CARDINAL   GRANVELLE 


I 


1559]  ANTHONY   PERRENOT  73 

been  prepared  for  him  by  his  father^s  care.  Three  years 
afterwards,  in  1543,  he  distinguished  himself  by  a  most 
learned  and  brilliant  harangue  before  the  Council  of  Trent, 
by  which  display  he  so  much  charmed  the  Emperor  that 
he  created  him  councillor  of  state.  A  few  years  after- 
wards he  rendered  the  unscrupulous  Charles  still  more  val- 
uable proofs  of  devotion  and  dexterity  by  the  part  he 
played  in  the  memorable  imprisonment  of  the  Landgrave 
of  Hesse  and  the  Saxon  Dukes.  He  was  thereafter  con- 
stantly employed  in  embassies  and  other  offices  of  trust 
and  profit. 

There  was  no  doubt  as  to  his  profound  and  varied  learn- 
ing, nor  as  to  his  natural  quickness  and  dexterity.  He 
was  ready-witted,  smooth  and  fluent  of  tongue,  fertile  in 
expedients,  courageous,  resolute.  He  thoroughly  under- 
stood the  art  of  managing  men,  particularly  his  superiors. 
He  knew  how  to  govern  under  the  appearance  of  obeying. 
He  possessed  exquisite  tact  in  appreciating  the  characters 
of  those  far  above  him  in  rank  and  beneath  him  in  intel- 
lect. He  could  accommodate  himself  with  great  readiness 
to  the  idiosyncrasies  of  sovereigns.  He  was  a  chameleon 
to  the  hand  which  fed  him.  In  his  intercourse  with  the 
King,  he  colored  himself,  as  it  were,  with  the  King's  char- 
acter. He  was  not  himself,  but  Philip ;  not  the  sullen, 
hesitating,  confused  Philip  however,  but  Philip  endowed 
with  eloquence,  readiness,  facility.  The  King  ever  found 
himself  anticipated  with  the  most  delicate  obsequiousness, 
beheld  his  struggling  ideas  change  into  ^^  winged  words  " 
without  ceasing  to  be  his  own.  No  flattery  could  be  more 
adroit.  The  Bishop  accommodated  himself  to  the  King^s 
epistolary  habits.  The  silver-tongued  and  ready  debater 
substituted  protocols  for  conversations,  in  deference  to 
a  monarch  who  could  not  speak.  He  corresponded  with 
Philip,  with  Margaret  of  Parma,  with  every  one.  He  wrote 
folios  to  the  Duchess  when  they  were  in  the  same  palace. 
He  would  write  letters  forty  pages  long  to  the  King, 
and  send  off  another  courier  on  the  same  day  with  two 

Ior  three  additional  despatches  of  identical  date.  Such 
prolixity  enchanted  the  King,  whose  greediness  for  busi- 


74  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1569 

The  aspect  of  the  country  and  its  inhabitants  offered 
many  sharp  contrasts,  and  revealed  many  sources  of  future 
trouble. 

The  aristocracy  of  the  Netherlands  was  excessively 
extravagant,  dissipated,  and  already  considerably  embar- 
rassed in  circumstances.  It  had  been  the  policy  of  the 
Emperor  and  of  Philip  to  confer  high  offices,  civil,  mili- 
tary, and  diplomatic,  upon  the  leading  nobles,  by  which 
enormous  expenses  were  entailed  upon  them  without  any 
corresponding  salaries.  The  case  of  Orange  has  been  al- 
ready alluded  to,  and  there  were  many  other  nobles  less 
able  to  afford  the  expense  who  had  been  indulged  with 
these  ruinous  honors.  During  the  war  there  had  been, 
however,  many  chances  of  bettering  broken  fortunes. 
Victory  brought  immense  prizes  to  the  leading  officers. 
The  ransoms  of  so  many  illustrious  prisoners  as  had 
graced  the  triumphs  of  Saint-Quentin  and  Gravelines  had 
been  extremly  profitable.  These  sources  of  wealth  had 
now  been  cut  off ;  yet,  on  the  departure  of  the  King  from 
the  Netherlands,  the  luxury  increased  instead  of  diminish- 
ing. "  Instead  of  one  court, ^^  said  a  contemporary,  "  you 
would  have  said  that  there  were  fifty."  A  rivalry  in  hos- 
pitality and  in  display  began  among  the  highest  nobles, 
and  extended  to  those  less  able  to  maintain  themselves  in 
the  contest.  During  the  war  there  had  been  the  valiant 
emulation  of  the  battle-field  ;  gentlemen  had  vied  with 
one  another  how  best  to  illustrate  an  ancient  name  with 
deeds  of  desperate  valor,  to  repair  the  fortunes  of  a  ruined 
house  with  the  spoils  of  war.  Each  now  sought  to  sur- 
pass the  other  in  splendid  extravagance.  It  was  an  eager 
competition  who  should  build  the  stateliest  palaces,  have 
the  greatest  number  of  noble  pages  and  gentlemen-in- 
waiting,  the  most  gorgeous  liveries,  the  most  hospitable 
tables,  the  most  scientific  cooks.  There  was,  also,  much 
depravity  as  well  as  extravagance.  The  morals  of  high 
society  were  loose.  Gaming  was  practised  to  a  frightful 
extent.  Drunkenness  was  a  prevailing  characteristic  of 
the  higher  classes.  Even  the  Prince  of  Orange  himself, 
at  this  period,  although  never  addicted  to  habitual  excess, 
was  extremely  convivial  in  his  tastes,  tolerating  scenes  and 


1559]  EXTRA VAGAN'CE   OF  THE  ARISTOCRACY  75 

companions  not  likely  at  a  later  day  to  find  much  favor  in 
his  sight.  "We  kept  Saint  Martin's  Joyously/'  he  wrote, 
at  about  this  period,  to  his  brother,  '^  and  in  the  most 
jovial  company.  Brederode  was  one  day  in  such  a  state 
that  I  thought  he  would  certainly  die,  but  he  has  now  got 
over  it."  Count  Brederode,  soon  afterwards  to  become 
so  conspicuous  in  the  early  scenes  of  the  revolt,  was,  in 
truth,  most  notorious  for  his  performances  in  these  ban- 
queting scenes.  He  appeared  to  have  vowed  as  uncompro- 
mising hostility  to  cold  water  as  to  the  inquisition,  and  al- 
ways denounced  both  with  the  same  fierce  and  ludicrous 
vehemence. 

Their  constant  connection  with  Germany  at  that  period 
did  not  improve  the  sobriety  of  the  Netherlands  nobles. 
The  aristocracy  of  that  country,  as  is  well  known,  were 
most  "potent  at  potting."  "When  the  German  finds 
himself  sober,"  said  the  bitter  Badovaro,  "he  believes 
himself  to  be  ill."  Gladly,  since  the  peace,  they  had  wel- 
comed the  opportunities  afforded  for  many  a  deep  carouse 
with  their  Netherlands  cousins.  The  approaching  mar- 
riage of  the  Prince  of  Orange  with  the  Saxon  princess — 
an  episode  which  will  soon  engage  our  attention  —  gave 
rise  to  tremendous  orgies.  Count  Schwartzburg,  the 
Prince's  brother-in-law,  and  one  of  the  negotiators  of 
the  marriage,  found  many  occasions  to  strengthen  the 
bonds  of  harmony  between  the  countries  by  indulgence 
of  these  common  tastes.  "  I  have  had  many  princes  and 
counts  at  my  table,"  he  wrote  to  Orange,  "where  a  good 
deal  more  was  drunk  than  eaten.  The  Rhinegrave's  broth- 
er fell  down  dead  after  drinking  too  much  malvolsie  ;  but 
we  have  had  him  balsamed  and  sent  home  to  his  family." 

If  these  were  the  characteristics  of  the  most  distin- 
guished society,  it  may  be  supposed  that  they  were  re- 
produced with  more  or  less  intensity  throughout  all  the 
more  remote  but  concentric  circles  of  life,  as  far  as  the 
seductive  splendor  of  the  court  could  radiate.  The  lesser 
nobles  emulated  the  grandees,  and  vied  with  one  another 
in  splendid  establishments,  banquets,  masquerades,  and 
equipages.  The  natural  consequences  of  such  extrava- 
gance followed.      Their  estates  Avere  mortgaged,  deeply 


76  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1559 

and  more  deeply ;  then,  after  a  few  years,  sold  to  the 
merchants,  or  rich  advocates  and  other  gentlemen  of  the 
robe,  to  whom  they  had  been  pledged.  The  more  closely 
ruin  stared  the  victims  in  the  face,  the  more  heedlessly 
did  they  plunge  into  excesses.  Many  of  the  nobles  being 
thus  embarrassed,  and  some  even  desperate,  in  their  con- 
dition, it  was  thought  that  they  were  desirous  of  creating 
disturbances  in  the  commonwealth,  that  the  payment  of 
just  debts  might  be  avoided,  that  their  mortgaged  lands 
might  be  wrested  by  main  force  from  the  low-born  indi- 
viduals who  had  become  possessed  of  them,  that,  in  par- 
ticular, the  rich  abbey  lands  held  by  idle  priests  might  be 
appropriated  to  the  use  of  impoverished  gentlemen  who 
could  turn  them  to  so  much  better  account.  It  is  quite 
probable  that  interested  motives  such  as  these  were  not 
entirely  inactive  among  a  comparatively  small  class  of 
gentlemen. 

These  circumstances  and  sentiments  had  their  influence 
among  the  causes  which  produced  the  great  revolt  now 
impending.  Care  should  be  taken,  however,  not  to  ex- 
aggerate that  influence.  It  is  a  prodigious  mistake  to 
refer  this  great  historical  event  to  sources  so  insufficient 
as  the  ambition  of  a  few  great  nobles,  and  the  embar- 
rassments of  a  larger  number  of  needy  gentlemen.  The 
Netherlands  revolt  was  not  an  aristocratic,  but  a  popular, 
altliough  certainly  not  a  democratic  movement.  It  was  a 
great  episode — the  longest,  the  darkest,  the  bloodiest,  the 
most  important  episode  in  the  history  of  the  religious  ref- 
ormation in  Europe.  The  nobles,  so  conspicuous  upon  the 
surface  at  the  outbreak,  only  drifted  before  a  storm  which 
they  neither  caused  nor  controlled. 

For  the  state  of  the  people  was  very  different  from  the 
condition  of  the  aristocracy.  The  period  of  martyrdom 
had  lasted  long,  and  was  to  last  longer ;  but  there  were 
symptoms  that  it  might  one  day  be  succeeded  by  a  more 
active  stage  of  popular  disease.  The  tumults  were  long 
in  ripening ;  when  the  final  outbreak  came  it  would  have 
been  more  philosophical  to  inquire,  not  why  it  had  oc- 
curred, but  how  it  could  have  been  so  long  postponed. 
In  the  Netherlands,  where  the  attachment  to  Kome  had 


I 


1559]  CONDITION  OF  THE   PEOPLE  77 

never  been  intense,  where  in  the  old  times  the  Bishops 
of  Utrecht  had  been  rather  Ghibelline  than  Guelph,  where 
all  the  earlier  sects  of  dissenters — Waldenses,  Lollards, 
Hussites — had  found  numerous  converts  and  thousands  of 
martyrs,  it  was  inevitable  that  there  should  be  a  response 
from  the  popular  heart  to  the  deeper  agitation  which  now 
reached  to  the  very  core  of  Christendom.  In  those  prov- 
inces, so  industrious  and  energetic,  the  disgust  was  likely 
to  be  most  easily  awakened  for  a  system  under  which  so 
many  friars  battened  in  luxury  upon  the  toil  of  others, 
contributing  nothing  to  the  taxation  nor  to  the  military 
defence  of  the  country,  exercising  no  productive  avoca- 
tion, except  their  trade  in  indulgences,  and  squandering 
in  taverns  and  brothels  the  annual  sums  derived  from  their 
traffic  in  licenses  to  commit  murder,  incest,  and  every 
other  crime  known  to  humanity. 

The  people  were  numerous,  industrious,  accustomed  for 
centuries  to  a  state  of  comparative  civil  freedom,  and  to  a 
lively  foreign  trade,  by  which  their  minds  were  saved  from 
the  stagnation  of  bigotry.  It  was  natural  that  they  should 
begin  to  generalize,  and  to  pass  from  the  concrete  images 
presented  them  in  the  Flemish  monasteries  to  the  abstract 
character  of  Rome  itself.  The  Flemish,  above  all  their 
other  qualities,  were  a  commercial  nation.  Commerce  was 
the  mother  of  their  freedom,  so  far  as  they  had  acquired 
it,  in  civil  matters.  It  was  struggling  to  give  birth  to  a 
larger  liberty,  to  freedom  of  conscience.  The  provinces 
were  situated  in  the  very  heart  of  Europe.  The  blood  of 
a  world-wide  traffic  was  daily  coursing  through  the  thou- 
sand arteries  of  that  water-inwoven  territory.  There  was 
a  mutual  exchange  between  the  Netherlands  and  all  the 
world,  and  ideas  were  as  liberally  interchanged  as  goods. 
Truth  was  imported  as  freely  as  less  precious  merchandise. 
The  psalms  of  Marot  were  as  current  as  the  drugs  of  Mo- 
lucca or  the  diamonds  of  Borneo.  The  prohibitory  meas- 
ures of  a  despotic  government  could  not  annihilate  this 
intellectual  trade,  nor  could  bigotry  devise  an  effective 
quarantine  to  exclude  the  religious  pest  which  lurked  in 
every  bale  of  merchandise,  and  was  wafted  on  every  breeze 
from  east  and  west. 


78  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1559 

The  edicts  of  the  Emperor  had  been  endured  but  not 
accepted.  The  horrible  persecution  under  which  so  many 
thousands  had  sunk  had  produced  its  inevitable  result. 
Fertilized  by  all  this  innocent  blood,  the  soil  of  the  Neth- 
erlands became  as  a  watered  garden,  in  which  liberty,  civil 
and  religious,  was  to  flourish  perennially.  The  scaffold 
had  its  daily  victims,  but  did  not  make  a  single  convert. 
The  statistics  of  these  crimes  will  perhaps  never  be  ac- 
curately adjusted,  nor  will  it  be  ascertained  whether  the 
famous  estimate  of  Grotius  was  an  exaggerated  or  an  in- 
adequate calculation.*  Those  who  love  horrible  details 
may  find  ample  material.  The  chronicles  contain  the  lists 
of  these  obscure  martyrs ;  but  their  names,  hardly  pro- 
nounced in  their  lifetime,  sound  barbarously  in  our  ears, 
and  will  never  ring  through  the  trumpet  of  fame.  Yet 
they  were  men  who  dared  and  suffered  as  much  as  men 
can  dare  and  suffer  in  this  world,  and  for  the  noblest 
cause  which  can  inspire  humanity. 

Thus,  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  were  already  per- 
vaded, throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the  country,  with 
the  expanding  spirit  of  religious  reformation.  It  was  in- 
evitable that  sooner  or  later  an  explosion  was  to  arrive. 
They  were  placed  between  two  great  countries  where  the 
new  principles  had  already  taken  root.  The  Lutheranism 
of  Germany  and  the  Calvinism  of  France  had  each  its 
share  in  producing  the  Netherland  revolt,  but  a  mistake  is 

*  How  many  genuine  martyrs  suffered  death  in  the  Netherlands  for  con- 
science sake?  How  many  were  tortured,  "not  accepting  deliverance"? 
The  traditional  statement  of  "one  hundred  thousand,"  and  these  "under 
one  reign,"  copied  in  the  popular  books  of  reference,  is  from  Grotius.  It 
must  either  cover  the  cases  of  those  slain  in  war  at  the  massacres  and 
sieges,  or  else  it  must  be  reduced  by  critical  revision  before  acceptance  by 
historical  science.  Even  Gibbon  declares  that  "  the  number  of  Protestants 
who  were  executed  by  the  Spaniards  in  a  single  province  and  a  single  reign 
far  exceeded  that  of  the  primitive  martyrs  in  the  space  of  three  centuries 
and  of  the  Roman  Empire." — Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire^  end 
of  Cliapter  XVI.  The  figures  of  Grotius  need  the  elision  of  at  least  one 
cipher.  Wilde  and  Blok,  going  to  the  opposite  extreme,  do  not  find  one 
thousand  genuine  martyrs  who  suffered  death  simply  on  account  of  their 
belief !  See  P.  J.  Blok,  Geschiedenis  der  Nederlandsclie  Volk,  Vol.  II.,  page 
474. 


1559]  PROGRESS  OF  CALVINISM  79 

perhaps  often  made  in  estimating  the  relative  proportion 
of  these  several  influences.  The  Reformation  first  entered 
the  provinces,  not  through  the  Augsburg,  but  the  Hugue- 
not gate.*  The  fiery  field-preachers  from  the  south  of 
France  first  inflamed  the  excitable  hearts  of  the  kindred 
population  of  the  southwestern  Netherlands.  The  Wal- 
loons were  the  first  to  rebel  against  and  the  first  to  recon- 
cile themselves  with  papal  Rome,  exactly  as  their  Celtic 
ancestors,  fifteen  centuries  earlier,  had  been  foremost  in 
the  revolt  against  imperial  Rome,  and  precipitate  in  their 
submission  to  her  overshadowing  power.  The  Batavians, 
slower  to  be  moved,  but  more  steadfast,  retained  the  im- 
pulse which  they  received  from  the  same  source  which 
was  already  agitating  their  '^  Welsh  '^  compatriots.  There 
were  already  French  preachers  at  Valenciennes  and  Tour- 
nai,  to  be  followed,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see,  by 
many  others.  Without  undervaluing  the  influence  of  the 
German  Churches,  and  particularly  of  the  garrison-preach- 
ing of  the  German  military  chaplains  in  the  Netherlands, 
it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  the  early  Reformers  of  the 
provinces  were  mainly  Huguenots  in  their  belief.      The 

*  Whence  and  how  were  the  Netherlands  first  leavened  with  the  truth 
which  appears  to  plain  men  reading  the  Bible  ?  Or,  who  first  brought  the 
doctrines  of  the  Reformation  into  tlie  Low  Countries  ?  Were  they  the  Ana- 
baptists, Lutherans,  or  Calvinists  ?  While  Motley's  statements  are  care- 
fully made  and  accurate  in  the  main,  yet  in  reality  there  were  three  great 
streams  of  influence  in  the  Dutch  Reformation,  and  the  first  of  all  was  that 
of  the  Anabaptists,  so  called.  These  plain  readers  of  the  Bible  permeated 
the  lower  strata  of  society  and  furnished  the  larger  number  of  martyrs  in 
the  first  decade  of  persecution.  The  Lutheran  movement  was  confined 
chiefly  to  the  more  prosperous  mercantile  classes.  The  Calvinistic  doctrines, 
being  in  stibtle  harmony  with  the  Dutch  character,  finally  won  the  heart  and 
mind  of  the  nation  at  large,  especially  in  the  Dutch  republic.  The  Ana- 
baptists, so  called,  were  more  numerous  in  the  northern  Netherlands,  but 
theirs  was  the  pristine  Protestantism.  The  first  "Puritan  Fathers  of  the 
Dutch  republic  "  neither  called  themselves,  nor  were  called,  after  Luther  or 
Calvin,  but  by  themselves  were  known  as  "  Brethren,"  and  by  enemies  as 
"  Anabaptists."  That  "  the  Reformation  first  entered  the  provinces  "  not 
by  the  Augsburg  or  by  the  Geneva  gate,  but  by  that  looking  towards 
Switzerland,  is  demonstrated  in  Dr.  J.  G.  de  Hoop  Scheffer's  Geschkdetiis 
(lev  Kerkhervorming  in  Nedevland^  van  haar  onstaan  to  1531.  Amsterdam, 
1873.     See  also  pages  53-54. 


80  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1559 

Dutch  Church  became,  accordingly,  not  Lutheran,  but 
Calvinistic,  and  the  founder  of  the  commonwealth  hardly 
ceased  to  be  a  nominal  Catholic  before  he  became  an  ad- 
herent to  the  same  creed. 

In  the  mean  time,  it  is  more  natural  to  regard  the  great 
movement,  psychologically  speaking,  as  a  whole,  whether 
it  revealed  itself  in  France,  Germany,  the  Netherlands, 
England,  or  Scotland.  The  policy  of  governments,  na- 
tional character,  individual  interest,  and  other  collateral 
circumstances,  modified  the  result ;  but  the  great  cause 
was  the  same ;  the  source  of  all  the  movements  was  ele- 
mental, natural,  and  single.  The  Reformation  in  Ger- 
many had  been  adjourned  for  half  a  century  by  the  Augs- 
burg religious  peace,  just  concluded.  It  was  held  in 
suspense  in  France  through  the  Machiavelian  policy  which 
Catharine  de  Medici  had  just  adopted,  and  was  for  sev- 
eral years  to  prosecute,  of  balancing  one  party  against 
the  other,  so  as  to  neutralize  all  power  but  her  own. 
The  great  contest  was  accordingly  transferred  to  the 
Netherlands,  to  be  fought  out  for  the  rest  of  the  century, 
while  the  whole  of  Christendom  was  to  look  anxiously 
for  the  result.  From  the  east  and  from  the  west  the 
clouds  rolled  away,  leaving  a  comparatively  bright  and 
peaceful  atmosphere,  only  that  they  might  concentrate 
themselves  with  portentous  blackness  over  the  devoted 
soil  of  the  Netherlands.  In  Germany,  the  princes,  not 
the  people,  had  conquered  Rome,  and  to  the  princes,  not 
the  people,  were  secured  the  benefits  of  the  victory  —  the 
spoils  of  churches  and  the  right  to  worship  according  to 
conscience.  The  people  had  the  right  to  conform  to  their 
ruler's  creed  or  to  depart  from  his  land.  Still,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  many  of  the  princes  being  Reformers,  a  large 
mass  of  the  population  had  acquired  the  privilege  for  their 
own  generation  and  that  of  their  children  to  practise  that 
religion  which  they  actually  approved.  This  was  a  fact, 
and  a  more  comfortable  one  than  the  necessity  of  choosing 
between  what  they  considered  wicked  idolatry  and  the 
stake — the  only  election  left  to  their  Netherland  brethren. 
In  France,  the  accidental  splinter  from  Montgomery's 
lance  had  deferred  the  Huguenot  massacre  for  a  dozen 


1559]  EDICT   OF    1550  81 

years.  During  the  period  in  which  the  Queen  Kegent  was 
resolved  to  play  her  fast-and-loose  policy,  all  the  persua- 
sions of  Philip  and  the  arts  of  Alva  were  powerless  to  in- 
duce her  to  carry  out  the  scheme  which  Henry  had  re- 
vealed to  Orange  in  the  forest  of  Vincennes.  When  the 
crime  came  at  last  it  was  as  hlundering  as  it  was  hloody ; 
at  once  premeditated  and  accidental ;  the  isolated  execu- 
tion of  an  interregal  conspiracy,  existing  for  half  a  gener- 
ation, yet  exploding  without  concert ;  a  wholesale  massa- 
cre, but  a  piecemeal  plot. 

The  aristocracy  and  the  masses  being  thus,  from  a  va- 
riety of  causes,  in  this  agitated  and  dangerous  condition, 
what  were  the  measures  of  the  government  ? 

The  edict  of  1550  had  been  re-enacted  immediately 
after  Philip's  accession  to  sovereignty. 

"No  one,"  said  the  edict,  "shall  print,  write,  copy, 
keep,  conceal,  sell,  buy,  or  give  in  churches,  streets,  or 
other  places,  any  book  or  writing  made  by  Martin  Luther, 
John  Ecolampadius,  Ulrich  Zuinglius,  Martin  Bucer, 
John  Calvin,  or  other  heretics  reprobated  by  the  Holy 
Cliurch  ;  *  *  *  nor  break  or  otherwise  injure  the  images 
of  the  holy  virgin  or  canonized  saints ;  *  *  *  nor  in  his 
house  hold  conventicles  or  illegal  gatherings,  or  be  pres- 
ent at  any  such  in  which  the  adherents  of  the  above- 
mentioned  heretics  teach,  baptize,  and  form  conspiracies 
against  the  Holy  Church  and  the  general  welfare.  *  *  * 
Moreover,  we  forbid,'/  continues  the  edict  in  name  of  the 
sovereign,  "all  lay  persons  to  converse  or  dispute  concern- 
ing the  Holy  Scriptures,  openly  or  secretly,  especially  on 
any  doubtful  or  difficult  matters,  or  to  read,  teach,  or  ex- 
pound the  Scriptures,  unless  they  have  duly  studied  the- 
ology and  been  approved  by  some  renowned  university ; 
*  *  *  or  to  preach  secretly  or  openly,  or  to  entei'tain  any 
of  the  ojnnions  of  the  above-mentioned  heretics ;  *  *  *  on 
pain,  should  any  one  be  found  to  have  contravened  any 
of  the  points  above-mentioned,  as  perturbators  of  our  state 
and  of  the  general  quiet,  of  being  punished. 

"  That  such  perturbators  of  the  general  quiet  are  to  be 
executed,  to  wit :  the  men  with  the  sword  and  the  women 
to  be  buried  alive,  if  they  do  not  persist  in  their  errors  ; 


82  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1559 

if  they  do  persist  in  them,  then  they  are  to  be  executed 
with  fire ;  all  their  property  in  both  cases  being  confis- 
cated to  the  crown." 

Treachery  to  one's  friends  was  encouraged  by  the  pro- 
vision, ''  that  if  any  man  being  present  at  any  secret  con- 
venticle shall  afterwards  come  forward  and  betray  his 
fellow-members  of  the  congregation,  he  shall  receive  full 
pardon." 

In  order  that  neither  the  good  people  of  the  Nether- 
lands nor  the  judges  and  inquisitors  should  delude  them- 
selves with  the  notion  that  these  fanatic  decrees  were 
only  intended  to  inspire  terror,  not  for  practical  execution, 
the  sovereign  continued  to  ordain — ^'to  the  end  that  the 
judges  and  officers  may  have  no  reason,  under  pretext 
that  the  penalties  are  too  great  and  heavy  and  only  de- 
vised to  terrify  delinquents,  to  punish  them  less  severely 
than  they  deserve — that  the  culprits  be  really  punished 
by  the  penalties  above  declared ;  forbidding  all  judges  to 
alter  or  moderate  the  penalties  in  any  msLniier^'oriiddmg 
any  one,  of  whatsoever  condition,  to  ask  of  us,  or  of  any 
one  having  authority,  to  grant  pardon,  or  to  present  any 
petition  in  favor  of  such  heretics,  exiles,  or  fugitives,  on 
penalty  of  being  declared  forever  incapable  of  civil  and 
military  office,  and  of  being  arbitrarily  punished  besides." 

Such  were  the  leading  provisions  of  this  famous  edict, 
originally  promulgated  in  1550  as  a  recapitulation  and 
condensation  of  all  the  previous  ordinances  of  the  Emper- 
or upon  religious  subjects.  By  its  style  and  title  it  was 
a  perpetual  edict,  and,  according  to  one  of  its  clauses, 
was  to  be  published  forever,  once  in  every  six  months,  in 
every  city  and  village  of  the  Netherlands.  It  had  been 
promulgated  at  Augsburg,  where  the  Emperor  was  hold- 
ing a  diet,  upon  the  25th  of  September. 

As  an  additional  security  for  the  supremacy  of  the 
ancient  religion,  it  had  been  thought  desirable  that  the 
number  of  bishops  should  be  increased.  There  were  but 
four  sees  in  the  Netherlands,  those  of  Arras,  Cambrai, 
Tournay,  and  Utrecht.  That  of  Utrecht  was  within  the 
archiepiscopate  of  Cologne  ;  the  other  three  were  within 
that  of  Rheims.     It  seemed  proper  that  the  prelates  of 


1559]  BULL  OF  THE   BISHOPRICS  83 

the  Netherlands  should  owe  no  extra-provincial  allegiance. 
It  was  likewise  thought  that  three  millions  of  souls  re- 
quired more  than  four  spiritual  superintendents.  At  any 
rate,  whatever  might  be  the  interest  of  the  flocks,  it  was 
certain  that  those  broad  and  fertile  pastures  would  sus- 
tain more  than  the  present  number  of  shepherds. 

Doctor  Francis  Sonnius  had  been  sent  on  a  mission  to 
the  Pope  for  the  purpose  of  representing  the  necessity 
of  an  increase  in  the  episcopal  force  of  the  Ketherlands. 
Just  as  the  King  was  taking  his  departure  the  commis- 
sioner arrived,  bringing  with  him  the  Bull  of  Paul  the 
Fourth,  dated  the  18th  of  May,  1559.  This  was  afterwards 
confirmed  by  that  of  Pius  the  Fourth,  in  January  of  the 
following  year.  The  document  stated  that  "  Paul  the 
Fourth,  slave  of  slaves,  wishing  to  provide  for  the  welfare 
of  the  provinces  and  the  eternal  salvation  of  their  in- 
habitants, had  determined  to  plant  in  that  fruitful  field 
several  new  bishoprics.  The  enemy  of  mankind  being 
abroad,"  said  the  Bull,  'Mn  so  many  forms  at  that  par- 
ticular time,  and  the  Netherlands,  then  under  the  sway 
of  that  beloved  son  of  his  holiness,  Philip  the  Catholic, 
being  compassed  about  with  heretic  and  schismatic  na- 
tions, it  was  believed  that  the  eternal  welfare  of  the  land 
was  in  great  danger.  At  the  period  of  the  original  es- 
tablishment of  cathedral  churches,  the  provinces  had 
been  sparsely  peopled  ;  they  had  now  become  filled  to 
overflowing,  so  that  the  original  ecclesiastical  arrange- 
ment did  not  suffice.  The  harvest  was  plentiful,  hut  the 
laborers  were  feio" 

In  consideration  of  these  and  other  reasons,  three  arch- 
bishoprics were  accordingly  appointed.  That  of  Mechlin 
was  to  be  principal,  under  which  were  constituted  six 
bishoprics — those,  namely,  of  Antwerp,  Bois-le-Duc,  Roer- 
mond,  Ghent,  Bruges,  and  Ypres.  That  of  Cambrai  was 
second,  with  the  four  subordinate  dioceses  of  Tournay, 
Arras,  Saint-Omer,  and  Namur.  The  third  archbishopric 
was  that  of  Utrecht,  with  the  five  sees  of  Haarlem,  Mid- 
delburg,  Leeuwarden,  Groningen,  and  Deventer. 

The  nomination  of  these  important  offices  was  granted 
to  the  King,  subject  to  confirmation  by  the  Pope.     More- 


84  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1559 

over,  it  was  ordained  by  the  Bull  that  *^each  bishop  should 
appoint  nine  additional  prebendaries,  who  were  to  assist 
him  in  the  matter  of  the  inquisition  throughout  his  bish- 
opric, ttvo  oftuJiom  were  themselves  to  be  inquisitors." 

To  sustain  these  two  great  measures,  through  which 
Philip  hoped  once  and  forever  to  extinguish  the  Nether- 
land  heresy,  it  was  considered  desirable  that  the  Spanish 
troops  still  remaining  in  the  provinces  should  be  kept 
there  indefinitely. 

The  force  was  not  large,  amounting  hardly  to  four  thou- 
sand men,  but  they  were  unscrupulous,  and  admirably  dis- 
ciplined. As  the  entering  wedge,  by  which  a  military 
and  ecclesiastical  despotism  was  eventually  to  be  forced 
into  the  very  heart  of  the  land,  they  were  invaluable. 
The  moral  effect  to  be  hoped  from  the  regular  presence 
of  a  Spanish  standing  army  during  a  time  of  peace  in  the 
Netherlands  could  hardly  be  exaggerated.  Philip  was  there- 
fore determined  to  employ  every  argument  and  subterfuge 
to  detain  the  troops. 


CHAPTER  II 
KING,    REGEITT,    CARDINAL,    ELECTOR,    AND   PATRIOT 

The  years  1560  and  1561  were  mainly  occupied  with 
the  agitation  and  dismay  produced  by  the  causes  set  forth 
in  the  preceding  chapter. 

Against  the  arbitrary  policy  embodied  in  the  edicts,  the 
new  bishoprics,  and  the  foreign  soldiery,  the  Netherlanders 
appealed  to  their  ancient  constitutions.  These  charters 
were  called  "  handvests"  in  the  vernacular  Dutch  and 
Flemish,  because  the  sovereign  made  them  fast  with  his 
hand.  As  already  stated,  Philip  had  made  them  faster 
than  any  of  the  princes  of  his  house  had  ever  done,  so  far 
as  oath  and  signature  could  accomplish  that  purpose,  both 
as  hereditary  prince  in  1549  and  as  monarch  in  1555. 
The  reasons  for  the  extensive  and  unconditional  manner 
in  which  he  swore  to  support  the  provincial  charters  have 
been  already  indicated. 

Of  these  constitutions,  that  of  Brabant,  known  by  the 
title  of  the  joyeuse  entree,  blyde  inkomst,  or  blithe  en- 
trance, furnished  the  most  decisive  barrier  against  the 
present  wholesale  tyranny.  First  and  foremost,  the  '*  joy- 
ous entry  "  provided  "  that  the  prince  of  the  land  should 
not  elevate  the  clerical  state  higher  than  of  old  has  been 
customary  and  by  former  princes  settled ;  unless  by  con- 
sent of  the  other  two  estates  —  the  nobility  and  the 
cities." 

Again,  "the  prince  can  prosecute  no  one  of  his  sub- 
jects, nor  any  foreign  resident,  civilly  or  criminally,  except 
in  the  ordinary  and  open  courts  of  justice  in  the  province, 
where  the  accused  may  answer  and  defend  himself  with 
the  help  of  advocates." 


86  HISTORY   OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1560 

Further,  ^^the  prince  shall  appoint  no  foreigners  to 
office  in  Brabant/' 

Lastly,  ^^  should  the  prince,  by  force  or  otherwise,  vio- 
late any  of  these  privileges,  the  inhabitants  of  Brabant, 
after  regular  protest  entered,  are  discharged  of  their  oaths 
of  allegiance,  and,  as  free,  independent,  and  unbound  peo- 
ple, may  conduct  themselves  exactly  as  seems  to  them 
best/' 

Such  were  the  leading  features,  so  far  as  they  regarded 
the  points  now  at  issue,  of  that  famous  constitution,  which 
was  so  highly  esteemed  in  the  Netherlands  that  mothers 
came  to  the  province  in  order  to  give  birth  to  their  chil- 
dren, who  might  thus  enjoy,  as  a  birthright,  the  privileges 
of  Brabant.  Yet  the  charters  of  the  other  provinces  ought 
to  have  been  as  effective  against  the  arbitrary  course  of 
the  government.  *^No  foreigner,"  said  the  constitution 
of  Holland, ''  is  eligible  as  councillor,  financier,  magistrate, 
or  member  of  a  court.  Justice  can  be  administered  only 
by  the  ordinary  tribunals  and  magistrates.  The  ancient 
laws  and  customs  shall  remain  inviolable.  Should  the 
prince  infringe  any  of  these  provisions,  no  one  is  bound  to 
obey  him." 

On  the  reception  in  the  provinces  of  the  new  and  con- 
firmatory Bull  concerning  the  bishoprics,  issued  in  Jan- 
uary, 1560,  the  discontent  was  inevitable  and  universal. 
The  ecclesiastical  establishment,  which  was  not  to  be  en- 
larged or  elevated  but  by  consent  of  the  estates,  was  sud- 
denly expanded  into  three  archiepiscopates  and  fifteen  bish- 
oprics. The  administration  of  justice,  which  was  only 
allowed  in  free  and  local  courts,  distinct  for  each  province, 
was  to  be  placed,  so  far  as  regarded  the  most  important 
of  human  interests,  in  the  hands  of  bishops  and  their 
creatures,  many  of  them  foreigners  and  most  of  them 
monks.  The  lives  and  property  of  the  whole  population 
were  to  be  at  the  mercy  of  these  utterly  irresponsible  con- 
claves. All  classes  were  outraged.  The  nobles  were 
offended  because  ecclesiastics,  perhaps  foreign  ecclesias- 
tics, were  to  be  empowered  to  sit  in  the  provincial  estates 
and  to  control  their  proceedings  in  place  of  easy,  indolent, 
ignorant  abbots  and  friars,  who  had  generally  accepted 


1560]  GRANVELLE'S   COURSE  87 

the  influence  of  the  great  seigniors.  The  priests  were  en- 
raged because  the  religious  houses  were  thus  taken  out  of 
their  control  and  confiscated  to  a  bench  of  bishops,  usurp- 
ing the  places  of  those  superiors  who  had  formally  been 
elected  by  and  among  themselves.  The  people  were 
alarmed,  because  the  monasteries,  although  not  respected 
nor  popular,  were  at  least  charitable  and  without  ambition 
to  exercise  ecclesiastical  cruelty  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
by  the  new  episcopal  arrangements,  a  force  of  thirty  new 
inquisitors  was  added  to  the  apparatus  for  enforcing 
orthodoxy  already  established.  The  odium  of  the  meas- 
ure was  placed  upon  the  head  of  that  churchman,  already 
appointed  Archbishop  of  Mechlin,  and  soon  to  be  known 
as  Cardinal  Granvelle. 

Although  the  King  had  not  consulted  Anthony  Perre- 
not  with  regard  to  the  creation  of  the  new  bishoprics, 
deceiving  for  once  the  astute  prelate,  yet  the  people  per- 
sisted in  identifying  the  Bishop  with  the  scheme.  They 
saw  that  he  was  the  head  of  the  new  institutions  ;  that 
he  was  to  receive  the  lion's  share  of  the  confiscated  abbeys, 
and  that  he  was  foremost  in  defending  and  carrying 
through  the  measure,  in  spite  of  all  opposition.  That 
opposition  waxed  daily  more  bitter,  till  the  Cardinal,  not- 
withstanding that  ho  characterized  the  arrangement  to 
the  King  as  **a  holy  work,"  and  warmly  assured  Secretary 
Perez  that  he  would  contribute  his  fortune,  his  blood, 
and  his  life  to  its  success,  was  yet  obliged  to  exclaim  in 
the  bitterness  of  his  spirit,  '*  Would  to  God  that  the  erec- 
tion of  these  new  sees  had  never  been  thought  of.  Amen  ! 
Amen  !" 

Foremost  in  resistance  was  the  Prince  of  Orange.  Al- 
though a  Catholic,  he  had  no  relish  for  the  horrible  perse- 
cution which  had  been  determined  upon.  The  new  bish- 
oprics he  characterized  afterwards  as  parts  "of  one  grand 
scheme  for  establishing  the  cruel  inquisition  of  Spain ; 
the  said  bishops  to  serve  as  inquisitors,  burners  of  bodies, 
and  tyrants  of  conscience  :  two  prebendaries  in  each  see 
being  actually  constituted  inquisitors."  For  this  reason 
he  omitted  no  remonstrance  on  the  subject  to  the  Duch- 
ess, to  Granvelle,  and  by  direct  letters  to  the  King.     His 


88  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETilEULANDS  [1560 

efforts  were  seconded  by  Egmont,  Berghen,  and  other  in- 
fluential nobles. 

Though  the  Bishop  tried  to  have  the  word  ^^  inquisitor  ^^ 
kept  out  of  the  tent  of  the  new  decree,  it  was  difficult, 
with  all  his  eloquence  and  dexterity,  to  construct  an 
agreeable  inquisition.  The  people  did  not  like  it  in  any 
shape,  and  there  were  indications,  not  to  be  mistaken, 
that  one  day  there  would  be  a  storm  which  it  would  be 
beyond  human  power  to  assuage.  At  present  the  people 
directed  their  indignation  only  upon  a  part  of  the  ma- 
chinery devised  for  their  oppression.  The  Spanish  troops 
were  considered  as  a  portion  of  the  apparatus  by  which 
the  new  bishoprics  and  the  edicts  were  to  be  forced  into 
execution.  Moreover,  men  were  weary  of  the  insolence 
and  the  pillage  which  these  mercenaries  had  so  long  ex- 
ercised in  the  land.  When  the  King  had  been  first  re- 
quested to  withdraw  them,  we  have  seen  that  he  had  burst 
into  a  violent  passion.  He  had  afterwards  dissembled. 
Promising,  at  last,  that  they  should  all  be  sent  from  the 
country  within  three  or  four  months  after  his  departure, 
he  had  determined  to  use  every  artifice  to  detain  them  in 
the  provinces.  He  had  succeeded,  by  various  subter- 
fuges, in  keeping  them  there  fourteen  months ;  but  it 
was  at  last  evident  that  their  presence  would  no  longer  be 
tolerated.  Towards  the  close  of  1560  they  were  quartered 
in  Walcheren  and  Brill.  The  Zealanders,  however,  had 
become  so  exasperated  by  their  presence  that  they  reso- 
lutely refused  to  lay  a  single  hand  upon  the  dikes,  which, 
as  usual  at  that  season,  required  great  repairs.  Rather 
than  see  their  native  soil  profaned  any  longer  by  these 
hated  foreign  mercenaries,  they  would  see  it  sunk  for- 
ever in  the  ocean.  They  swore  to  perish — men,  women, 
and  children  together — in  the  waves,  rather  than  endure 
longer  the  outrages  which  the  soldiery  daily  inflicted. 
Such  was  the  temper  of  the  Zealanders  that  it  was  not 
thought  wise  to  trifle  with  their  irritation.  The  Bishop 
felt  that  it  was  no  longer  practicable  to  detain  the  troops, 
and  that  all  the  pretexts  devised  by  Philip  and  his  govern- 
ment had  become  ineffectual.  In  a  session  of  the  state 
council,  held  on  the  25th  of  October,  1560,  he  represented 


1660]  THE   INQUISITOR  KING  89 

in  the  strongest  terms  to  the  Regent  the  necessity  for  the 
final  departure  of  the  troops.  Viglius,  who  knew  the 
character  of  his  countrymen,  strenuously  seconded  the 
proposal.  Orange  briefly  but  firmly  expressed  the  same 
opinion,  declining  any  longer  to  serve  as  commander  of 
the  legion,  an  office  which,  in  conjunction  with  Egmont, 
he  had  accepted  provisionally,  with  the  best  of  motives, 
and  on  the  pledge  of  Philip  that  the  soldiers  should  be 
withdrawn.  The  Duchess  urged  that  the  order  should  at 
least  be  deferred  until  the  arrival  of  Count  Egmont,  then 
in  Spain,  but  the  proposition  was  unanimously  negatived. 

Fortunately  for  the  dignity  of  the  government,  or  for 
the  repose  of  the  country,  a  respectable  motive  was  found 
for  employing  the  legion  elsewhere.  The  important  loss 
with  which  Spain  had  recently  met  in  the  capture  of  Zerby 
made  a  reinforcement  necessary  in  the  army  engaged  in 
the  southern  service.  Thus,  the  disaster  in  Barbary  at 
last  relieved  the  Netherlands  of  the  pest  which  had  afflicted 
them  so  long.  For  a  brief  breathing  space  the  country 
was  cleared  of  foreign  mercenaries. 

The  growing  unpopularity  of  the  royal  government,  still 
typified,  however,  in  the  increasing  hatred  entertained  for 
the  Bishop,  was  not  materially  diminished  by  the  depart- 
ure of  the  Spaniards. 

The  popularity  of  the  churchman,  not  increased  by  his 
desperate  exertions  to  force  an  inhuman  policy  upon  an 
unfortunate  nation,  received  likewise  no  addition  from 
his  new  elevation  in  rank.  During  the  latter  part  of  the 
year  15G0,  Margaret  of  Parma,  who  still  entertained  a  pro- 
found admiration  of  the  prelate,  and  had  not  yet  begun 
to  chafe  under  his  smooth  but  imperious  dominion,  had 
been  busy  in  preparing  for  him  a  delightful  surprise. 
Without  either  his  knowledge  or  that  of  the  King,  she 
had  corresponded  with  the  Pope,  and  succeeded  in  obtain- 
ing, as  a  personal  favor  to  herself,  the  Cardinal's  hat  for 
Anthony  Perrenot.  In  February,  1561,  Cardinal  Borro- 
meo  wrote  to  announce  that  the  coveted  dignity  had  been 
bestowed.  The  Duchess  hastened,  with  joyous  alacrity, 
to  communicate  the  intelligence  to  the  Bishop,  but  was 
extremely  hurt  to  find  that  he  steadily  refused  to  assume 


90  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1561 

his  new  dignity  until  he  had  written  to  the  King  to  an- 
nounce the  appointment,  and  to  ask  his  permission  to  ac- 
cept the  honor. 

The  prelate,  having"^  thus  reached  the  dignity  to  which 
he  had  long  aspired,  did  not  grow  more  humble  in  his  de- 
portment, or  less  zealous  in  the  work  through  which  he 
had  already  gained  so  much  wealth  and  preferment.  His 
conduct  with  regard  to  the  edicts  and  bishoprics  had 
already  brought  him  into  relations  which  were  far  from 
amicable  with  his  colleagues  in  the  council.  More  and 
more  he  began  to  take  the  control  of  affairs  into  his  own 
hand.  The  consulta,  or  secret  committee  of  the  state 
council,  constituted  the  real  government  of  the  country. 
Here  the  most  important  affairs  were  decided  upon  with- 
out the  concurrence  of  the  other  seigniors.  Orange,  Eg- 
mont,  and  Glayon,  who,  at  the  same  time,  were  held  re- 
sponsible for  the  action  of  government.  The  Cardinal 
was  smooth  in  manner,  plausible  of  speech,  generally  even- 
tempered,  but  he  was  overbearing  and  blandly  insolent. 
Accustomed  to  control  royal  personages,  under  the  garb  of 
extreme  obsequiousness,  he  began,  in  his  intercourse  with 
those  of  less  exalted  rank,  to  omit  a  portion  of  the  subser- 
viency while  claiming  a  still  more  undisguised  authority. 
To  nobles  like  Egmont  and  Orange,  who  looked  down 
upon  the  son  of  Nicolas  Perrenot  and  Nicola  Bonvalot  as 
a  person  immeasurably  beneath  themselves  in  the  social 
hierarchy,  this  conduct  was  sufficiently  irritating.  The 
Cardinal,  placed  as  far  above  Philip,  and  even  Margaret, 
in  mental  power  as  he  was  beneath  them  in  worldly  station, 
found  it  comparatively  easy  to  deal  with  them  amicably. 
With  such  a  man  as  Egmont  it  was  impossible  for  the 
churchman  to  maintain  friendly  relations.  The  Count, 
who,  notwithstanding  his  romantic  appearance,  his  brilliant 
exploits,  and  his  interesting  destiny,  was  but  a  common- 
place character,  soon  conceived  a  mortal  aversion  to  Gran- 
velle.  A  rude  soldier,  entertaining  no  respect  for  science 
or  letters,  ignorant  and  overbearing,  he  was  not  the  man 
to  submit  to  the  airs  of  superiority  which  pierced  daily 
more  and  more  decidedly  through  the  conventional  exte- 
rior of  the  Cardinal.    Granvelle,  on  the  other  hand,  enter- 


1561]  GRANVELLE'S   RELATIONS  WITH   ORANGE  91 

tained  a  gentle  contempt  for  Egmont,  which  manifested 
itself  in  all  his  private  letters  to  the  King,  and  was  suffi- 
ciently obvious  in  his  deportment.  There  had  also  been 
distinct  causes  of  animosity  between  them,  arising  from 
disputes  concerning  the  appointments  of  subordinates  in 
office.  On  one  occasion  Egmont  drew  his  dagger  upon 
Granvelle  in  the  presence  of  the  Regent  herself,  ''and,'' 
says  a  contemporary,  ''  would  certainly  have  sent  the  Car- 
dinal into  the  next  world  had  he  not  been  forcibly  re- 
strained by  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  other  persons  pres- 
ent, who  warmly  represented  to  him  that  such  griefs  were 
to  be  settled  by  deliberate  advice,  not  by  choler."  At  the 
same  time,  while  scenes  like  these  were  occurring  in  the  very 
bosom  of  the  state  council,  Granvelle,  in  his  confidential 
letters  to  Secretary  Perez,  asserted  warmly  that  all  re- 
ports of  a  want  of  harmony  between  himself  and  the 
other  seigniors  and  councillors  were  false,  and  that  the 
best  relations  existed  among  them  all.  It  was  not  his 
intention,  before  it  should  be  necessary,  to  let  the  King 
doubt  his  ability  to  govern  the  council  according  to 
the  secret  commission  with  which  he  had  been  in- 
vested. 

His  relations  with  Orange  were  longer  in  changing  from 
friendship  to  open  hostility.  In  the  Prince  the  Cardinal 
met  his  match.  He  found  himself  confronted  by  an  in- 
tellect as  subtle,  an  experience  as  fertile  in  expedients,  a 
temper  as  even,  and  a  disposition  sometimes  as  haughty 
as  his  own.  He  never  affected  to  undervalue  the  mind  of 
Orange.  "  'Tis  a  man  of  profound  genius,  vast  ambition 
— dangerous,  acute,  politic,"  he  wrote  to  the  King  at  a 
very  early  period.  The  relations  between  himself  and  the 
Prince  had  been  very  amicable.  There  had  been  great  in- 
timacy, founded  upon  various  benefits  mutually  conferred; 
for  it  could  hardly  be  asserted  that  the  debt  of  friendship 
was  wholly  upon  one  side. 

When  Orange  arrived  in  Brussels  from  a  journey,  he 
would  go  to  the  Bishop's  before  alighting  at  his  own  house. 
When  the  churchman- visited  the  Prince,  he  entered  his 
bedchamber  without  ceremony,  before  he  had  risen ;  for 
it  was  William's  custom  through  life  to  receive  intimate 


92  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1561 

acquaintances,  and  even  to  attend  to  important  negotia- 
tions of  state,  while  still  in  bed. 

The  show  of  this  intimacy  had  lasted  longer  than  its 
substance.  Granvelle  was  the  most  politic  of  men,  and 
the  Prince  had  not  served  his  apprenticeship  at  the  court 
of  Charles  the  Fifth  to  lay  himself  bare  prematurely  to 
the  criticism  or  the  animosity  of  the  Cardinal  with  the 
recklessness  of  Horn  and  Egmont.  An  explosion  came  at 
last,  however,  and  very  soon  after  an  exceedingly  amicable 
correspondence  between  the  two  upon  the  subject  of  an 
edict  of  religious  amnesty  which  Orange  was  preparing 
for  his  principality,  and  which  Granvelle  had  recom- 
mended him  not  to  make  too  lenient.  A  few  weeks  after 
this  the  Antwerp  magistracy  was  to  be  renewed.  The 
Prince,  as  hereditary  burgrave  of  that  city,  was  entitled 
to  a  large  share  of  the  appointing  power  in  these  political 
arrangements,  which  at  the  moment  were  of  great  im- 
portance. The  citizens  of  Antwerp  were  in  a  state  of  ex- 
citement on  the  subject  of  the  new  bishops.  They  openly, 
and,  in  the  event,  successfully,  resisted  the  installation  of 
the  new  prelate  for  whom  their  city  had  been  constituted 
a  diocese.  When  the  nominations  for  the  new  magistracy 
came  before  the  Eegent,  she  disposed  of  the  whole  matter 
in  the  secret  consulta,  without  the  knowledge,  and  in  a 
manner  opposed  to  the  views,  of  Orange.  He  was  then 
furnished  with  a  list  of  the  new  magistrates,  and  was  in- 
formed that  he  had  been  selected  as  commissioner  along 
with  Count  Aremberg,  to  see  that  the  appointments  were 
carried  into  effect.  The  indignation  of  the  Prince  was 
extreme.  There  was  a  violent  altercation — Orange  vehe- 
mently resenting  his  appointment  merely  to  carry  out  de- 
cisions in  which  he  claimed  an  original  voice.  His  ances- 
tors, he  said,  had  often  changed  the  whole  of  the  Antwerp 
magistracy  by  their  own  authority.  Granvelle,  on  his  side, 
was  also  in  a  rage.  Thus  began  the  open  state  of  hostilities 
between  the  great  nobles  and  the  Cardinal,  which  had 
been  brooding  so  long. 

In  truth,  Granvelle,  with  all  his  keenness,  could  not  see 
that  Orange,  Egmont,  Berghen,  Montigny,  and  the  rest, 
were  no  longer  pages  and  young  captains  of  cavalry,  while 


EGMONT 


1561]  ROYAL  WRATH   AGAINST   HORN  93 

he  was  the  politician  and  the  statesman.  By  six  or  seven 
years  the  senior  of  Egmont,  and  by  sixteen  years  of  Or- 
ange, he  did  not  divest  himself  of  the  superciliousness  of 
superior  wisdom,  not  unjust  nor  so  irritating  when  they 
had  all  been  boys.  In  his  deportment  towards  them,  and 
in  the  whole  tone  of  his  private  correspondence  with  Phil- 
ip, there  was  revealed,  almost  in  spite  of  himself,  an  affec- 
tation of  authority  against  which  Egmont  rebelled  and 
which  the  Prince  was  not  the  man  to  acknowledge.  Philip 
answered  the  letter  of  the  two  nobles  in  his  usual  procras- 
tinating manner.  The  Count  of  Horn,  who  was  about 
leaving  Spain  (whither  he  had  accompanied  the  King)  for 
the  Netherlands,  would  be  intrusted  with  the  resolution 
which  he  should  think  proper  to  take  upon  the  subject 
suggested.  In  the  mean  time  he  assured  them  that  he 
did  not  doubt  their  zeal  in  his  service. 

As  to  Count  Horn,  Granvelle  had  already  prejudiced 
the  King  against  him.  Horn  and  the  Cardinal  had  never 
been  friends.  A  brother  of  the  prelate  had  been  an  aspir- 
ant for  the  hand  of  the  Admiral's  sister,  and  had  been 
somewhat  contemptuously  rejected.  Horn,  a  bold,  vehe- 
ment, and  not  very  good  -  tempered  personage,  had  long 
kept  no  terms  with  Granvelle,  and  did  not  pretend  a 
friendship  which  he  had  never  felt.  Granvelle  had  just 
written  to  instruct  the  King  that  Horn  was  opposed  bit- 
terly to  that  measure  wliich  was  nearest  the  King's  heart 
—  the  new  bishoprics.  He  had  been  using  strong  lan- 
guage, according  to  the  Cardinal,  in  opposition  to  the 
scheme,  while  still  in  Spain.  He  therefore  advised  that 
his  Majesty,  concealmg,  of  course ,  the  source  of  the  infor- 
mation, and  speaking  as  it  were  out  of  the  royal  mind  it- 
self, should  expostulate  with  the  Admiral  upon  the  sub- 
ject. Thus  prompted,  Philip  was  in  no  gracious  humor 
when  he  received  Count  Horn,  then  about  to  leave  Madrid 
for  the  Netherlands,  and  to  take  with  him  the  King's 
promised  answer  to  the  communication  of  Orange  and 
Egmont.  His  Majesty  had  rarely  been  known  to  exhibit 
so  much  anger  towards  any  person  as  he  manifested  upon 
that  occasion.  After  a  few  words  from  the  Admiral,  in 
which  he  expressed  his  sympathy  with  the  other  Nether- 


94  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1561 

land  nobles  and  his  aversion  to  Granvelle,  in  general 
terms,  and  in  reply  to  Philip's  interrogatories,  the  King 
fiercely  interrupted  him  :  "  What !  miserable  man  V  he 
vociferated — ^^You  all  complain  of  this  Cardinal,  and  al- 
ways in  vague  language.  Not  one  of  you,  in  spite  of  all 
my  questions,  can  give  me  a  single  reason  for  your  dis- 
satisfaction/^ With  this  the  royal  wrath  boiled  over  in 
such  unequivocal  terms  that  the  Admiral  changed  color 
and  was  so  confused  with  indignation  and  astonishment 
that  he  was  scarcely  able  to  find  his  way  out  of  the  room. 

This  was  the  commencement  of  Granvelle's  long  mortal 
combat  with  Egmont,  Horn,  and  Orange.  This  was  the 
first  answer  which  the  seigniors  were  to  receive  to  their 
remonstrances  against  the  churchman's  arrogance.  Philip 
was  enraged  that  any  opposition  should  be  made  to  his 
coercive  measures,  particularly  to  the  new  bishoprics,  the 
"  holy  work  "  which  the  Cardinal  was  ready  to  "  conse- 
crate his  fortune  and  his  blood"  to  advance.  Granvelle 
fed  his  master's  anger  by  constant  communications  as  to 
the  efforts  made  by  distinguished  individuals  to  delay  the 
execution  of  the  scheme. 

Philip  was  determined  that  no  remonstrance  from  great 
nobles  or  from  private  citizens  should  interfere  with  the 
thorough  execution  of  the  grand  scheme  on  which  he  was 
resolved,  and  of  which  the  new  bishoprics  formed  an  im- 
portant part.  Opposition  irritated  him  more  and  more,  till 
his  hatred  of  the  opponents  became  deadly ;  but  it  at  the 
same  time  confirmed  him  in  his  purpose.  "  'Tis  no  time 
to  temporize,"  he  wrote  to  Granvelle  ;  '^  we  must  inflict 
chastisement  with  full  rigor  and  severity.  These  rascals 
can  only  be  made  to  do  right  through  fear,  and  not  always 
even  by  that  means." 

At  the  same  time,  the  royal  finances  did  not  admit  of 
any  very  active  measures  to  enforce  obedience  to  a  policy 
which  was  already  so  bitterly  opposed.  A  rough  estimate, 
made  in  the  King's  own  handwriting,  of  the  resources 
and  obligations  of  his  exchequer,  a  kind  of  balance-sheet 
for  the  years  1560  and  1561,  drawn  up  much  in  the  same 
manner  as  that  in  which  a  simple  individual  would  make 
a  note  of  his  income  and  expenditure,  gave  but  a  dismal 


1561]  A   DISMAL   EXCHEQUER  95 

picture  of  his  pecuniary  condition.  It  served  to  show  how- 
intelligent  a  financier  is  despotism,  and  how  little  availa- 
ble are  the  resources  of  a  mighty  empire  when  regarded 
merely  as  private  property,  particularly  when  the  owner 
chances  to  have  the  vanity  of  attending  to  all  details  him- 
self. "  Twenty  millions  of  ducats,'^  began  the  memoran- 
dum, ^'will  be  required  to  disengage  my  revenues.  But 
of  this,"  added  the  King,  with  whimsical  pathos  for  an 
account-book,  "  we  will  not  speak  at  present,  as  the  mat- 
ter is  so  entirely  impossible.""  He  then  proceeded  to  en- 
ter the  various  items  of  expense  which  were  to  be  met 
during  the  two  years — such  as  so  many  millions  due  to  the 
Fuggers  (the  Rothschilds  of  the  sixteenth  century),  so 
many  to  merchants  in  Flanders,  Seville,  and  other  places, 
so  much  for  Prince  Doria's  galleys,  so  much  for  three 
years'  pay  due  to  his  guards,  so  much  for  his  household 
expenditure,  so  much  for  the  tuition  of  Don  Carlos  and 
Don  John  of  Austria,  so  much  for  salaries  of  ambassadors 
and  councillors  —  mixing  personal  and  state  expenses, 
petty  items  and  great  loans,  in  one  singular  jumble,  but 
arriving  at  a  total  demand  upon  his  purse  of  ten  million 
nine  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  ducats. 

To  meet  this  expenditure,  he  painfully  enumerated  the 
funds  upon  which  he  could  reckon  for  the  two  years.  His 
ordinary  rents  and  taxes  being  all  deeply  pledged,  he 
could  only  calculate  from  that  source  upon  two  hundred 
thousand  ducats.  The  Indian  revenue,  so  called,  was 
nearly  spent ;  still  it  might  yield  him  four  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  ducats.  The  quicksilver  mines  would 
produce  something,  but  so  little  as  hardly  to  require  men- 
tioning. As  to  the  other  mines,  they  were  equally  un- 
worthy of  notice,  being  so  very  uncertain,  and  not  doing 
as  well  as  they  were  wont.  The  licenses  accorded  by  the 
crown  to  carry  slaves  to  America  were  put  down  at  fifty 
thousand  ducats  for  the  two  years.  The  product  of  the 
**  crozada  "  and  "  cuarta,"  or  money  paid  to  him  in  small 
sums  by  individuals,  with  the  permission  of  his  holiness, 
for  the  liberty  of  abstaining  from  the  Church  fasts,  was 
estimated  at  five  hundred  thousand  ducats.  These  and  a 
few  more  meagre  items  only  sufficed  to  stretch  his  income 


96  HISTOKY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS  [156T 

to  a  total  of  one  million  three  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
for  the  two  years,  against  an  expenditure  calculated  at 
near  eleven  millions.  "  Thus  there  are  nine  millions,  less 
three  thousand  ducats,  deficient,"  he  concluded,  ruefully 
{and  making  a  mistake  i7i  Ms  figures  in  Ms  oion  favor  of 
six  Mindred  and  sixty -tMee  thousand  besides),  ^'^  which  I 
may  look  for  in  the  sky,  or  try  to  raise  by  inventions 
already  exhausted." 

Thus  the  man  who  owned  all  America  and  half  of  Eu- 
rope could  only  raise  a  million  ducats  a  year  from  his  es- 
tates. The  possessor  of  all  Peru  and  Mexico  could  reckon 
on  ^^ nothing  worth  mentioning"  from  his  mines,  and  de- 
rived a  precarious  income  mainly  from  permissions  granted 
his  subjects  to  carry  on  the  slave-trade  and  to  eat  meat  on 
Fridays.  This  was  certainly  a  gloomy  condition  of  affairs 
for  a  monarch  on  the  threshold  of  a  war  which  was  to  out- 
last his  own  life  and  that  of  his  children  ;  a  war  in  which 
the  mere  army  expenses  were  to  be  half  a  million  florins 
monthly,  in  which  about  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  annual 
disbursements  was  to  be  regularly  embezzled  or  appropri- 
ated by  the  hands  through  which  it  passed,  and  in  which 
for  every  four  men  on  paper,  enrolled  and  paid  for,  only 
one,  according  to  the  average,  was  brought  into  the  field. 

It  is  necessary,  before  concluding  this  chapter,  which 
relates  the  events  of  the  years  1560  and  1561,  to  allude  to 
an  important  affair  which  occupied  much  attention  during 
the  whole  of  this  period.  This  is  the  celebrated  marriage 
of  the  Prince  of  Orange  with  the  Princess  Anna  of  Saxony. 
By  many  superficial  writers,  a  moving  cause  of  the  great 
Netherland  revolt  was  found  in  the  connection  of  the  great 
chieftain  with  this  distinguished  Lutheran  house.  One 
must  have  studied  the  characters  and  the  times  to  very 
little  purpose,  however,  to  believe  it  possible  that  much 
influence  could  be  exerted  on  the  mind  of  William  of 
Orange  by  such  natures  as  those  of  Anna  of  Saxony,  or  of 
her  uncle  the  Elector  Augustus,  surnamed  ^^the  Pious." 

The  Prince  had  become  a  widower  in  1558,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-five.  After  a  year  of  mourning,  Granvelle  pro- 
posed to  him  an  alliance  with  Eenee,  the  Princess  of  Lor- 
raine, which  would  connect  him  with  the  royal  houses  of 


1561]  PREVIOUS   MYSTERIES  97 

both  Spain  and  France.  Agreeable  as  this  was  to  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  it  was  circumvented  by  the  opposition 
of  Philip,  who  ordered  the  young  lady^s  mother,  the  Duch- 
ess of  Lorraine,  to  decline  the  proposal. 

Soon  after  this  William  turned  his  attentions  to  Ger- 
many. Anna  of  Saxony,  daughter  of  the  celebrated  Elec- 
tor Maurice,  lived  at  the  court  of  her  uncle,  the  Elector 
Augustus.  A  musket-ball,  perhaps  a  traitorous  one,  in  an 
obscure  action  with  Albert  of  Brandenburg,  had  closed 
the  adventurous  career  of  her  father  seven  years  before. 
The  young  lady,  who  was  thought  to  have  inherited  much 
of  his  restless,  stormy  character,  was  sixteen  years  of  age. 
She  was  far  from  handsome,  was  somewhat  deformed,  and 
limped.  Her  marriage-portion  was  deemed,  for  the  times, 
an  ample  one  ;  she  had  seventy-thousand  rix  dollars  in 
hand,  and  the  reversion  of  thirty  thousand  on  the  death 
of  John  Frederic  the  Second,  who  had  married  her  mother 
after  the  death  of  Maurice.  Her  rank  was  accounted  far 
higher  in  Germany  than  that  of  William  of  Nassau,  and  in 
this  respect,  rather  than  for  pecuniary  considerations,  the 
marriage  seemed  a  desirable  one  for  him.  The  man  who 
held  the  great  Nassau-Chalons  property,  together  with  the 
heritage  of  Count  Maximilian  de  Buren,  could  hardly  have 
been  tempted  by  one  hundred  thousand  thalers.  His  own 
provision  for  the  children  who  might  spring  from  the  pro- 
posed marriage  was  to  be  a  settlement  of  seventy  thou- 
sand florins  annually.  The  fortune  which  permitted  of 
such  liberality  was  not  one  to  be  very  materially  increased 
by  a  dowry  which  might  seem  enormous  to  many  of  the 
pauper  princes  of  Germany.  "  The  bride's  portion,"  says 
a  contemporary,  *^  after  all,  scarcely  paid  for  the  banquets 
and  magnificent  festivals  which  celebrated  the  marriage. 
When  the  wedding  was  paid  for,  there  was  not  a  thaler 
remaining  of  the  whole  sum."  Nothing,  then,  could  be 
more  puerile  than  to  accuse  the  Prince  of  mercenary  mo- 
tives in  seeking  this  alliance  ;  an  accusation,  however, 
which  did  not  fail  to  be  brought. 

There  were  difficulties  on  both  sides  to  be  arranged  be- 
fore this  marriage  could  take  place.  The  bride  was  a  Lu- 
theran, the  Prince  was  a  Catholic.  After  much  opposition 


98  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1561 

from  the  Landgrave  Philip  and  from  Philip  of  Spain,  with 
correspondence  between  the  King  and  the  Cardinal,  Will- 
iam of  Orange  made  a  visit  to  Dresden  in  December,  1560^ 
where  he  was  received  by  the  Elector  Augustus  with  great 
cordiality. 

The  appearance  and  accomplishments  of  the  distin- 
guished suitor  made  a  profound  impression  upon  the  lady. 
Her  heart  was  carried  by  storm.  Finding,  or  fancying, 
herself  very  desperately  enamored  of  the  proposed  bride- 
groom, she  soon  manifested  as  much  eagerness  for  the 
marriage  as  did  her  uncle,  and  expressed  herself  frequent- 
ly with  the  violence  which  belonged  to  her  character. 
''What  God  had  decreed, ^^  she  said,  *'the  devil  should 
not  hinder.^' 

The  wedding  had  been  fixed  to  take  place  on  Sunday, 
the  24th  of  August,  1561.  This  was  St.  Bartholomew's,  a 
nuptial  day  which  was  not  destined  to  be  a  happy  one  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  The  Landgrave  and  his  family  de- 
clined to  be  present  at  the  wedding,  but  a  large  and  brill- 
iant company  were  invited.  The  King  of  Spain  sent  a 
bill  of  exchange  to  the  Eegent,  that  she  might  purchase  a 
ring  worth  three  thousand  crowns,  as  a  present  on  his  part 
to  the  bride.  Besides  this  liberal  evidence  that  his  opposi- 
tion to  the  marriage  was  withdrawn,  he  authorized  his  sis- 
ter to  appoint  envoys  from  among  the  most  distinguished 
nobles  to  represent  him  on  the  occasion.  The  Baron  de 
Montigny,  accordingly,  with  a  brilliant  company  of  gen- 
tlemen, was  deputed  by  the  Duchess,  although  she  de- 
clined sending  all  the  governors  of  the  provinces,  accord- 
ing to  the  request  of  the  Prince.  The  marriage  was  to 
take  place  at  Leipsic. 

On  Saturday,  the  day  before  the  wedding,  the  guests 
had  all  arrived  at  Leipsic,  and  the  Prince  of  Orange,  with 
his  friends,  at  Merseburg.  On  Sunday,  the  24th  of  August, 
the  Elector,  at  the  head  of  his  guests  and  attendants,  in 
splendid  array,  rode  forth  to  receive  the  bridegroom.  His 
cavalcade  numbered  four  thousand.  William  of  Orange 
had  arrived,  accompanied  by  one  thousand  mounted  men. 
The  whole  troop  now  entered  the  city  together,  escorting 
the  Prince  to  the  town-house.     Here  he  dismounted,  and 


1561]  LEIPSIC   IN   COMMOTION  99 

was  received  on  the  stairca.se  by  the  Princess  Anna,  at- 
tended by  her  ladies.  She  immediately  afterwards  with- 
drew to  her  apartments. 

It  was  at  this  point,  between  4  and  5  p.  m.,  that  the 
Elector  and  Electress,  with  the  bride  and  bridegroom,  ac- 
companied also  by  the  Dame  Sophia  von  Miltitz  and  the 
Councillors  Hans  von  Ponika  and  Ulrich  Woltersdorff 
upon  one  side,  and  by  Count  John  of  Nassau  and  Heinrich 
von  Wiltberg  upon  the  other,  as  witnesses,  appeared  be- 
fore Wolf  Seidel,  notary,  in  a  comer  room  of  the  upper 
story  of  the  town-house.  One  of  the  councillors,  on  tlie 
part  of  the  Elector,  then  addressed  the  bridegroom.  He 
observed  that  his  highness  would  remember,  no  doubt,  the 
contents  of  a  memorandum  or  billet,  sent  by  the  Elector  on 
the  14th  of  April  of  that  year,  by  the  terms  of  which  the 
Prince  was  to  agree  that  he  would,  neither  by  threat  nor 
persuasion,  prevent  his  future  wife  from  continuing  in  the 
Augsburg  Confession  ;  that  he  would  allow  her  to  go  to 
places  where  she  might  receive  the  Augsburg  sacraments  ; 
that  in  case  of  extreme  need  she  should  receive  them  in 
her  chamber  ;  and  that  the  children  who  might  spring  from 
the  marriage  should  be  instructed  as  to  the  Augsburg  doc- 
trines. As,  however,  continued  the  councillor,  his  high- 
ness the  Prince  of  Orange  has,  for  various  reasons,  declined 
giving  any  such  agreement  in  writing,  as  therefore  it  had 
been  arranged  that  before  the  marriage  ceremony  the 
Prince  should,  in  the  presence  of  the  bride  and  of  the  other 
witnesses,  make  a  verbal  promise  on  the  subject,  and  as  the 
parties  were  now  to  be  immediately  united  in  marriage, 
therefore  the  Elector  had  no  doubt  that  the  Prince  would 
make  no  objection  in  the  presence  of  those  witnesses  to 
give  his  consent  to  maintain  the  agreements  comprised  in 
the  memorandum  or  note.  The  note  was  then  read.  There- 
upon the  Prince  answered  verbally.  ''  Gracious  Elector  : 
I  remember  the  writing  which  you  sent  me  on  the  14th  of 
April.  All  the  points  just  narrated  by  the  Doctor  were 
contained  in  it.  I  now  state  to  your  highness  that  I  will 
keep  it  all  as  becomes  a  Prince,  and  conform  to  it." 
Thereupon  he  gave  the  Elector  his  hand. 

After  the  delay  occasioned  by  these  private  formalities. 


100  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1561 

the  bridal  procession,  headed  by  the  court  musicians,  fol- 
lowed by  the  court  marshals,  councillors,  great  officers  of 
state,  and  the  electoral  family,  entered  the  grand  hall  of 
the  town-house.  The  nuptial  ceremony  was  then  per- 
formed by  '^  the  Superintendent  Doctor  Pfeffinger.  Im- 
mediately afterwards,  and  in  the  same  hall,  the  bride  and 
bridegroom  were  placed  publicly  upon  a  splendid,  gilded 
bed,  with  gold-embroidered  curtains,  the  Princess  being 
conducted  thither  by  the  Elector  and  the  Electress.  Con- 
fects  and  spiced  drinks  were  then  served  to  them  and  to 
the  assembled  company.  After  this  ceremony  they  were 
conducted  to  their  separate  chambers  to  dress  for  dinner. 
Before  they  left  the  hall,  however.  Margrave  Hans  of 
Brandenburg,  on  part  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  solemnly 
recommended  the  bride  to  her  husband,  exhorting  him 
to  cherish  her  with  faith  and  affection,  and  ^^to  leave 
her  undisturbed  in  the  recognized  truth  of  the  Holy 
Gospel  and  the  right  use  of  the  sacraments." 

Five  round  tables  were  laid  in  the  same  hall  immediately 
afterwards — each  accommodating  ten  guests.  As  soon  as 
the  first  course  of  twenty-five  dishes  had  been  put  upon 
the  chief  table,  the  bride  and  bridegroom,  the  Elector  and 
Electress,  the  Spanish  and  Danish  envoys  and  others,  were 
escorted  to  it,  and  the  banquet  began.  During  the  repast, 
the  Elector's  choir  and  all  the  other  bands  discoursed  the 
*'  merriest  and  most  ingenious  music."  The  noble  vassals 
handed  the  water,  the  napkins,  and  the  wine,  and  every- 
thing was  conducted  decorously  and  appropriately.  As 
soon  as  the  dinner  was  brought  to  a  close,  the  tables  were 
cleared  away,  and  the  ball  began  in  the  same  apartment. 
Dances,  previously  arranged,  were  performed,  after  which 
"  confects  and  drinks  "  were  again  distributed,  and  the 
bridal  pair  were  then  conducted  to  the  nuptial  chamber. 

The  wedding,  according  to  the  Lutheran  custom  of  the 
epoch,  had  thus  taken  place  not  in  a  church,  but  in  a  pri- 
vate dwelling  ;  the  hall  of  the  town-house,  representing, 
on  this  occasion,  the  Elector^s  own  saloons.  On  the  fol- 
lowing morning,  however,  a  procession  was  formed  at  seven 
o'clock  to  conduct  the  newly  married  couple  to  the  church 
of  St.  Nicholas,  there  to  receive  an  additional  exhortation 


1561]  TILTING  AND  MUMMING  101 

and  benediction.  Two  separate  companies  of  gentlemen, 
attended  by  a  great  number  of  "  fifers,  drummers,  and 
trumpeters,"  escorted  the  bride  and  the  bridegroom, 
"twelve  counts,  wearing  each  a  scarf  of  the  Princess 
Annans  colors,  with  golden  garlands  on  their  heads  and 
lighted  torches  in  their  hands/'  preceding  her  to  the  choir, 
where  seats  had  been  provided  for  the  more  illustrious  por- 
tion of  the  company.  The  church  had  been  magnificently 
decked  in  tapestry,  and  as  the  company  entered  a  full  or- 
chestra performed  siveral  fine  mottettos.  After  listening 
to  a  long  address  from  Doctor  Pfeffinger,  and  receiving  a 
blessing  before  the  altar,  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Or- 
ange returned,  with  their  attendant  processions,  to  the 
town-house. 

Then  followed  three  days  of  revelry  and  feasting,  with 
a  tournament  every  day  and  mummeries  or  masquerades 
in  the  evenings.  From  the  moment  of  her  marriage  the 
Princess  lived  catholically,  exactly  as  Orange  had  stated 
to  the  Duchess  Margaret,  and  as  the  Elector  knew  would 
be  the  case.  The  first  and  the  following  children  born  of 
the  marriage  were  baptized  by  Catholic  priests,  with  very 
elaborate  Catholic  ceremonies,  and  this  with  the  full  con- 
sent of  the  Elector,  who  sent  deputies  and  officiated  as 
sponsor  on  one  remarkable  occasion. 

While  William  of  Orange  was  thus  employed  in  Ger- 
many, Granvelle  seized  the  opportunity  to  make  his  en- 
try into  the  city  of  Mechlin  as  Archbishop,  believing 
that  such  a  step  would  be  better  accomplished  in  the 
absence  of  the  Prince  from  the  country.  The  Cardinal 
found  no  one  in  the  city  to  welcome  him.  None  of  the 
great  nobles  were  there.  The  people  looked  upon  the 
procession  with  silent  hatred.  No  man  cried,  "  God  bless 
him  ! "  He  wrote  to  the  King  that  he  should  push  for- 
ward the  whole  matter  of  the  bishoprics  as  fast  as  pos- 
sible, adding  the  ridiculous  assertion  that  the  opposi- 
tion came  entirely  from  the  nobility,  and  that  '*if  the 
seigniors  did  not  talk  so  much,  not  a  man  of  the  peo- 
ple would  open  his  mouth  on  the  subject." 

The  remonstrance  offered  by  the  three  estates  of  Bra- 
bant against  the  scheme  had  not  influenced  Philip.     He 


102  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1561 

had  replied  in  a  peremptory  tone.  He  had  assured  them 
that  he  had  no  intention  of  receding,  and  that  the  prov- 
ince of  Brabant  ought  to  feel  itself  indebted  to  him  for 
having  given  them  prelates  instead  of  abbots  to  take  care 
of  their  eternal  interests,  and  for  having  erected  their  reli- 
gious houses  into  episcopates.  The  abbeys  made  what 
resistance  they  could,  but  were  soon  fain  to  come  to  a 
compromise  with  the  bishops,  who,  according  to  the  ar- 
rangement thus  made,  were  to  receive  a  certain  portion 
of  the  abbey  revenues,  while  the  remainder  was  to  be- 
long to  the  institutions,  together  with  a  continuance  of 
their  right  to  elect  their  own  chiefs,  subordinate,  how- 
ever, to  the  approbation  of  the  respective  prelates  of  the 
diocese.  Thus  was  the  episcopal  matter  settled  in  Bra- 
bant. In  many  of  the  other  bishoprics  the  new  digni- 
taries were  treated  with  disrespect,  as  they  made  their 
entrance  into  their  cities,  while  they  experienced  end- 
less opposition  and  annoyance  on  attempting  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  revenue  assigned  to  them. 


CHAPTER  III 
CHURCH  DISCIPLINE — THE  INQUISITION 

The  great  cause  of  the  revolt  which,  within  a  few  years, 
was  to  break  forth  throughout  the  Netherlands,  was  the 
inquisition.  It  is  almost  puerile  to  look  farther  or  deep- 
er, when  such  a  source  of  convulsion  lies  at  the  very  out- 
set of  any  investigation.  During  the  war  there  had  been, 
for  reasons  already  indicated,  an  occasional  pause  in  the 
religious  persecution.  Philip  had  now  returned  to  Spain, 
having  arranged,  with  great  precision,  a  comprehensive 
scheme  for  exterminating  that  religious  belief  which  was 
already  accepted  by  a  very  large  portion  of  his  Nether- 
land  subjects. 

The  Spanish  inquisition,  strictly  so  called,  that  is  to 
say,  the  modern  or  later  institution  established  by  Pope 
Alexander  the  Sixth  and  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  was 
doubtless  invested  with  a  more  complete  apparatus  for 
inflicting  human  misery,  and  for  appalling  human  im- 
agination, than  any  of  the  other  less  artfully  arranged 
inquisitions,  whether  papal  or  episcopal.  It  had  been 
originally  devised  for  Jews  or  Moors,  whom  the  Chris- 
tianity of  the  age  did  not  regard  as  human  beings,  but 
who  could  not  be  banished  without  depopulating  cer- 
tain districts.  It  was  soon,  however,  extended  from  pa- 
gans to  heretics.  The  Dominican  Torque-mada  was  the 
first  Moloch  to  be  placed  upon  this  pedestal  of  blood 
and  fire,  and  from  that  day  forward  the  "holy  office" 
was  almost  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  that  band  of 
brothers.  In  the  eighteen  years  of  Torquemada's  ad- 
ministration, ten  thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty  in- 
dividuals were  burned  alive,  and  ninety-seven  thousand 


104  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1561 

three  hundred  and  twenty -one  punished  with  infamy, 
confiscation  of  property,  or  perpetual  imprisonment,  so 
that  the  total  number  of  families  destroyed  by  this  one 
friar  alone  amouiit^d  to  one  hundred  and  fourteen  thou- 
sand four  hundred  and  one.  In  course  of  time  the  ju- 
risdiction of  the  office  was  extended.  It  taught  the  sav- 
ages of  India  and  America  to  shudder  at  the  name  of 
Christianity.  The  fear  of  its  introduction  froze  the  ear- 
lier heretics  of  Italy,  France,  and  Germany  into  ortho- 
doxy. It  was  a  court  owning  allegiance  to  no  temporal 
authority,  superior  to  all  other  tribunals.  It  was  a 
bench  of  monks  without  appeal,  having  its  familiars  in 
every  house,  diving  into  the  secrets  of  every  fireside, 
judging  and  executing  its  horrible  decrees  without  re- 
sponsibility. It  condemned  not  deeds,  but  thoughts. 
It  affected  to  descend  into  individual  conscience,  and 
to  punish  the  crimes  which  it  pretended  to  discover. 
Its  process  was  reduced  to  a  horrible  simplicity.  It  ar- 
rested on  suspicion,  tortured  till  confession,  and  then 
punished  by  fire.  Two  witnesses,  and  those  to  separate 
facts,  were  sufficient  to  consign  the  victim  to  a  loath- 
some dungeon.  Here  he  was  sparingly  supplied  with 
food,  forbidden  to  speak,  or  even  to  sing  —  to  which 
pastime  it  could  hardly  be  thought  he  would  feel  much 
inclination  —  and  then  left  to  himself  till  famine  and 
misery  should  break  his  spirit.  When  that  time  was 
supposed  to  have  arrived  he  was  examined.  Did  he  con- 
fess and  forswear  his  heresy,  whether  actually  inno- 
cent or  not,  he  might  then  assume  the  sacred  shirt, 
and  escape  with  confiscation  of  all  his  property.  Did 
he  persist  in  the  avowal  of  his  innocence,  two  wit- 
nesses sent  him  to  the  stake,  one  witness  to  the  rack. 
He  was  informed  of  the  testimony  against  him,  but 
never  confronted  with  the  witness.  That  accuser 
might  be  his  son,  father,  or  the  wife  of  his  bosom, 
for  all  were  enjoined,  under  the  death -penalty,  to  in- 
form the  inquisitors  of  every  suspicious  word  which 
might  fall  from  their  nearest  relatives.  The  indict- 
ment being  thus  supported,  the  prisoner  was  tried  by 
torture.     The  rack  was  the  court  of  justice ;  the  crim- 


1561]  INQUISITORIAL   ROUTINE  105 

iiial's  only  advocate  was  his  fortitude  —  for  the  nom- 
inal counsellor,  who  was  permitted  no  communication 
with  the  prisoner,  and  was  furnished  neither  with  doc- 
uments nor  with  power  to  procure  evidence,  was  a  pup- 
pet, aggravating  the  lawlessness  of  the  proceedings  by 
the  mockery  of  legal  forms.  The  torture  took  place  at 
midnight,  in  a  gloomy  dungeon,  dimly  lighted  by  torch- 
es. The  victim — whether  man,  matron,  or  tender  virgin 
— was  stripped  naked,  and  stretched  upon  the  wooden 
bench.  Water,  weights,  fires,  pulleys,  screws  —  all  the 
apparatus  by  which  the  sinews  could  be  strained  with- 
out cracking,  the  bones  crushed  without  breaking,  and 
the  body  racked  exquisitely  without  giving  up  its  ghost, 
was  now  put  into  operation.  The  executioner,  envel- 
oped in  a  black  robe  from  head  to  foot,  with  his  eyes 
glaring  at  his  victim  through  holes  cut  in  the  hood 
which  muffled  his  face,  practised  successively  all  the 
forms  of  torture  which  the  devilish  ingenuity  of  the 
monks  had  invented. 

The  period  during  which  torture  might  be  inflicted 
from  day  to  day  was  unlimited  in  duration.  It  could 
only  be  terminated  by  confession  ;  so  that  the  scaffold  was 
the  sole  refuge  from  the  rack.  Individuals  have  borne  the 
torture  and  the  dungeon  fifteen  years,  and  have  been 
burned  at  the  stake  at  last. 

Execution  followed  confession,  but  the  number  of  con- 
demned prisoners  was  allowed  to  accumulate,  that  a  mul- 
titude of  victims  might  grace  each  great  gala-day.  The 
auto-da-fe  was  a  solemn  festival.  The  monarch,  the  high 
functionaries  of  the  land,  the  reverend  clergy,  the  popu- 
lace, regarded  it  as  an  inspiring  and  delightful  recreation. 
When  the  appointed  morning  arrived,  the  victim  was  taken 
from  his  dungeon.  He  was  then  attired  in  a  yellow  robe 
without  sleeves,  like  a  herald^s  coat,  embroidered  all  over 
with  black  figures  of  devils.  A  large  conical  paper  mitre 
was  placed  upon  his  head,  upon  which  was  represented  a 
human  being  in  the  midst  of  flames,  surrounded  by  imps. 
His  tongue  was  then  painfully  gagged,  so  that  he  could 
neither  open  nor  shut  his  mouth.  After  he  was  thus  ac- 
coutred, and  just  as  he  was  leaving  his  cell,  a  breakfast. 


106  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1661 

consisting  of  every  delicacy,  was  placed  before  him,  and 
he  was  urged,  with  ironical  politeness,  to  satisfy  his  hunger. 
He  was  then  led  forth  into  the  public  square.  The  pro- 
cession was  formed  with  great  pomp.  It  was  headed  by  the 
little  school  children,  who  were  immediately  followed  by 
the  band  of  prisoners,  each  attired  in  the  horrible  yet  lu- 
dicrous manner  described.  Then  came  the  magistrates 
and  nobility,  the  prelates  and  other  dignitaries  of  the 
Church ;  the  holy  inquisitors,  with  their  officials  and  fa- 
miliars, followed,  all  on  horseback,  with  the  blood-red  flag 
of  the  "sacred  office ''  waving  above  them,  blazoned  upon 
each  side  with  the  portraits  of  Alexander  and  of  Fer- 
dinand, the  pair  of  brothers  who  had  established  the  in- 
stitution. After  the  procession  came  the  rabble.  When 
all  had  reached  the  neighborhood  of  the  scaffold,  and  had 
been  arranged  in  order,  a  sermon  was  preached  to  the 
assembled  multitude.  It  was  filled  with  laudations  of  the 
inquisition,  and  with  blasphemous  revilings  against  the 
condemned  prisoners.  Then  the  sentences  were  read  to 
the  individual  victims  and  the  clergy  chanted  the  fifty- 
first  psalm,  the  whole  vast  throng  uniting  in  one  tremen- 
dous miserere.  If  a  priest  happened  to  be  among  the  cul- 
prits, he  was  now  stripped  of  the  canonicals  which  he  had 
hitherto  worn,  while  his  hands,  lips,  and  shaven  crown 
were  scraped  with  a  bit  of  glass,  by  which  process  the  oil  of 
his  consecration  was  supposed  to  be  removed.  He  was  then 
thrown  into  the  common  herd.  Those  of  the  prisoners 
who  were  reconciled,  and  those  whose  execution  was  not 
yet  appointed,  were  now  separated  from  the  others.  The 
rest  were  compelled  to  mount  a  scaffold,  where  the  execu- 
tioner stood  ready  to  conduct  them  to  the  fire.  The  in- 
quisitors then  delivered  them  into  his  hands,  with  an  iron- 
ical request  that  he  would  deal  with  them  tenderly,  and 
without  blood-letting  or  injury.  Those  who  remained 
steadfast  to  the  last  were  then  burned  at  the  stake ;  they 
who  in  the  last  extremity  renounced  their  faith  were 
strangled  before  being  thrown  into  the  flames.  It  was, 
according  to  the  biographer  of  Philip  the  Second,  a  "  heav- 
enly remedy,  a  guardian  angel  of  paradise,  a  lions'  den  in 
which  Daniel  and  other  just  men  could  sustain  no  injury. 


1561]  PAPAL   INQUISITION   IN    THE   PROVINCES  107 

but  in  which  perverse  sinners  were  torn  to  pieces."  It 
was  a  tribunal  superior  to  all  human  law,  without  appeal, 
and  certainly  owing  no  allegiance  to  the  powers  of  earth 
or  heaven.  No  rank,  high  or  humble,  was  safe  from  its 
jurisdiction.  The  royal  family  were  not  sacred,  nor  the 
pauper's  hovel.  Even  death  afforded  no  protection.  The 
holy  office  invaded  the  prince  in  his  palace  and  the  beggar 
in  his  shroud.  The  corpses  of  dead  heretics  were  muti- 
lated and  burned.  The  inquisitors  preyed  upon  carcasses 
and  rifled  graves. 

The  news  of  these  tremendous  autos-da-fe,  in  which  so 
many  illustrious  victims  had  been  sacrificed  before  their 
sovereign's  eyes,  had  reached  the  Netherlands  almost  sim- 
ultaneously with  the  bulls  creating  the  new  bishoprics  in 
the  provinces.  It  was  not  likely  that  the  measure  would 
be  rendered  more  palatable  by  this  intelligence  of  the  royal 
amusements. 

Previously  to  the  accession  of  Charles  the  Fifth, it  cannot 
be  said  that  an  inquisition  had  ever  been  established  in  the 
provinces.  Isolated  instances  to  the  contrary,  adduced 
by  the  canonists  who  gave  their  advice  to  Margaret  of 
Parma,  rather  proved  the  absence  than  the  existence  of 
the  system. 

A  special  edict  had  been  issued  on  the  26th  of  April, 
1550,  according  to  which  all  judicial  officers,  at  the  requi- 
sition of  the  inquisitors,  were  to  render  them  all  assistance 
in  the  execution  of  their  office,  by  arresting  and  detaining 
all  persons  suspected  of  heresy,  according  to  the  instruc- 
tions issued  to  said  inquisitors ;  and  this  notwithstanding 
any  privileges  or  charters  to  the  contrary.  In  short,  the 
inquisitors  were  not  subject  to  the  civil  authority,  but  the 
civil  authority  to  them.  The  imperial  edict  empowered 
them  '*to  chastise,  degrade,  denounce,  and  deliver  over 
heretics  to  the  secular  judges  for  punishment ;  to  make 
use  of  jails,  and  to  make  arrests,  without  ordinary  war- 
rant, but  merely  with  notice  given  to  a  single  counsellor, 
who  ivas  obliged  to  give  sentence  according  to  their  desire, 
without  application  to  the  ordinary  judge." 

These  instructions  to  the  inquisitors  had  been  renewed 
and  confirmed  by  Philip,  in  the  very  first  month  of  his  reign 


108  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1562 

(28th  of  November,  1555).  As  in  the  case  of  the  edicts, 
it  had  been  thought  desirable  by  Granvelle  to  make  use  of 
the  supposed  magic  of  the  Emperor's  name  to  hallow  the 
whole  machinery  of  persecution.  The  action  of  the  sys- 
tem during  the  greater  part  of  the  imperial  period  had 
been  terrible.  Suffered  for  a  time  to  languish  during  the 
French  war,  it  had  lately  been  renewed  with  additional 
vigor.  /Among  all  the  inquisitors,  the  name  of  Peter 
Titelmann  was  now  pre-eminent.  He  executed  his  infa- 
mous functions  throughout  Flanders,  Douai,  and  Tour- 
nay,  the  most  thriving  and  populous  portions  of  the  Neth- 
erlands, with  a  swiftness,  precision,  and  even  with  a  jocu- 
larity which  hardly  seemed  human.  There  was  a  kind  of 
grim  humor  about  the  man.  The  woman  who,  according 
to  Lear's  fool,  was  wont  to  thrust  her  live  eels  into  the  hot 
paste,  "rapping  them  o'  the  coxcombs  with  a  stick  and 
crying  reproachfully.  Wantons,  lie  down  V  had  the  spirit 
of  a  true  inquisitor.  Even  so  dealt  Titelmann  with  his 
heretics  writhing  on  the  rack  or  in  the  flames.  Contempo- 
rary chronicles  give  a  picture  of  him  as  of  some  grotesque 
yet  terrible  goblin,  careering  through  the  country  by  night 
or  day,  alone,  on  horseback,  smiting  the  trembling  peas- 
ants on  the  head  with  a  great  club,  spreading  dismay  far 
and  wide,  dragging  suspected  persons  from  their  firesides 
or  their  beds,  and  thrusting  them  into  dungeons,  arrest- 
ing, torturing,  strangling,  burning,  with  hardly  the  shad- 
ow of  warrant,  information,  or  process,  j 

At  the  epoch  which  now  engages  our  attention,  Titel- 
mann felt  stimulated  by  the  avowed  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment to  fresh  exertions,  by  which  all  his  previous  achieve- 
ments should  be  cast  into  the  shade.  In  one  day  he  broke 
into  a  house  in  Ryssel,  seized  John  de  Swarte,  his  wife  and 
four  children,  together  with  two  newly  married  couples 
and  two  other  persons,  convicted  them  of  reading  the 
Bible  and  of  praying  in  their  own  doors,  and  had  them 
all  immediately  burned. 

Are  these  things  related  merely  to  excite  superfluous 
horror?  Are  the  sufferings  of  these  obscure  Christians 
beneath  the  dignity  of  history  ?  Is  it  not  better  to  deal 
with  murder  and  oppression  in  the  abstract,  without  en- 


1562]  Cause  and  effect  109 

tering  into  trivial  details  ?  The  answer  is,  that  these 
things  are  the  history  of  the  Netherlands  at  this  epoch  ; 
that  these  hideous  details  furnish  the  causes  of  that  im- 
mense movement  out  of  which  a  great  republic  was  born 
and  an  ancient  t3'^ranny  destroyed ;  and  that  Cardinal 
Granvelle  was  ridiculous  when  he  asserted  that  the 
people  would  not  open  their  mouths  if  the  seigniors 
did  not  make  such  a  noise.  Because  the  great  lords 
''owed  their  very  souls"  —  because  convulsions  might 
help  to  pay  their  debts,  and  furnish  forth  their  mas- 
querades and  banquets — because  the  Prince  of  Orange 
was  ambitious,  and  Egmont  jealous  of  the  Cardinal — 
therefore  superficial  writers  found  it  quite  natural  that 
the  country  should  be  disturbed,  although  that  "  vile 
and  mischievous  animal,  the  people,"  might  have  no 
objection  to  a  continuance  of  the  system  which  had 
been  at  work  so  long.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  exact- 
ly because  the  movement  was  a  popular  and  a  religious 
movement  that  it  will  always  retain  its  place  among 
the  most  important  events  of  history. 

The  nobles,  no  doubt,  were  conspicuous,  and  it  was  well 
for  the  cause  of  right  that,  as  in  the  early  hours  of 
English  liberty,  the  crown  and  mitre  were  opposed  by  the 
baron^s  sword  and  shield.  Had  all  the  seigniors  made 
common  cause  with  Philip  and  Granvelle,  instead  of 
setting  themselves  against  the  inquisition,  the  cause  of 
truth  and  liberty  would  have  been  still  more  desperate. 
Nevertheless  they  were  directed  and  controlled,  un- 
der Providence,  by  humbler,  but  more  powerful,  agen- 
cies than  their  own.  The  nobles  were  but  the  gilded 
hands  on  the  outside  of  the  dial — the 'hour  to  strike 
was  determined  by  the  obscure  but  weighty  movements 
within. 

iNor  is  it,  perhaps,  always  better  to  rely  upon  abstract 
pnraseology  to  produce  a  necessary  impression.  Upon 
some  minds  declamation  concerning  liberty  of  conscience 
and  religious  tyranny  makes  but  a  vague  impression,  while 
an  effect  may  be  produced  upon  them,  for  example,  by  a 
dry,  concrete,  cynical  entry  in  an  account-book,  such  as 
the  following,  taken  at  hazard  from  the  register  of  mu- 


110  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1562 

nicipal  expenses  at  Tournay  during  the  years  with  which 
we  are  now  occupied  : 

''^To  Mr.  Jacques  Barra,  executioner,  for  having  tort- 
ured, twice,  Jean  de  Lannoy,  ten  sous. 

"To  the  same,  for  having  executed,  by  fire,  said  Lan- 
noy, sixty  sous.  For  having  thrown  his  Cinders  into  the 
river,  eight  sous." 

This  was  the  treatment  to  which  thousands,  and  tens  of 
thousands,  had  been  subjected  in  the  provinces.  Men, 
women,  and  children  were  burned,  and  their  ^^  cinders  " 
thrown  away,  for  idle  words  against  Rome  spoken  years 
before,  for  praying  alone  in  their  closets,  for  not  kneeling 
to  a  wafer  when  they  met  it  in  the  streets,  for  thoughts  to 
which  they  had  never  given  utterance,  but  which,  on  in- 
quiry, they  were  too  honest  to  deny.  Certainly,  with  this 
work  going  on  year  after  year  in  every  city  in  the  Nether- 
lands, and  now  set  into  renewed  and  vigorous  action  by  a 
man  who  wore  a  crown  only  that  he  might  the  better  tort- 
ure his  fellow-creatures,  it  was  time  that  the  very  stones 
in  the  streets  should  be  moved  to  mutiny.  I 

The  system  of  religious  persecution  commenced  by 
Charles  was  perfected  by  Philip.  The  King  could  not 
claim  the  merit  of  the  invention,  which  justly  belonged  to 
the  Emperor.  At  the  same  time,  his  responsibility  for  the 
unutterable  woe  caused  by  the  continuance  of  the  scheme 
is  not  a  jot  diminished.  There  was  a  time  when  the  whole 
system  had  fallen  into  comparative  desuetude.  It  was  ut- 
terly abhorent  to  the  institutions  and  the  manners  of  the 
Netherlanders.  Even  a  great  number  of  the  Catholics 
in  the  provinces  were  averse  to  it.  Many  of  the  leading 
grandees,  every  one  of  whom  was  Catholic,  were  foremost 
in  denouncing  its  continuance.  In  short,  the  inquisition 
had  been  partially  endured,  but  never  accepted.  More- 
over, it  had  never  been  introduced  into  Luxemburg  or 
Groningen.  In  Gelderland  it  had  been  prohibited  by  the 
treaty  through  which  that  province  had  been  annexed  to 
the  Emperor's  dominions,  and  it  had  been  uniformly  and 
successfully  resisted  in  Brabant.  Therefore,  although 
Philip,  taking  the  artful  advice  of  Granvelle,  had  sheltered 
himself  under  the  Emperor's  name  by  re-enacting  word  for 


1562]  OBSTINACY   OF   THE    HERETICS  HI 

word  his  decrees  and  reissuing  his  instructions,  he  can- 
not be  allowed  any  such  protection  at  the  bar  of  history. 

Granvelle  was  most  resolute  in  carrying  out  the  inten- 
tions of  his  master.  We  have  seen  how  vigorously  he  had 
already  set  himself  to  the  inauguration  of  the  new  bish- 
oprics, despite  of  opposition  and  obloquy.  He  was  now 
encouraging  or  rebuking  the  inquisitors  in  their  "pious 
office"  throughout  all  the  provinces.  Notwithstanding 
his  exertions,  however,  heresy  continued  to  spread.  In 
the  Walloon  provinces  the  infection  was  most  prevalent, 
while  judges  and  executioners  were  appalled  by  the  muti- 
nous demonstrations  which  each  successive  sacrifice  pro- 
voked. The  victims  were  cheered  on  their  way  to  the 
scaffold.  The  hymns  of  Marot  were  sung  in  the  very  faces 
of  the  inquisitors. 

Two  ministers,  Faveau  and  Mallart,  were  particularly 
conspicuous  at  this  moment  at  Valenciennes.  The  gover- 
nor of  the  province.  Marquis  Berghen,  was  constantly  ab- 
sent, for  he  hated  with  his  whole  soul  the  system  of  per- 
secution. For  this  negligence  Granvelle  denounced  him 
secretly  and  perpetually  to  Philip.  "  The  Marquis  says 
openly,"  said  the  Cardinal,  "  that  'tis  not  right  to  shed 
blood  for  matters  of  faith.  With  such  men  to  aid  us, 
your  Majesty  can  judge  how  much  progress  we  can  make." 
It  was,  however,  important,  in  Granvelle's  opinion,  that 
these  two  ministers  at  Valenciennes  should  be  at  once  put 
to  death.  The  prisoners  were  condemned  in  the  autumn 
of  1501.  The  magistrates  were,  however,  afraid  to  carry 
the  sentence  into  effect.  ^Granvelle  did  not  cease  to  cen- 
sure them  for  their  pusillanimity,  and  wrote  almost  daily 
letters,  accusing  the  magistrates  of  being  themselves  the 
cause  of  the  tumults  by  which  they  were  appalled.  The 
popular  commotion  was,  however,  not  lightly  to  be  braved. 
Six  or  seven  months  long  the  culprits  remained  in  con- 
finement, while  daily  and  nightly  the  people  crowded  the 
streets,  hurling  threats  and  defiance  at  the  authorities, 
or  pressed  about  the  prison  windows,  encouraging  their 
beloved  ministers,  and  promising  to  rescue  them  in  case 
the  attempt  should  be  made  to  fulfil  the  sentence.  At 
last  Granvelle  sent  down  a  peremptory  order  to  execute  the 


112  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1562 

culprits  by  fire.  On  the  27th  of  April,  1562,  Faveau  and 
Mallart  were  accordingly  taken  from  their  jail  and  carried 
to  the  market-place.  In  a  popular  tumult  the  prisoners 
were  rescued,  and  succeeded  in  making  their  escape  from 
the  city.  The  day  on  which  the  execution  had  been  thus 
prevented  was  called,  thenceforward,  the  ''  day  of  the  ill- 
burned  "  (journee  des  mau-brulez).  One  of  the  ministers, 
however,  Simon  Faveau,  not  discouraged  by  this  near  ap- 
proach to  martyrdom,  persisted  in  his  heretical  labors,  and 
was  a  few  years  afterwards  again  apprehended.  ''  He  was 
then,''  says  the  chronicler  cheerfully,  '^burned  well  and 
finally"  in  the  same  place  whence  he  had  formerly  been 
rescued. 

This  desperate  resistance  to  tyranny  was  for  a  moment 
successful,  because,  notwithstanding  the  murmurs  and 
menaces  by  which  the  storm  had  been  preceded,  the  au- 
thorities had  not  believed  the  people  capable  of  proceeding 
to  such  lengths.  Had  not  the  heretics — in  the  words  of  In- 
quisitor Titelmann — allowed  themselves,  year  after  year,  to 
be  taken  and  slaughtered  like  lambs  ?  The  consternation 
of  the  magistrates  was  soon  succeeded  by  anger.  The 
government  at  Brussels  was  in  a  frenzy  of  rage  when 
informed  of  the  occurrence.  A  bloody  vengeance  was 
instantly  prepared,  to  vindicate  the  insult  to  the  inquisi- 
tion. On  the  29th  of  April,  detachments  of  Bossu's  and 
of  Berghen's  "Bande  d'Ordonnance"  were  sent  into  Val- 
enciennes, together  with  a  company  of  the  Duke  of  Aer- 
schot's  regiment.  The  prisons  were  instantly  filled  to 
overflowing  with  men  and  women  arrested  for  actual  or 
suspected  participation  in  the  tumult.  Orders  had  been 
sent  down  from  the  capital  to  make  a  short  process  and  the 
sharp  execution  of  all  the  criminals.  On  the  16th  of  May 
the  slaughter  commenced.  Some  were  burned  at  the  stake, 
some  were  beheaded  :  the  number  of  victims  was  frightful. 
"Nothing  was  left  undone  by  the  magistrates,''  says  an 
eye-witness,  with  great  approbation,  "which  could  serve 
for  the  correction  and  amendment  of  the  poor  people." 
It  was  long  before  the  judges  and  hangmen  rested  from 
their  labors.  When  at  last  the  havoc  was  complete,  it 
might  be  supposed  that  a  sufficient  vengeance  had  been 


1562]  RHETORIC   AGAINST   TYRANNY  113 

taken  for  the  "day  of  the  ill-burned,"  and  an  adequate 
amount  of  ''  amendment "  provided  for  the  "  poor  people." 
Such  scenes  as  these  did  not  tend  to  increase  the  lo}^- 
alty  of  the  nation  nor  the  popularity  of  the  government. 
On  Granvelle^s  head  was  poured  a  daily  increasing  torrent 
of  hatred.  He  was  looked  upon  in  the  provinces  as  the 
impersonation  of  that  religious  oppression  which  became 
every  moment  more  intolerable.  The  King  and  the  Re- 
gent escaped  much  of  the  odium  which  belonged  to  them, 
because  the  people  chose  to  bestow  all  their  maledictions 
upon  the  Cardinal.  There  was,  however,  no  great  injustice 
in  this  embodiment.  Granvelle  was  the  government.  As 
the  people  of  that  day  were  extremely  reverent  to  roy- 
alty, they  vented  all  their  rage  upon  the  minister,  while 
maintaining  still  a  conventional  respect  for  the  sovereign. 
The  prelate  had  already  become  the  constant  butt  of  the 
"  Rhetoric  Chambers."  These  popular  clubs  for  the  manu- 
facture of  homespun  poetry  and  street  farces  out  of  the 
raw  material  of  public  sentiment,  occupied  the  place  which 
has  been  more  effectively  filled  in  succeeding  ages  and  in  free 
countries  by  the  daily  press.  Before  the  invention  of  that 
most  tremendous  weapon  which  liberty  has  ever  wielded 
against  tyranny,  these  humble  but  influential  associations 
shared  with  the  pulpit  the  only  power  which  existed  of 
moving  the  passions  or  directing  the  opinions  of  the  peo- 
ple. They  were  eminently  liberal  in  their  tendencies. 
The  authors  and  the  actors  of  their  comedies,  poems,  and 
pasquils  were  mostly  artisans  or  tradesmen,  belonging  to 
the  class  out  of  which  proceeded  the  early  victims  and  the 
later  soldiers  of  the  Reformation.  Their  bold  farces  and 
truculent  satire  had  already  effected  much  in  spreading 
among  the  people  a  detestation  of  Church  abuses.  The 
rhetoric  comedies  were  not  admirable  from  an  aesthetic 
point  of  view,  but  they  were  wrathful  and  sincere.  There- 
fore they  cost  many  thousand  lives  ;  but  they  sowed  the 
seed  of  resistance  to  religious  tyranny,  to  spring  up  one 
day  in  a  hundredfold  harvest.  It  was  natural  that  the 
authorities  should  have  long  sought  to  suppress  these 
perambulating  dramas.  **  There  was  at  that  tyme,"  wrote 
honest  Richard  Clough  to  Sir  Thomas  Gresham,  ''syche 


114  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1562 

playes  (of  Beteryke)  played  thet  hath  cost  many  a  1000 
man's  lyves,  for  in  these  plays  was  the  Word  of  God  first 
opened  in  thys  country.  Weche  playes  were  and  are  for- 
bidden moche  more  strictly  than  any  of  the  bookes  of 
Martin  Luther." 

Granvelle  was  on  no  better  terms  with  the  nobles  than 
with  the  people.  The  great  seigniors — Orange,  Egmont, 
Horn,  and  others — openly  avowed  their  hostility  to  him,  and 
had  already  given  their  reasons  to  the  King.  Mansfeld 
and  his  son  at  that  time  were  both  with  the  opposition. 
Aerschot  and  Aremberg  kept  aloof  from  the  league  which 
was  forming  against  the  prelate,  but  had  small  sympathy 
for  his  person.  Even  Berlaymont  began  to  listen  to  over- 
tures from  the  leading  nobles,  who,  among  other  induce- 
ments, promised  to  supply  his  children  with  bishoprics. 
There  were  none  truly  faithful  and  submissive  to  the 
Cardinal  but  such  men  as  the  Prevot  Morillon,  who  had 
received  much  advancement  from  him.  This  distinguished 
pluralist  was  popularly  called  *^  double  A,  B,  C,"  to  indi- 
cate that  he  had  twice  as  many  benefices  as  there  were 
letters  in  the  alphabet.  He  had,  however,  no  objection  to 
more,  and  was  faithful  to  the  dispensing  power.  The 
same  course  was  pursued  by  Secretary  Bave,  Esquire  Bor- 
dey,  and  other  expectants  and  dependants. 

Viglius,  always  remarkable  for  his  pusillanimity,  was  at 
this  period  already  anxious  to  retire.  The  erudite  and 
opulent  Frisian  preferred  a  less  tempestuous  career.  He 
urgently  solicited  the  King  to  release  him,  and  pleaded 
his  infirmities  of  body  in  excuse.  Philip,  however,  would 
not  listen  to  his  retirement,  and  made  use  of  the  most  con- 
vincing arguments  to  induce  him  to  remain.  An  income 
of  four  hundred  and  fifty  annual  florins,  secured  by  good 
reclaimed  swamps  in  Friesland,  two  thousand  more  in 
hand,  with  a  promise  of  still  larger  emoluments  when  the 
King  should  come  to  the  Netherlands,  were  reasons  which 
the  learned  doctor  honestly  confessed  himself  unable  to 
resist.  Fortified  by  these  arguments,  he  remained  at  his 
post,  continued  the  avowed  friend  and  adherent  of  Gran- 
velle, and  sustained  with  magnanimity  the  invectives  of 
nobles  and  people.     To  do  him  justice,  he  did  what  he 


1562]  THE  QUARREL   GROWS   HOTTER  115 

conld  to  conciliate  antagonists  and  to  compromise  princi- 
ples. If  it  had  ever  been  possible  to  find  the  exact  path 
between  right  and  wrong,  the  president  would  have  found 
it,  and  walked  in  it  with  respectability  and  complacency. 

In  the  council,  however,  the  Cardinal  continued  to  car- 
ry it  with  a  high  hand,  turning  his  back  on  Orange  and 
Egmont,  and  retiring  with  the  Duchess  and  president  to 
consult  after  every  session.  Proud  and  important  person- 
ages, like  the  Prince  and  the  Count,  could  ill  brook  such 
insolence  ;  moreover,  they  suspected  the  Cardinal  of  prej- 
udicing the  mind  of  their  sovereign  against  them. 

Moreover,  there  is  no  doubt  that  frequent  threats  of  per- 
sonal violence  were  made  against  the  Cardinal.  Granvelle 
informed  the  King  that  his  life  was  continually  menaced 
by  the  nobles,  but  that  he  feared  them  little,  for  he  be- 
lieved them  too  prudent  to  attempt  anything  of  the  kind. 
Bold  as  he  was  arrogant,  he  affected  at  this  time  to  look 
down  with  a  forgiving  contempt  on  their  animosity.  He 
passed  much  of  his  time  alone,  writing  his  eternal  de- 
spatches to  the  King.  He  had  a  country-house,  called  La 
Fontaine,  surrounded  by  beautiful  gardens,  a  little  way 
outside  the  gates  of  Brussels,  where  he  generally  resided, 
and  whence,  notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  his 
friends,  he  often  returned  to  town,  after  sunset,  alone, 
or  with  but  a  few  attendants.  He  avowed  that  he 
feared  no  attempts  at  assassination,  for,  if  the  seign- 
iors took  his  life,  they  would  destroy  the  best  friend  they 
ever  had.  This  villa,  where  most  of  his  plans  were  ma- 
tured and  his  state  papers  drawn  up,  was  called  by 
the  people,  in  derision  of  his  supposed  ancestry,  "The 
Smithy."  Here,  as  they  believed,  was  the  anvil  upon 
which  the  chains  of  their  slavery  were  forged ;  here, 
mostly  deserted  by  those  who  had  been  his  earlier  as- 
sociates, he  assumed  a  philosophical  demeanor  which  ex- 
asperated, without  deceiving,  his  adversaries. 

The  Regent  was  well  aware  of  the  anger  excited  in  the 
breasts  of  the  leading  nobles  by  the  cool  manner  in  which 
they  had  been  thrust  out  of  their  share  in  the  administra- 
tion of  affairs.  She  defended  herself  with  acrimony  in 
her  letters  to  the  King.     She  confined  herself,  as  Philip 


116  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1562 

had  always  intended,  exclusively  to  the  consulta.  It  was 
not  difficult  to  recognize  the  hand  which  wrote  the  letter 
thus  signed  by  Margaret  of  Parma. 

Both  nobles  and  people  were  at  this  moment  irritated 
by  another  circumstance.  The  civil  war  having  again 
broken  out  in  France,  Philip,  according  to  the  promise 
made  by  him  to  Catharine  de  Medici  when  he  took  her 
daughter  in  marriage,  was  called  upon  to  assist  the  Cath- 
olic party  with  auxiliaries.  He  sent  three  thousand  in- 
fantry, accordingly,  which  he  had  levied  in  Italy,  as  many 
more  collected  in  Spain,  and  gave  immediate  orders  that 
the  Duchess  of  Parma  should  despatch  at  least  two  thou- 
sand cavalry  from  the  Netherlands.  Great  was  the  indig- 
nation in  the  council  when  the  commands  were  produced. 
Sore  was  the  dismay  of  Margaret.  It  was  impossible  to 
obey  the  King.  Under  the  advice  of  Granvelle  she  had 
recourse  to  a  trick.  A  private  and  confidential  letter  of 
Philip  was  read  to  the  council,  but  with  alterations  sug- 
gested and  interpolated  by  the  Cardinal.  Philip  sent  fif- 
teen hundred  troopers  from  Spain  to  his  Medicean  moth- 
er-in-law, drawing  upon  the  Duchess  of  Parma  for  the 
money  to  pay  their  expenses.  Thus  was  the  industry  of 
the  Netherlands  taxed  that  the  French  might  be  perse- 
cuted by  their  own  monarch. 

The  Regent  had  been  forbidden  by  her  brother  to 
convoke  the  states-general  ;  a  body  which  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  sustained  by  Berghen,  Montigny,  and  other  no- 
bles, was  desirous  of  having  assembled.  It  may  be  easily 
understood  that  Granvelle  would  take  the  best  care  that 
the  royal  prohibition  should  be  enforced.  The  Duchess, 
however,  who,  as  already  hinted,  was  beginning  to  feel 
somewhat  uncomfortable  under  the  CardinaFs  dominion, 
was  desirous  of  consulting  some  larger  council  than  that 
with  which  she  held  her  daily  deliberations.  A  meeting 
of  the  Knights  of  the  Fleece  was  accordingly  summoned. 
They  assembled  in  Brussels  in  the  month  of  May,  1562. 
The  learned  Viglius  addressed  them  in  a  long  and  elo- 
quent speech,  in  which  the  fundamental  topic  was  thus 
conscientiously  omitted.  The  meeting  adjourned,  after 
a  few  additional  words  from  the  Duchess,  in  which  she 


1662]  THE  CAUCUS   AT   NASSAU   HOUSE  117 

begged  the  knights  to  ponder  well  the  causes  of  the  in- 
creasing discontent,  and  to  meet  her  again,  prepared  to 
announce  what,  in  their  opinion,  would  be  the  course  best 
adapted  to  maintain  the  honor  of  the  King,  the  safety  of 
the  provinces,  and  the  glory  of  God. 

Soon  after  the  separation  of  the  assembly,  the  Prince  of 
Orange  issued  invitations  to  most  of  the  knights,  to  meet 
at  his  house  for  the  purpose  of  private  deliberation.  The 
president  and  Cardinal  were  not  included  in  these  invita- 
tions. The  meeting  was,  in  fact,  what  we  should  call  a 
caucus,  rather  than  a  general  gathering.  Nevertheless, 
there  were  many  of  the  government  party  present — men 
who  differed  from  the  Prince,  and  were  inclined  to  sup- 
port Granvelle.  The  meeting  was  a  stormy  one.  Two 
subjects  were  discussed.  The  first  was  the  proposition 
of  the  Duchess,  to  investigate  the  general  causes  of  the 
popular  dissatisfaction ;  the  second  was  an  inquiry  how 
it  could  be  rendered  practicable  to  discuss  political  mat- 
ters in  future — a  proceeding  now  impossible,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  perverseness  and  arrogance  of  certain  func- 
tionaries, and  one  which,  whenever  attempted,  always  led 
to  the  same  inevitable  result.  This  direct  assault  upon 
the  Cardinal  produced  a  furious  debate.  His  enemies 
were  delighted  with  the  opportunity  of  venting  their 
long-suppressed  spleen.  They  indulged  in  savage  invec- 
tives against  the  man  whom  they  so  sincerely  hated.  His 
adherents,  on  the  other  hand — Bossu,  Berlaymont,  Cou- 
rieres — were  as  warm  in  his  defence.  They  replied  by  in- 
dignant denials  of  the  charge  against  him,  and  by  bitter 
insinuations  against  the  Prince  of  Orange.  They  charged 
him  with  nourishing  the  desire  of  being  appointed  gov- 
ernor of  Brabant,  an  office  considered  inseparable  from 
the  general  stadholderate  of  all  the  provinces.  The  ad- 
journed meeting  of  the  Chevaliers  of  the  Fleece  took 
place  a  few  days  afterwards,  but  nothing  of  importance 
was  accomplished  by  the  assembly,  though  it  was  de- 
cided that  an  application  should  be  made  to  the  different 
states  for  a  grant  of  money,  and  that,  furthermore,  a 
special  envoy  should  be  despatched  to  Spain,  and  Flor- 
ence de  Montmorency,  Seigneur  de  Montigny,  was  se- 


118  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1562 

lected  by  the  Regent.  This  gentleman  was  brother  to 
Count  Horn,  but  possessed  of  higher  talents  and  a  more 
amiable  character  than  those  of  the  Admiral.  He  was 
a  warm  friend  of  Orange  and  a  bitter  enemy  to  Gran- 
velle.  He  was  a  sincere  Catholic,  but  a  determined  foe 
to  the  inquisition. 

It  has  been  shown  that  there  was  an  open,  avowed 
hostility  on  the  part  of  the  grand  seigniors  and  most  of 
the  lesser  nobility  to  the  Cardinal  and  his  measures.  The 
people  fully  and  enthusiastically  sustained  the  Prince  of 
Orange  in  his  course.  There  was  nothing  underhand  in 
the  opposition  made  to  the  government.  The  Nether- 
lands did  not  constitute  an  absolute  monarchy.  They  did 
not  even  constitute  a  monarchy.  There  was  no  king  in 
the  provinces.  Philip  was  King  of  Spain,  Naples,  Jeru- 
salem, but  he  was  only  Duke  of  Brabant,  Count  of  Flan- 
ders, Lord  of  Friesland,  hereditary  chief,  in  short,  under 
various  titles,  of  seventeen  states,  each  one  of  which,  al- 
though not  republican,  possessed  constitutions  as  sacred 
as,  and  much  more  ancient  than,  the  crown.  The  resist- 
ance to  the  absolutism  of  Granvelle  and  Philip  was,  there- 
fore, logical,  legal,  constitutional.  It  was  no  cabal,  no 
secret  league,  as  the  Cardinal  had  the  effrontery  to  term 
it,  but  a  legitimate  exercise  of  powers  which  belonged  of 
old  to  those  who  wielded  them,  and  which  only  an  un- 
righteous innovation  could  destroy. 

Granvelle's  course  was  secret  and  subtle.  During  the 
whole  course  of  the  proceedings  which  have  just  been  de- 
scribed, he  was  in  daily  confidential  correspondence  with 
the  King,  besides  being  the  actual  author  of  the  multi- 
tudinous despatches  which  were  sent  with  the  signature 
of  the  Duchess.  He  openly  asserted  his  right  to  monopo- 
lize all  the  powers  of  the  government ;  he  did  his  utmost 
to  force  upon  the  reluctant  and  almost  rebellious  people 
the  odious  measures  which  the  King  had  resolved  upon, 
while  in  his  secret  letters  he  uniformly  represented  the 
nobles  who  opposed  him  as  being  influenced,  not  by  an 
honest  hatred  of  oppression  and  attachment  to  ancient 
rights,  but  by  resentment,  and  jealousy  of  their  own  im- 
portance. 


1562]  MASTER  AND  PUPIL  119 

As  a  matter  of  course,,  Granvelle  attributed  the  resist- 
ance on  the  part  of  the  great  nobles,  every  man  of  whom  was 
Catholic,  to  base  motives.  They  were  mere  demagogues, 
who  refused  to  burn  their  fellow-creatures  not  from  any 
natural  repugnance  to  the  task,  but  in  order  to  gain  favor 
with  the  populace.  "  This  talk  about  the  inquisition," 
said  he,  *'is  all  a  pretext.  ^Tis  only  to  throw  dust  in  the 
eyes  of  the  vulgar,  and  to  persuade  them  into  tumultuous 
demonstrations,  while  the  real  reason  is  that  they  choose 
that  your  Majesty  should  do  nothing  without  their  per- 
mission and  through  their  hands."' 

Of  Egmont,  especially,  he  often  spoke  in  terms  of  vague, 
but  somewhat  condescending,  commendation.  He  de- 
scribed him,  in  general,  as  a  man  whose  principles,  in  the 
main,  were  good,  but  who  was  easily  led  by  his  own  vanity 
and  the  perverse  counsels  of  others.  He  represented  him 
as  having  been  originally  a  warm  supporter  of  the  new 
bishoprics,  and  as  having  expressed  satisfaction  that  two 
of  them,  those  of  Bruges  and  Ypres,  should  have  been 
within  his  own  stadholderate.  Notwithstanding  these 
vague  expressions  of  approbation,  Granvelle  never  failed 
to  transmit  to  the  monarch  every  fact,  every  rumor,  every 
innuendo  which  might  prejudice  the  royal  mind  against  that 
nobleman  or  against  any  of  the  noblemen,  whose  charac- 
ters he  at  the  same  time  protested  he  was  most  unwill- 
ing to  injure. 

Nor  did  Granville  at  this  period  advise  the  King  to 
avenge  him  by  any  public  explosion  of  wrath.  He  re- 
membered, he  piously  observed,  that  vengeance  belonged 
to  God,  and  that  He  would  repay.  Therefore  he  passed 
over  insults  meekly,  because  that  comported  best  with  his 
Majesty's  service.  Therefore,  too,  he  instructed  Philip  to 
make  no  demonstration  at  that  time,  in  order  not  to  dam- 
age his  own  affairs.  He  advised  him  to  dissemble,  and  to 
pretend  not  to  know  what  was  going  on  in  the  provinces. 
Knowing  that  his  master  looked  to  him  daily  for  instruc- 
tions, always  obeyed  them  with  entire  docility,  and,  in 
fact,  could  not  move  a  step  in  Netherland  matters  with- 
out them,  he  proceeded  to  dictate  to  him  the  terms  in 
which  he  was  to  write  to  the  nobles,  and  especially  laid 


120  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1562 

down  rules  for  his  guidance  in  his  coming  interviews  with 
the  Seigneur  de  Montigny.  Philip,  whose  only  talent  con- 
sisted in  the  capacity  to  learn  such  lessons  with  laborious 
effort,  was  at  this  juncture  particularly  in  need  of  tuition. 
The  Cardinal  instructed  him,  accordingly,  that  he  was  to 
disabuse  all  men  of  the  impression  that  the  Spanish  inqui- 
sition was  to  be  introduced  into  the  provinces.  He  was 
to  write  to  the  seigniors,  promising  to  pay  them  their  ar- 
rears of  salary  ;  he  was  to  exhort  them  to  do  all  in  their 
power  for  the  advancement  of  religion  and  maintenance 
of  the  royal  authority ;  and  he  was  to  suggest  to  them 
that,  by  his  answer  to  the  Antwerp  deputation,  it  was 
proved  that  there  was  no  intention  of  establishing  the  in- 
quisition of  Spain,  under  pretext  of  the  new  bishoprics. 
The  King  was  furthermore  to  signify  his  desire  that  all 
the  nobles  should  exert  themselves  to  efface  this  false 
impression  from  the  popular  mind.  He  was  also  to  ex- 
press himself  to  the  same  effect  concerning  the  Spanish 
inquisition,  the  bishoprics,  and  the  religious  question,  in 
the  puUic  letters  to  Madame  de  Parma,  which  were  to  be 
read  in  full  council. 

At  about  the  same  time  it  was  decided  by  Granvelle  and 
the  Regent,  in  conjunction  with  the  King,  to  sow  distrust 
and  jealousy  among  the  nobles,  by  giving  greater  **mer- 
cedes^'  to  some  than  to  others,  although  large  sums  were 
really  due  to  all.  In  particular,  the  attempt  was  made  in 
this  paltry  manner  to  humiliate  William  of  Orange.  A 
considerable  sum  was  paid  to  Egmont  and  a  trifling  one 
to  the  Prince,  in  consideration  of  their  large  claims  upon 
the  treasury.  Moreover,  the  Duke  of  Aerschot  was  selected 
as  envoy  to  the  Frankfort  Diet,  where  the  King  of  the 
Romans  was  to  be  elected,  with  the  express  intention,  as 
Margaret  wrote  to  Philip,  of  creating  divisions  among  the 
nobles,  as  he  had  suggested.  The  Duchess  at  the  same 
time  informed  her  brother  that,  according  to  Berlaymont, 
the  Prince  of  Orange  was  revolving  some  great  design 
prejudicial  to  his  Majesty's  service. 

Philip,  who  already  began  to  suspect  that  a  man  who 
thought  so  much  must  be  dangerous,  was  eager  to  find 
out  the  scheme  over  which  William  the  Silent  was  sup- 


1562]  MONTIGNY   IN  SPAIN  ,  121 

posed  to  be  brooding,  and  wrote  for  fresh  intelligence  to 
the  Duchess.  Neither  Margaret  nor  the  Cardinal,  how 
ever,  could  discover  anything  against  the  Prince — who, 
meantime,  although  disappointed  of  the  mission  to  Frank- 
fort, had  gone  to  that  city  in  his  private  capacity — saving 
that  he  had  been  heard  to  say,  "  One  day  we  shall  be  the 
stronger/'  Granvelle  and  Madame  de  Parma  both  com- 
municated this  report  upon  the  same  day,  but  this  was  all 
that  they  were  able  to  discover  of  the  latent  plot. 

In  the  autumn  of  this  year  (1562)  Montigny  made  his. 
visit  to  Spain  as  confidential  envoy  from  the  Regent. 
The  King  being  fully  prepared  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
he  was  to  deal  with  him,  received  the  ambassador  with 
great  cordiality. 

The  amount  of  satisfaction  derived  from  the  mission  of 
Montigny  was  next  to  nothing.  There  was  to  be  no  dim- 
inution of  the  religious  persecution,  but  the  people  were 
assured  upon  royal  authority  that  the  inquisition,  by 
which  they  were  daily  burned  and  beheaded,  could  not 
be  logically  denominated  the  Spanish  inquisition.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  comfort,  whatever  it  might  be,  which  the 
nation  could  derive  from  this  statement,  they  were  also 
consoled  with  the  information  that  Granvelle  was  not  the 
inventor  of  the  bishoprics. 

Solicited  by  the  King,  at  their  parting  interview,  to  ex- 
press his  candid  opinion  as  to  the  causes  of  the  dissatis- 
faction in  the  provinces,  Montigny  very  frankly  and  most 
imprudently  gave  vent  to  his  private  animosity  towards 
the  Cardinal.  He  spoke  of  his  licentiousness,  greediness, 
ostentation,  despotism,  and  assured  the  monarch  that  near- 
ly all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands  entertained  the 
same  opinion  concerning  him.  He  then  dilated  upon  the 
general  horror  inspired  by  the  inquisition  and  the  great 
repugnance  felt  to  the  establishment  of  the  new  epis- 
copates. These  three  evils — Granvelle,  the  inquisition, 
and  the  bishoprics — he  maintained,  were  the  real  and  suf- 
ficient causes  of  the  increasing  popular  discontent. 

Montigny  returned  late  in  December.  His  report  con- 
cerning the  results  of  his  mission  was  made  in  the  state 
council,  and  was  received  with  great  indignation.     The 


122  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1562 

professions  of  benevolent  intentions  on  the  part  of  the 
sovereign  made  no  impression  on  the  mind  of  Orange, 
who  was  already  in  the  habit  of  receiving  secret  informa- 
tion from  Spain  with  regard  to  the  intentions  of  the  gov- 
ernment. He  knew  very  well  that  the  plot  revealed  to 
him  by  Henry  the  Second  in  the  wood  of  Vincennes  was 
still  the  royal  programme,  so  far  as  the  Spanish  monarch 
was  concerned.  Moreover,  his  anger  was  heightened  by 
information  received  from  Montigny  that  the  names  of 
Orange,  Egmont,  and  their  adherents,  were  cited  to  him, 
as  he  passed  through  France,  as  the  avowed  defenders  of 
the  Huguenots  in  politics  and  religion.  The  Prince,  who 
was  still  a  sincere  Catholic,  while  he  hated  the  persecu- 
tions of  the  inquisition,  was  furious  at  the  statement.  A 
violent  scene  occurred  in  the  council.  Orange  openly  de- 
nounced the  report  as  a  new  slander  of  Granvelle's,  while 
Margaret  defended  the  Cardinal  and  denied  the  accusa- 
tion, but  at  the  same  time  endeavored  with  the  utmost 
earnestness  to  reconcile  the  conflicting  parties. 

It  had  now  become  certain,  however,  that  the  govern- 
ment could  no  longer  be  continued  on  its  present  footing. 
Either  Granvelle  or  the  seigniors  must  succumb.  The 
Prince  of  Orange  was  resolved  that  the  Cardinal  should 
fall  or  that  he  would  himself  withdraw  from  all  partici- 
pation in  the  affairs  of  government.  In  this  decision  he 
was  sustained  by  Egmont,  Horn,  Montigny,  Berghen,  and 
the  other  leading  nobles. 


CHAPTER  IV 
CARDINAL   GBANVELLE   RETIRED 

On  the  11th  of  March,  1563,  Orange,  Horn,  and  Egmont 
united  in  a  remarkable  letter  to  the  King.  They  said 
that  as  their  longer  '^taciturnity"  might  cause  the  ruin 
of  his  Majesty's  affairs,  they  were  at  last  compelled  to 
break  silence.  They  hoped  that  the  King  would  receive 
with  benignity  a  communication  which  was  pure,  frank, 
and  free  from  all  passion.  The  leading  personages  of  the 
province,  they  continued,  having  thoroughly  examined 
the  nature  and  extent  of  Cardinal  Granvelle's  authority, 
had  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  everything  was  in  his 
hands.  The  King  was  therefore  implored  to  consider  the 
necessity  of  remedying  the  evil.  The  royal  affairs,  it  was 
affirmed,  would  never  be  successfully  conducted  so  long 
as  they  were  intrusted  to  Granvelle,  because  he  was  so 
odious  to  very  many  people.  If  the  danger  were  not  immi- 
nent, they  should  not  feel  obliged  to  write  to  his  Majesty 
with  so  much  vehemence.  By  so  doing,  his  many  grand 
seigniors,  governors,  and  others,  had  thought  it  necessary 
to  give  this  notice  in  order  that  the  King  might  prevent 
the  ruin  of  the  country.  If,  however,  his  Majesty  were 
willing,  as  they  hoped,  to  avoid  discontenting  all  for  the 
sake  of  satisfying  one,  it  was  possible  that  affairs  might 
yet  prosper.  That  they  might  not  be  thought  influenced 
by  ambition  or  by  hope  of  private  profit,  the  writers  asked 
leave  to  retire  from  the  state  council.  Neither  their  rep- 
utation, they  said,  nor  the  interests  of  the  royal  service 
would  permit  them  to  act  with  the  Cardinal.  They  pro- 
fessed themselves  dutiful  subjects  and  Catholic  vassals. 
In  conclusion,  the  writers  begged  his  Majesty  not  to 


124  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1563 

throw  the  blame  upon  them  if  mischance  should  follow 
the  neglect  of  this  warning. 

This  memorable  letter  was  signed  by  Guillaume  de 
Nassau,  Lamoral  d^Egmond,  and  Philippes  de  Montmo- 
rency (Count  Horn).  It  was  despatched  under  cover  to 
Charles  de  Tisnacq,  a  Belgian,  and  procurator  for  the  af- 
fairs of  the  Netherlands  at  Madrid,  a  man  whose  relations 
with  Count  Egmont  were  of  a  friendly  character.  It  was 
impossible,  however,  to  keep  the  matter  a  secret  from  the 
person  most  interested.  The  Cardinal  wrote  to  the  King 
the  day  before  the  letter  was  written,  and  many  weeks  be- 
fore it  was  sent,. to  apprise  him  that  it  was  coming,  and 
to  instruct  him  as  to  the  answer  he  was  to  make. 
Nearly  all  the  leading  nobles  and  governors  had  adhered 
to  the  substance  of  the  letter  save  the  Duke  of  Aerschot, 
Count  Aremberg,  and  Baron  Berlaymont.  The  Duke  and 
the  Count  had  refused  to  join  the  league,  violent  scenes 
having  occurred  upon  the  subject  between  them  and  the 
leaders  of  the  opposition  party. 

Egmont,  in  the  presence  of  Madame  de  Parma,  openly 
charged  Aremberg  with  having  divulged  the  secret  which 
had  been  confided  to  him.  The  Count  fiercely  denied 
that  he  had  uttered  a  syllable  on  the  subject  to  a  human 
being,  but  added  that  any  communication  on  his  part 
would  have  been  quite  superfluous  while  Egmont  and 
his  friends  were  daily  boasting  of  what  they  were  to  ac- 
complish. 

The  famous  epistle  of  the  11th  of  March,  1563,  although 
a  most  reasonable  and  manly  statement  of  an  incontroverti- 
ble fact,  was  nevertheless  a  document  which  it  required 
much  boldness  to  sign.  The  minister  at  that  moment 
seemed  omnipotent,  and  it  was  obvious  that  the  King  was 
determined  upon  a  course  of  political  and  religious  abso- 
lutism. It  is,  therefore,  not  surprising  that,  although 
many  sustained  its  principles,  few  were  willing  to  affix 
their  names  to  a  paper  which  might  prove  a  death-warrant 
to  the  signers.  Even  Montigny  and  Berghen,  although 
they  had  been  active  in  conducting  the  whole  cabal,  if 
cabal  it  could  be  called,  refused  subscription  to  the  letter. 
Egmont  and  Horn  were  men  of  reckless  daring,  but  they 


1668]  PHILIP'S  REPLY   TO   THE   SEIGNIORS  125 

were  not  keen-siglited  enough  to  perceive  fully  the  conse- 
quences of  their  acts.  Orange  was  often  accused  by  his 
enemies  of  timidity,  but  no  man  ever  doubted  his  profound 
capacity  to  look  quite  through  the  deeds  of  men.  Hiw 
political  foresight  enabled  him  to  measure  the  dangerous 
precipice  which  they  were  deliberately  approaching,  while 
the  abyss  might  perhaps  be  shrouded  to  the  vision  of  his 
companions.  He  was  too  tranquil  of  nature  to  be  hurried 
by  passion  into  a  grave  political  step  which,  in  cooler  mo- 
ments, he  might  regret.  He  resolutely,  therefore,  and  with 
his  eyes  open,  placed  himself  in  open  and  recorded  enmity 
with  the  most  powerful  and  dangerous  man  in  the  whole 
Spanish  realm,  and  incurred  the  resentment  of  a  King  who 
never  forgave.  It  may  be  safely  averred  that  as  much 
courage  was  requisite  thus  to  confront  a  cold  and  malig- 
nant despotism,  and  to  maintain  afterwards  without  flinch- 
ing during  a  whole  lifetime  the  cause  of  national  rights 
and  liberty  of  conscience,  as  to  head  the  most  brilliant 
charge  of  cavalry  that  ever  made  hero  famous. 

Philip  answered  the  letter  of  the  three  nobles  on  the 
6th  of  June  following.  In  this  reply,  which  was  brief,  he 
acknowledged  the  zeal  aud  affection  by  which  the  writers 
had  been  actuated.  He  suggested,  nevertheless,  that,  as 
they  had  mentioned  no  particular  cause  for  adopting  the 
advice  contained  in  their  letter,  it  would  be  better  that 
one  of  them  should  come  to  Madrid  to  confer  with  him. 
Such  matters,  he  said,  could  be  better  treated  by  word  of 
mouth.  He  might  thus  receive  sufficient  information  to 
enable  him  to  form  a  decision,  for,  said  he  in  conclusion, 
it  was  not  his  custom  to  aggrieve  any  of  his  ministers 
without  cause. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  King  sent  his  answer  to  the 
nobles,  he  wrote  an  explanatory  letter  to  the  Regent.  He 
informed  her  that  he  had  received  the  communication  of 
the  tliree  seigniors,  but  instructed  her  that  she  was  to  ap- 
pear to  know  nothing  of  the  matter  until  Egmont  should 
speak  to  her  upon  the  subject.  He  added  that,  although 
he  had  signified  his  wish  to  the  three  nobles  that  one  of 
them,  without  specifying  which,  should  come  to  Madrid, 
he  in  reality  desired  that  Egmont,  who  seemed  the  most 


126  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1563 

tractable  of  the  three,  should  be  the  one  deputed.  The 
King  added  that  his  object  was  to  divide  the  nobles,  and 
to  gain  time.  He  also  transmitted  to  Egmont  a  private 
note,  in  his  own  handwriting,  expressing  his  desire  that  he 
should  visit  Spain  in  person,  that  they  might  confer  to- 
gether upon  the  whole  subject. 

These  letters,  as  might  be  supposed,  produced  anything 
but  a  satisfactory  effect.  The  discontent  and  rage  of  the 
gentlemen  who  had  written  or  sustained  the  11th  of  March 
communication  were  much  increased.  The  answer  was, 
in  truth,  no  answer  at  all.  ^^'Tis  a  cold  and  bad  reply, ^^ 
wrote  Louis  of  Nassau,  "to  send  after  so  long  a  delay. 
'Tis  easy  to  see  that  the  letter  came  from  the  Cardinal's 
smithy.  In  summd,  it  is  a  vile  business,  if  the  gentlemen 
are  all  to  be  governed  by  one  person.  I  hope  to  God  his 
power  will  come  soon  to  an  end.  Nevertheless,"  added 
Louis,  "the  gentlemen  are  all  wide  awake,  for  they  trust 
the  red  fellow  not  a  bit  more  than  he  deserves.'^ 

Egmont  soon  afterwards  wrote  to  Philip,  declining  to 
visit  Spain  expressly  on  account  of  the  Cardinal.  He 
added  that  he  was  ready  to  undertake  the  journey 
should  the  King  command  his  presence  for  any  other 
object.  The  same  decision  was  formally  communicated 
to  the  Regent  by  those  Chevaliers  of  the  Fleece  who  had 
approved  the  11th  of  March  letter — Montigny,  Berghen, 
Meghem,  Mansfeld,  Ligne,  Hoogstraaten,  Orange,  Eg- 
mont, and  Horn.  The  Prince  of  Orange,  speaking  in  the 
name  of  all,  informed  her  that  they  did  not  consider  it 
consistent  with  their  reputation,  nor  with  the  interest  of 
his  Majesty,  that  any  one  of  them  should  make  so  long 
and  troublesome  a  journey  in  order  to  accuse  the  Cardi- 
nal. Eor  any  other  purpose,  they  all  held  themselves 
ready  to  go  to  Spain  at  once. 

Four  days  after  this  interview  with  the  Regent,  Orange, 
Egmont,  and  Horn  addressed  a  second  letter  to  the  King. 
They  disclaimed  any  intention  of  making  themselves  par- 
ties to  a  process  against  the  Cardinal.  They  had  thought 
that  their  simple,  brief  announcement  would  suffice  to  in- 
duce his  Majesty  to  employ  that  .personage  in  other  places 
where  his  talents  would  be  more  fruitful.    As  to  "  aggriev- 


1563J  THE   MISSION   OF    ARMENTEROS  127 

ing  the  Cardinal  without  cause,"  there  was  no  question 
of  aggrieving  him  at  all,  but  of  relieving  him  of  an  office 
which  could  not  remain  in  his  hands  without  disaster. 

On  the  4th  of  August,  Count  Horn  also  addressed  a  pri- 
vate letter  to  the  King,  written  in  the  same  spirit  as  that 
which  characterized  the  joint  letter  just  cited.  He  as- 
sured his  Majesty  that  the  Cardinal  could  render  no  val- 
uable service  to  the  crown,  on  account  of  the  hatred  which 
the  whole  nation  j3ore  him,  but  that,  as  far  as  regarded 
the  maintenance  of  the  ancient  religion,  all  the  nobles 
were  willing  to  do  their  duty. 

The  Regent  now  despatched,  according  to  promise,  her 
private  secretary,  Thomas  de  Armenteros,  to  Spain.  He 
was  a  man  of  low,  mercenary,  and  deceitful  character,  but 
a  favorite  of  the  Regent,  and  already  beginning  to  acquire 
that  influence  over  her  mind  which  was  soon  to  become 
so  predominant;  he  was  no  friend  of  the  Cardinal.  His  in- 
structions, which  were  very  elaborate,  showed  that  Gran- 
velle  was  not  mistaken  when  he  charged  her  with  being 
entirely  changed  in  regard  to  him,  and  when  he  addressed 
her  a  reproachful  letter  protesting  his  astonishment  that 
his  conduct  had  become  suspicious,  and  his  inability  to 
divine  the  cause  of  the  weariness  and  dissatisfaction  which 
she  manifested  in  regard  to  him. 

From  the  tenor  of  her  instructions,  it  was  sufficiently 
obvious  that  Margaret  of  Parma  was  not  anxious  to  retain 
the  Cardinal,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  she  was  beginning 
already  to  feel  alarm  at  the  dangerous  position  in  which 
she  found  herself.  A  few  days  after  the  three  nobles  had 
despatched  their  last  letter  to  the  King,  they  had  handed 
her  a  formal  remonstrance.  In  this  document  they  stated 
their  conviction  that  the  country  was  on  the  high  road  to 
ruin  both  as  regarded  his  Majesty's  service  and  the  com- 
mon weal.  The  exchequer  was  bare,  the  popular  discon- 
tent daily  increasing,  the  fortresses  on  the  frontier  in  a  di- 
lapidated condition.  It  was  to  be  apprehended  daily  that 
merchants  and  other  inhabitants  of  the  provinces  would 
be  arrested  in  foreign  countries  to  satisfy  the  debts  owed 
by  his  Majesty.  To  provide  against  all  these  evils,  but 
one  course,  it  was  suggested,  remained  to  the  government 


128  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1563 

— to  summon  the  states-general,  and  to  rely  upon  their 
counsel  and  support.  The  nobles  begged  her  highness 
not  to  take  it  amiss  if,  so  long  as  the  King  was  indisposed 
to  make  other  arrangements  for  the  administration  of  the 
provinces,  they  should  abstain  from  appearing  at  the  state 
council.  They  preferred  to  cause  the  shadow  at  last  to 
disappear  which  they  had  so  long  personated.  In  con- 
clusion, however,  they  expressed  their  determination  to 
do  their  duty  in  their  several  governments,  and  to  serve 
the  Eegent  to  the  best  of  their  abilities. 

After  their  remonstrance  had  been  delivered,  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  Count  Horn,  and  Count  Egmont  abstained  en- 
tirely from  the  sessions  of  the  state  council.  She  was  left 
alone  with  the  Cardinal,  whom  she  already  hated,  and  with 
his  two  shadows,  Viglius  and  Berlaymont. 

Armenteros,  after  a  month  spent  on  his  journey,  ar- 
rived in  Spain,  and  was  soon  admitted  to  an  audience  by 
Philip.  In  his  first  interview,  which  lasted  four  hours, 
he  read  to  the  King  all  the  statements  and  documents 
with  which  he  had  come  provided,  and  humbly  requested 
a  prompt  decision.  Philip  transmitted  the  letters  of  the 
nobles,  together  with  the  other  papers,  to  the  Duke  of 
Alva,  and  requested  his  opinion  on  the  subject.  Alva  re- 
plied with  the  roar  of  a  wild  beast. 

With  regard  to  persons  who  had  so  richly  deserved  such 
chastisement,  he  recommended  ^^that  their  heads  should 
be  taken  off  ;  but,  until  this  could  be  done,  that  the  King 
should  dissemble  with  them.'''  He  advised  Philip  not  to 
reply  to  their  letters,  but  merely  to  intimate,  through  the 
Regent,  that  their  reasons  for  the  course  proposed  by 
them  did  not  seem  satisfactory.  In  the  mean  time,  and 
before  it  should  be  practicable  to  proceed  "  to  that  vig- 
orous chastisement  already  indicated,^'  he  advised  sepa- 
rating the  nobles  as  much  as  possible  by  administering 
flattery  and  deceitful  caresses  to  Egmont,  who  might  be 
entrapped  more  easily  than  the  others. 

While  this  had  been  the  course  pursued  by  the  seign- 
iors, the  Regent,  and  the  King,  in  regard  to  that  all-ab- 
sorbing subject  of  Netherland  politics  —  the  struggle 
against  Granvelle — the  Cardinal,  in  his  letters  to  Philip, 


1668]  INSINUATIONS  AND  EXHORTATIONS  129 

had  been  painting  the  situation  by  minute  daily  touch- 
es, in  a  manner  of  which  his  pencil  alone  possessed  the 
secret. 

Still  maintaining  the  attitude  of  an  injured  but  forgiv- 
ing Christian,  he  spoke  of  the  nobles  in  a  tone  of  gentle 
sorrow.  .  He  represented  them  as  broken  spendthrifts,, 
wishing  to  create  general  confusion  in  order  to  escape 
from  personal  liabilities  ;  as  conspirators  who  had  placed 
themselves  within  the  reach  of  the  attorney-general ;  as 
ambitious  malcontents  who  were  disposed  to  overthrow 
the  royal  authority  and  to  substitute  an  aristocratic  re- 
public upon  its  ruins.  He  instructed  Philip  how  to  reply 
to  the  letter  addressed  to  him,  but  begged  his  Majesty 
not  to  hesitate  to  sacrifice  him  if  the  interests  of  his 
crown  should  seem  to  require  it. 

With  regard  to  religious  matters,  he  repeatedly  deplored 
that,  notwithstanding  his  own  exertions  and  those  of  Ma- 
dame de  Parma,  things  were  not  going  on  as  he  desired, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  very  badly — *'For  the  love  of  God 
and  the  service  of  the  holy  religion,"  he  cried  out  fervent- 
ly, *'  put  your  royal  hand  valiantly  to  the  work,  otherwise 
we  have  only  to  exclaim,  Help,  Lord,  for  we  perish  !" 
Having  uttered  this  pious  exhortation  in  the  ear  of  a  man 
who  needed  no  stimulant  in  the  path  of  persecution,  he 
proceeded  to  express  his  regrets  that  the  judges  and  other 
officers  were  not  taking  in  hand  the  chastisement  of  her- 
esy with  becoming  vigor. 

Yet,  at  that  very  moment  Peter  Titelmann  was  raging 
through  Flanders,  tearing  whole  families  out  of  bed  and 
burning  them  to  ashes,  with  such  utter  disregard  to  all 
laws  or  forms  as  to  provoke  in  the  very  next  year  a  solemn 
protest  from  the  four  estates  of  Flanders  ;  and  Titelmann 
was  but  one  of  a  dozen  inquisitors. 

Granvelle,  however,  could  find  little  satisfaction  in  the 
exertions  of  subordinates  so  long  as  men  in  high  station 
were  remiss  in  their  duties.  He  intimated,  moreover, 
that  pretences  of  clemency  were  mere  hypocrisy,  and  that 
self-interest  was  at  the  bottom  of  their  compassion. 
'^'Tis  very  black,"  said  he,  '^  when  interest  governs  ;  but 
these  men  are  all  in  debt,  so  deeply  that  they  owe  their 
9 


130  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1563 

very  souls.  They  are  seeking  every  means  of  escaping 
from  their  obligations,  and  are  most  desirous  of  creating 
general  confusion."  As  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  the 
Cardinal  asserted  that  he  owed  nine  hundred  thousand 
florins,  and  had  hardly  twenty-five  thousand  a  year  clear 
income,  while  he  spent  ninety  thousand,  having  counts, 
barons,  and  gentlemen  in  great  numbers,  in  his  house- 
hold. At  this  point  he  suggested  that  it  might  be  well 
to  find  employment  for  some  of  these  grandees  in  Spain 
and  other  dominions  of  his  Majesty,  adding  that  perhaps 
Orange  might  accept  the  viceroyalty  of  Sicily. 

He  chronicled  the  sayings  and  doings  of  the  principal 
personages  in  the  Netherlands,  for  the  instruction  of  the 
King,  with  great  regularity,  insinuating  suspicions  when 
unable  to  furnish  evidence,  and  adding  charitable  apolo- 
gies, which  he  knew  would  have  but  small  effect  upon  the 
mind  of  his  correspondent. 

He  omitted  nothing  in  the  way  of  anecdote  or  innuendo 
which  could  injure  the  character  of  the  leading  nobles, 
with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  Count  Egmont.  With 
this  important  personage,  whose  character  he  well  under- 
stood, he  seemed  determined,  if  possible,  to  maintain 
friendly  relations.  ''They  intend,"  said  he,  ''to  reduce 
the  state  into  the  form  of  a  republic,  in  which  the  King 
shall  have  no  power  except  to  do  their  bidding."  He 
added  that  he  saw  with  regret  so  many  German  troops 
gathering  on  the  borders  ;  for  he  believed  them  to  be  in 
the  control  of  the  disaffected  nobles  of  the  Nether- 
lands. As  for  the  Prince  of  Orange,  he  was  described  as 
eternally  boasting  of  his  influence  in  Germany,  and  the 
great  things  which  he  could  effect  by  means  of  his  con- 
nections there,  "so  that,"  added  the  Cardinal,  "we  hear 
no  other  song." 

The  seigniors,  in  order  to  gain  favor  with  the  people 
and  with  the  estates,  had  allowed  them  to  acquire  so 
much  power  that  they  would  respond  to  any  request  for 
subsidies  by  a  general  popular  revolt.  "  This  is  the  sim- 
ple truth,"  said  Granvelle,  "and,  moreover,  by  the  same 
process,  in  a  very  few  days  there  will  likewise  be  no  re- 
ligion left  in  the  land."     When  the  deputies  of  some  of 


1663]  THE   MORAL   POINTED  131 

the  states,  a  few  weeks  later,  had  been  irregularly  con- 
vened in  Brussels  for  financial  purposes,  the  Cardinal  in- 
formed the  monarch  that  the  nobles  were  endeavoring  to 
conciliate  their  good-will  by  offering  them  a  splendid  se- 
ries of  festivities  and  banquets. 

Granvelle's  letters  were  filled,  for  the  greater  part,  with 
pictures  of  treason,  stratagem,  and  bloody  intentions,  fab- 
ricated mostly  out  of  reports,  table-talk,  disjointed  chat 
in  the  careless  freedom  of  domestic  intercourse,  while  at 
the  same  time  a  margin  was  always  left  to  express  his 
own  wounded  sense  of  the  injurious  suspicions  uttered 
against  him  by  the  various  subjects  of  his  letters. 

In  short,  the  Cardinal,  little  by  little,  during  the  last 
year  of  his  residence  in  the  Netherlands,  was  enabled  to 
spread  a  canvas  before  his  sovereign's  eye,  in  which  cer- 
tain prominent  figures,  highly  colored  by  patiently  accu- 
mulated touches,  were  represented  as  driving  a  whole  na- 
tion, against  its  own  will,  into  manifest  revolt. 

The  remedy  that  he  recommended  was  that  his  Majes- 
ty should  come  in  person  to  the  provinces.  The  monarch 
would  cure  the  whole  disorder  as  soon  as  he  appeared, 
said  the  Cardinal,  by  merely  making  the  sign  of  the 
cross. 

The  Cardinal,  just  before  his  departure,  which  was  now 
imminent,  wrote  to  warn  his  sovereign  of  the  seditious 
character  of  the  men  who  were  then  placing  their  breasts 
between  the  people  and  their  butchers.  He  assured  Philip 
that  upon  the  movement  of  those  nobles  depended  the 
whole  existence  of  the  country.  It  was  time  that  they 
should  be  made  to  open  their  eyes.  They  should  be  so- 
licited in  every  way  to  abandon  their  evil  courses,  since 
the  liberty  which  they  thought  themselves  defending  was 
but  abject  slavery,  but  subjection  to  a  thousand  base  and 
contemptible  personages,  and  to  that  "vile  animal  called 
the  people."' 

It  is  sufficiently  obvious,  from  the  picture  which  we 
have  now  presented  of  the  respective  attitudes  of  Gran- 
velle,  of  the  seigniors,  and  of  the  nation  during  the  whole 
of  the  year  1563  and  the  beginning  of  the  following  year, 
that  a  crisis  was  fast  approaching.      Granvelle  was,  for 


132  HISTORY   OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1563 

the  moment,  triumphant ;  Orange,  Egmont,  and  Horn 
had  abandoned  the  state  council ;  Philip  could  not  yet 
make  up  his  mind  to  yield  to  the  storm ;  and  Alva 
howled  defiance  at  the  nobles  and  the  whole  people  of 
the  Netherlands.  Nevertheless,  Margaret  of  Parma  was 
utterly  weary  of  the  minister,  the  Cardinal  himself  was 
most  anxious  to  be  gone,  and  the  nation — for  there  was  a 
nation,  however  vile  the  animal  might  be — was  becoming 
daily  more  enraged  at  the  presence  of  a  man  in  whom, 
whether  justly  or  falsely,  it  beheld  the  incarnation  of  the 
religious  oppression  under  which  it  groaned.  Meantime, 
at  the  close  of  the  year,  a  new  incident  came  to  add  to 
the  gravity  of  the  situation.  Caspar  Schetz,  Baron  of 
Grobbendonck,  gave  a  great  dinner-party,  in  the  month 
of  December,  1563.  This  personage,  whose  name  was 
prominent  for  many  years  in  the  public  affairs  of  the 
nation,  was  one  of  the  four  brothers  who  formed  a  very 
opulent  and  influential  mercantile  establishment.  He 
was  the  King's  principal  factor  and  financial  agent.  He 
was  one  of  the  great  pillars  of  the  Bourse  at  Antwerp. 

At  the  treasurer-generaFs  memorable  banquet  to  a  dis- 
tinguished party  of  noblemen,  the  conversation  during 
dinner  turned,  as  was  inevitable,  upon  the  Cardinal. 
His  ostentation,  greediness,  insolence,  were  fully  can- 
vassed. The  wine  flowed  freely,  as  it  always  did  in  those 
Flemish  festivities  —  the  brains  of  the  proud  and  reck- 
less cavaliers  became  hot  with  excitement,  while  still  the 
odious  ecclesiastic  was  the  topic  of  their  conversation, 
the  object  alternately  of  flerce  invective  or  of  scornful 
mirth.  It  was  proposed,  by  way  of  showing  contempt 
for  Granvelle,  that  a  livery  should  be  invented,  as  dif- 
ferent as  possible  from  his  in  general  effect,  and  that  all 
the  gentlemen  present  should  indiscriminately  adopt  it 
for  their  own  menials.  Thus  would  the  people  whom 
the  Cardinal  wished  to  dazzle  with  his  flnery  learn  to 
estimate  such  gauds  at  their  true  value.  It  was  deter- 
mined that  something  extremely  plain  and  in  the  Ger- 
man fashion  should  be  selected.  At  the  same  time  the 
company,  now  thoroughly  inflamed  with  wine,  and  pos- 
sessed by  the  spirit  of  mockery,  determined  that  a  symbol 


1563]  THE  FOOL'S-CAP   LIVERY  133 

should  be  added  to  the  livery,  by  which  the  universal  con- 
tempt for  Granvelle  should  be  expressed.  The  proposition 
was  hailed  with  acclamation — but  who  should  invent  the 
hieroglyphical  costume  ?  All  were  reckless  and  ready 
enough,  but  ingenuity  of  device  was  required.  At  last  it 
was  determined  to  decide  the  question  by  hazard.  Amid 
shouts  of  hilarity,  the  dice  were  thrown.  Those  men 
were  staking  their  lives,  perhaps,  upon  the  issue,  but  the 
reflection  gave  only  a  keener  zest  to  the  game.  Egmont 
won.  It  was  the  most  fatal  victory  which  he  had  ever 
achieved,  a  more  deadly  prize  even  than  the  trophies  of 
Saint-Quentin  and  Gravelines. 

In  a  few  days  afterwards,  the  retainers  of  the  house  of 
Egmont  surprised  Brussels  by  making  their  appearance  in 
a  new  livery.  Doublet  and  hose  of  the  coarsest  gray,  and 
long  hanging  sleeves,  without  gold  or  silver  lace,  and  hav- 
ing but  a  single  ornament,  comprised  the  whole  costume. 
An  emblem  which  seemed  to  resemble  a  monk's  cowl,  or  a 
fooFs  cap  and  bells,  was  embroidered  upon  each  sleeve. 
The  device  pointed  at  the  Cardinal,  as  did,  by  contrast, 
the  affected  coarseness  of  the  dress.  There  was  no  doubt 
as  to  the  meaning  of  the  hood,  but  they  who  saw  in  the 
symbol  more  resemblance  to  the  jester's  cap,  recalled  cer- 
tain biting  expressions  which  Granvelle  had  been  ac- 
customed to  use.  He  had  been  wont,  in  the  days  of  his 
greatest  insolence,  to  speak  of  the  most  eminent  nobles  as 
zanies,  lunatics,  and  buffoons.  The  embroidered  fool's  cap 
was  supposed  to  typify  the  gibe,  and  to  remind  the  arro- 
gant priest  that  a  Brutus,  as  in  the  olden  time,  might  be 
found  lurking  in  the  costume  of  the  fool.  However  witty 
or  appropriate  the  invention,  the  livery  had  an  immense 
success.  According  to  agreement,  the  nobles  who  had 
dined  with  the  treasurer  ordered  it  for  all  their  servants. 
Never  did  a  new  dress  become  so  soon  the  fashion.  The 
unpopularity  of  the  minister  assisted  the  quaintness  of 
the  device.  The  fool's-cap  livery  became  the  rage.  Never 
was  such  a  run  upon  the  haberdashers,  mercers,  and  tai- 
lors since  Brussels  had  been  a  city.  All  the  frieze-cloth 
in  Brabant  was  exhausted.  All  the  serge  in  Flanders  was 
clipped  into  monastic  cowls.    The  Duchess  at  first  laughed 


134  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1564 

with  the  rest,  but  the  Cardinal  took  care  that  the  King 
should  be  at  once  informed  upon  the  subject.  The  Ee- 
gent  was,  perhaps,  not  extremely  sorry  to  see  the  man 
ridiculed  whom  she  so  cordially  disliked,  and  she  accept- 
ed the  careless  excuses  made  on  the  subject  by  Egmont 
and  by  Orange  without  severe  criticism.  She  wrote  to 
her  brother  that,  although  the  gentlemen  had  been  in- 
fluenced by  no  evil  intention,  she  had  thought  it  best  to 
exhort  them  not  to  push  the  jest  too  far.  Already,  how- 
ever, she  found  that  two  thousand  pairs  of  sleeves  had 
been  made,  and  the  most  she  could  obtain  was  that  the 
fools'  caps,  or  monks'  hoods,  should  in  future  be  omitted 
from  the  livery.  A  change  was  accordingly  made  in  the 
costume,  at  about  the  time  of  the  Cardinal's  departure. 
A  bundle  of  arrows,  or,  in  some  instances,  a  wheat-sheaf, 
was  substituted  for  the  cowls.  Various  interpretations 
were  placed  upon  this  new  emblem.  According  to  the 
nobles  themselves,  it  denoted  the  union  of  all  their  hearts 
in  the  King's  service,  while  their  enemies  insinuated  that 
it  was  obviously  a  symbol  of  conspiracy.  The  costume 
thus  amended  was  worn  by  the  gentlemen  themselves,  as 
well  as  by  their  servants.  Egmont  dined  at  the  Regent's 
table,  after  the  Cardinal's  departure,  in  a  camlet  doublet, 
with  hanging  sleeves,  and  buttons  stamped  with  the  bun- 
dle of  arrows. 

For  the  present,  the  Cardinal  affected  to  disapprove  of 
the  fashion  only  from  its  rebellious  tendency.  The  fools' 
caps  and  cowls,  he  meekly  observed  to  Philip,  were  the 
least  part  of  the  offence,  for  an  injury  to  himself  could  be 
easily  forgiven.  The  wheat-sheaf  and  the  arrow-bundles, 
however,  were  very  vile  things,  for  they  betokened  a^nd 
confirmed  the  existence  of  a  conspiracy  such  as  never 
could  be  tolerated  by  a  prince  who  had  any  regard  for  his 
own  authority. 

This  incident  of  the  livery  occupied  the  public  atten- 
tion and  inflamed  the  universal  hatred  during  the  later 
months  of  the  minister's  residence  in  the  country.  Mean- 
time the  three  seigniors  had  become  very  impatient  at  re- 
ceiving no  answer  to  their  letter.  Philip,  on  his  part,  was 
conning  Granvelle's  despatches,  filled  with  hints  of  con- 


PHILIP  II.  OP  SPAIN 


1564]  A   COMPLICATED  FALSEHOOD  135 

spiracy,  and  holding  counsel  with  Alva,  who  had  already 
recommended  the  taking  off  several  heads  for  treason. 
The  Prince  of  Orange,  who  already  had  secret  agents  in 
the  King's  household,  and  was  supplied  with  copies  of 
the  most  private  papers  in  the  palace,  knew  better  than 
to  be  deceived  by  the  smooth  representations  of  the  Re- 
gent. Philip  had,  however,  at  last  begun  secretly  to 
yield.  lie  asked  Alva's  advice,  whether  on  the  whole  it 
would  not  be  better  to  let  the  Cardinal  leave  the  Neth- 
erlands, at  least  for  a  time,  on  pretence  of  visiting  his 
mother  in  Burgundy,  and  to  invite  Count  Egmont  to 
Madrid,  by  way  of  striking  one  link  from  the  chain,  as 
Granvelle  had  suggested. 

The  King,  who  was  never  so  thoroughly  happy  or  at 
home  as  when  elaborating  the  ingredients  of  a  composite 
falsehood,  now  busily  employed  himself  in  his  cabinet. 
He  measured  off  in  various  letters  to  the  Regent,  to  the 
three  nobles,  to  Egmont  alone,  and  to  Granvelle,  certain 
proportionate  parts  of  his  whole  plan,  which,  taken  sep- 
arately, were  intended  to  deceive, 'and  did  deceive,  nearly 
every  person  in  the  world,  not  only  in  his  own  generation, 
but  for  three  centuries  afterwards,  but  which,  arranged 
synthetically,  as  can  now  be  done,  in  consequence  of  mod- 
ern revelations,  formed  one  complete  and  considerable  lie. 

The  courier  who  was  to  take  Philip's  letters  to  the 
three  nobles  was  detained  three  weeks,  in  order  to  allow 
Armenteros,  who  was  charged  with  the  more  important 
and  secret  despatches  for  the  Duchess  and  Granvelle,  to 
reach  Brussels  first.  All  the  letters,  however,  were  ready 
at  the  same  time.  Armenteros,  who  travelled  but  slowly 
on  account  of  the  state  of  his  health,  arrived  in  Brussels 
towards  the  end  of  February.  Five  or  six  days  after- 
wards— namely,  on  the  1st  of  March,  the  courier  arrived 
bringing  the  despatches  for  the  seigniors.  In  his  letter 
to  Orange,  Egmont,  and  Horn,  the  King  expressed  his 
astonishment  at  their  resolution  to  abstain  from  the  state 
council.  ^'  Nevertheless,"  said  he,  imperatively,  '^  fail  not 
to  return  thither  and  to  show  how  much  more  highly  you 
regard  my  service  and  the  good  of  the  country  than  any 
other  particularity  whatever.     As  to  Granvelle,"  continued 


136  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1564 

Philip,  '*^  since  you  will  not  make  any  specifications,  my 
intention  is  to  think  over  the  matter  longer,  in  order  to 
arrange  it  as  may  seem  most  fitting." 

This  letter  was  dated  the  19th  of  February  (1564),  nearly 
a  month  later  therefore  than  the  secret  letter  to  Gran- 
velle,  brought  by  Armenteros,  although  all  the  despatch- 
es had  been  drawn  up  at  the  same  time  and  formed 
parts  of  the  same  plan.  '^  It  tuould  be  well/'  wrote  the 
King,  "in  order  to  give  time  and  breathing  space  to 
the  hatred  and  rancor  which  those  persons  entertain  tow- 
ards you,  and  in  order  to  see  what  course  they  will 
take  in  preparing  the  necessary  remedy  for  the  prov- 
inces, for  you  to  leave  the  country  for  some  days,  in 
order  to  visit  your  mother,  and  this  with  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Duchess,  my  sister,  and  with  her  permis- 
sion, which  you  will  request,  and  which  I  have  written 
to  her  that  she  must  give,  without  allowing  it  to  ap- 
pear that  you  have  received  orders  to  that  effect  from 
me.  You  will  also  beg  her  to  write  to  me  requesting 
my  approbation  of  what  she  is  to  do.  By  taking  this 
course  neither  my  authority  nor  yours  will  suffer  prej- 
udice; and,  according  to  the  turn  which  things  may 
take,  measures  may  be  taken  for  your  return  when  ex- 
pedient, and  for  whatever  else  there  may  be  to  arrange." 

Thus,  while  the  King  refused  to  give  any  weight  to  the 
representations  of  the  nobles,  and  affected  to  be  still  de- 
liberating whether  or  not  he  should  recall  the  Cardinal,  he 
had  in  reality  already  recalled  him.  All  the  minute  di- 
rections according  to  which  permission  was  to  be  asked  of 
the  Duchess  to  take  a  step  which  had  already  been  pre- 
scribed by  the  monarch,  and  Philip's  indulgence  craved 
for  obeying  his  own  explicit  injunctions,  were  fulfilled  to 
the  letter. 

As  soon  as  the  Cardinal  received  the  royal  order,  he  pri- 
vately made  preparations  for  his  departure.  The  Kegent, 
on  the  other  hand,  delivered  to  Count  Egmont  the  one 
of  Philip's  two  letters  in  which  that  gentleman's  visit  was 
declined,  the  Duchess  believing  that,  in  the  present  posi- 
tion of  affairs,  she  should  derive  more  assistance  from  him 
than  from  the  rest  of  the  seigniors.     As  Granvelle,  how- 


1564J  GENTEEL  COMEDY  137 

ever,  still  delayed  his  departure,  even  after  the  arrival  of 
the  second  courier,  she  was  again  placed  in  a  situation  of 
much  perplexity.  There  was  no  help  for  it ;  and  on  the 
13th  of  March  the  Cardinal  took  his  departure.  A  wag 
posted  a  large  placard  upon  the  door  of  Granvelle's  palace 
in  Brussels  as  soon  as  the  minister's  departure  was  known, 
with  the  inscription,  in  large  letters,  **  For  sale,  immedi- 
ately." In  spite  of  the  royal  ingenuity,  therefore,  many 
shrewdly  suspected  the  real  state  of  the  case,  although 
but  very  few  actually  knew  the  truth. 

The  Cardinal  left  Brussels  with  a  numerous  suite,  state- 
ly equipages,  and  much  parade. 

Philip  had  sustained  his  part  in  the  farce  with  much 
ability.  Viglius,  Berlaymont,  Morillon,  and  all  the  lesser 
cardinalists  were  entirely  deceived  by  the  letters  which 
were  formally  despatched  to  the  Duchess  in  reply  to  her 
own  and  the  Cardinal's  notification.  The  Duchess,  as  in 
duty  bound,  denied  flatly,  on  all  occasions,  that  Ar- 
menteros  had  brought  any  letters  recommending  or  or- 
dering the  minister's  retreat.  She  conscientiously  dis- 
played the  letters  of  his  Majesty,  proving  the  contrary  ; 
and  yet,  said  Viglius,  it  was  very  hard  to  prevent  people 
talking  as  they  liked.  Granvelle  omitted  no  occasion  to 
mystify  every  one  of  his  correspondents  on  the  subject, 
referring,  of  course,  to  the  same  royal  letters  which  had 
been  written  for  public  reading,  expressly  to  corrobrate 
these  statements. 

Granvelle  remained  month  after  month  in  seclusion, 
doing  his  best  to  philosophize.  In  a  fine  strain  of  elo- 
quent commonplace,  the  fallen  minister  had  already  be- 
gun to  moralize  upon  the  vanity  of  human  wishes.  When 
he  was  established  at  his  charming  retreat  in  Burgundy, 
he  had  full  leisure  to  pursue  the  theme.  He  remained 
in  retirement  till  his  beard  grew  to  his  waist,  having 
vowed,  according  to  report,  that  he  would  not  shave 
till  recalled  to  the  Netherlands.  If  the  report  were  true, 
said  some  of  the  gentlemen  in  the  provinces,  it  would 
be  likely  to  grow  to  his  feet. 

The  Cardinal  was  no  ascetic.  His  hermitage  contained 
other  appliances  save  those  for  study  and  devotion.     His 


138  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1664 

retired  life  was,  in  fact,  that  of  a  voluptuary.  While  he 
affected  to  be  blind  and  deaf  to  politics,  he  had  eyes  and 
ears  for  nothing  else.  Worldly  affairs  were  his  element, 
and  he  was  shipwrecked  upon  the  charming  solitude 
which  he  affected  to  admire.  He  was  most  anxious  to 
return  to  the  world  again,  but  he  had  difficult  cards  to 
play.  It  is  probable  that  he  nourished  for  a  long  time  a 
hope  that  the  storm  would  blow  over  in  the  provinces, 
and  his  resumption  of  power  become  possible. 

William  of  Orange,  although  more  than  half  convinced 
that  no  attempt  would  be  made  to  replace  the  minister, 
felt  it  necessary  to  keep  strict  watch  on  his  movements. 
The  Prince  never  committed  the  error  of  undervalu- 
ing the  talents  of  his  great  adversary,  and  he  felt  the 
necessity  of  being  on  the  alert  in  the  present  emergency. 
Nevertheless,  the  chances  of  that  return  became  daily 
fainter.  Margaret  of  Parma  hated  the  Cardinal  with 
great  cordiality.  She  fell  out  of  her  servitude  to  him 
into  far  more  contemptible  hands,  but  for  a  brief  inter- 
val she  seemed  to  take  a  delight  in  the  recovery  of  her 
freedom.  According  to  Viglius,  the  court,  after  Grraur 
velle's  departure,  was  like  a  school  of  boys  and  girls  when 
the  pedagogue's  back  is  turned.  The  Duchess  soon  after- 
wards entertained  her  royal  brother  with  very  detailed  ac- 
counts of  various  acts  of  simony,  peculation,  and  embez- 
zlement committed  by  Viglius,  which  the  Cardinal  had 
aided  and  abetted,  and  by  which  he  had  profited.  At  the 
same  time  it  was  characteristic  of  the  Duchess  that  while 
she  was  thus  painting  the  portrait  of  the  Cardinal  for  the 
private  eye  of  his  sovereign,  she  should  address  the  ban- 
ished minister  himself  in  a  secret  strain  of  condolence, 
and  even  of  penitence. 

As  the  historical  scholar  now  sees,  there  was  certainly  a 
discrepancy  between  the  language  used  simultaneously  by 
the  Duchess  to  Granvelle  and  to  Philip,  but  Margaret  had 
been  trained  in  the  school  of  Machiavelli,  and  had  sat  at 
the  feet  of  Loyola. 

Weary  of  his  retirement,  Granvelle  at  last  abandoned  all 
intention  of  returning  to  the  Netherlands,  and  towards 
the  end  of  1565  departed  for  Rome,  where  he  participated 


1564]  DEATH   OF  GRANVELLE  139 

in  the  election  of  Pope  Pius  the  Fifth.  Five  years  after- 
wards he  was  employed  by  Philip  to  negotiate  the  tripar- 
tite treaty,  Spain,  Rome,  and  Venice  against  the  Turk. 
He  was  afterwards  Viceroy  of  Naples,  and  in  1575  he  re- 
moved to  Madrid  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  manage- 
ment of  public  business,  ''the  disorder  of  which,"  says 
the  Abbe  Boisot,  ''could  be  no  longer  arrested  by  men 
of  mediocre  capacity."  He  died  in  that  city  on  the  21st 
of  September,  1586,  at  the  age  of  seventy,  and  was  buried 
at  Besan^on- 


CHAPTER  V 
A   KATION   CONDEMNED   TO   DEATH 

The  remainder  of  the  year  in  the  spring  of  which  the 
Cardinal  had  left  the  Netherlands  was  one  of  anarchy, 
confusion,  and  corruption.  At  first  there  had  been  a  sen- 
sation of  relief.  Philip  had  exchanged  letters  of  exceed- 
ing amity  with  Orange,  Egmont,  and  Horn.  These  three 
seigniors  had  written,  immediately  upon  Granvelle's  re- 
treat, to  assure  the  King  of  their  willingness  to  obey  the 
royal  commands,  and  to  resume  their  duties  at  the  state 
council.  They  had,  however,  assured  the  Duchess  that 
the  appearance  of  the  Cardinal  in  the  country  would  be 
the  signal  for  their  instantaneous  withdrawal.  They  ap- 
peared at  the  council  daily,  working  with  the  utmost  as- 
siduity often  till  late  into  the  night.  Orange  had  three 
great  objects  in  view,  by  attaining  which  the  country,  in 
his  opinion,  might  yet  be  saved  and  the  threatened  con- 
vulsions averted.  These  were  to  convoke  the  states-gen- 
eral, to  moderate  or  abolish  the  edicts,  and  to  suppress 
the  council  of  finance  and  the  privy  council,  leaving  only 
the  council  of  state.  The  two  first  of  these  points,  if 
gained,  would,  of  course,  subvert  the  whole  absolute  pol- 
icy which  Philip  and  Granvelle  had  enforced  ;  it  was, 
therefore,  hardly  probable  that  any  impression  would  be 
made  upon  the  secret  determination  of  the  government 
in  these  respects.  As  to  the  council  of  state,  the  limited 
powers  of  that  body,  under  the  administration  of  the  Car- 
dinal, had  formed  one  of  the  principal  complaints  against 
that  minister.  The  justice  and  finance  councils  were 
sinks  of  iniquity.  The  most  barefaced  depravity  reigned 
supreme.    A  gangrene  had  spread  through  the  whole  gov- 


1564J  CORRUPTION  141 

ernment.  The  public  functionaries  were  notoriously  and 
outrageously  venal.  The  administration  of  justice  had 
been  poisoned  at  the  fountain,  and  the  people  were  un- 
able to  slake  their  daily  thirst  at  the  polluted  stream. 
There  was  no  law  but  the  law  of  the  longest  purse.  The 
highest  dignitaries  of  Philip's  appointment  had  become 
the  most  mercenary  hucksters  who  ever  converted  the  di- 
vine temple  of  justice  into  a  den  of  thieves.  Law  was  an 
article  of  merchandise,  sold  by  judges  to  the  highest  bid- 
der. A  poor  customer  could  obtain  nothing  but  stripes 
and  imprisonment,  or,  if  tainted  with  suspicion  of  heresy, 
the  fagot  or  the  sword,  but  for  the  rich  everything  was 
attainable.  Pardons  for  the  most  atrocious  crimes,  pass- 
ports, safe-conducts,  offices  of  trust  and  honor  were  dis- 
posed of  at  auction  to  the  highest  bidder.  Against  all 
this  sea  of  corruption  did  the  brave  William  of  Orange  set 
his  breast,  undaunted  and  unflinching.  Of  all  the  con- 
spicuous men  in  the  land,  he  was  the  only  one  whose 
worst  enemy  had  never  hinted,  through  the  whole  course 
of  his  public  career,  that  his  hands  had  known  contami- 
nation. His  honor  was  ever  untarnished  by  even  a  breath 
of  suspicion.  The  Cardinal  could  accuse  him  of  pecun- 
iary embarrassment,  by  which  a  large  proportion  of  his 
revenues  were  necessarily  diverted  to  the  liquidation  of 
his  debts,  but  he  could  not  suggest  that  the  Prince  had 
ever  freed  himself  from  difficulties  by  plunging  his  hands 
into  the  public  treasury,  when  it  might  easily  have  been 
opened  to  him. 

It  was  soon,  however,  sufficiently  obvious  that  as  des- 
perate a  struggle  was  to  be  made  with  the  many-headed 
monster  of  general  corruption  as  with  the  Cardinal,  by 
whom  it  had  been  so  long  fed  and  governed.  The  Prince 
of  Orange  was  already,  although  but  just  turned  thirty 
years  of  age,  vastly  changed  from  the  brilliant  and  careless 
grandee  as  he  stood  at  the  hour  of  the  imperial  abdication. 
He  was  becoming  careworn  in  face,  thin  of  figure,  sleepless 
of  habit.  The  wrongs  of  which  he  was  the  daily  witness, 
the  absolutism,  the  cruelty,  the  rottenness  of  the  govern- 
ment, had  marked  his  face  with  premature  furrows.  He 
continued  assiduous  at  the  council,  and  he  did  his  best. 


142  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1564 

by  entertaining  nobles  and  citizens  at  his  hospitable  man- 
sion, to  cultivate  good  relations  with  large  numbers  of  his 
countrymen.  He  soon,  however,  had  become  disgusted 
with  the  court.  Egmont  was  more  lenient  to  the  foul 
practices  which  prevailed  there,  and  took  almost  a  child- 
ish pleasure  in  dining  at  the  table  of  the  Duchess,  dressed, 
as  were  many  of  the  younger  nobles,  in  short  camlet  doub- 
let with  the  wheat-sheaf  buttons. 

The  Prince  felt  more  unwilling  to  compromise  his  per- 
sonal dignity  by  countenancing  the  flagitious  proceedings 
and  the  contemptible  supremacy  of  Armenteros.  When 
his  business  led  him  to  the  palace,  he  was  sometimes 
forced  to  wait  in  the  antechamber  for  an  hour  while 
the  clerk  Armenteros  was  engaged  in  private  consulta- 
tion with  Margaret  upon  the  most  important  matters  of 
administration.  The  name  of  this  infamous  peculator  was 
popularly  converted  into  Argenteros,  in  order  to  Symbol- 
ize the  man  who  was  made  of  public  money.  His  confi- 
dential intimacy  with  the  Duchess  procured  for  him  also 
the  name  of  "Madam's  barber,"  in  allusion  to  the  famous 
ornaments  of  Margaret's  upper  lip,  and  to  the  celebrated 
influence  enjoyed  by  the  barbers  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy 
and  of  Louis  the  Eleventh.  This  man  sold  dignities  and 
places  of  high  responsibility  at  public  auction.  The  Re- 
gent not  only  connived  at  these  proceedings,  which  would 
have  been  base  enough,  but  she  was  full  partner  in  the 
disgraceful  commerce.  Through  the  agency  of  the  Secre- 
tary, she,  too,  was  amassing  a  large  private  fortune. 

Berlaymont  was  treated  by  the  Duchess  with  studied 
insult.  "What  is  the  man  talking  about  T'  she  would  ask 
with  languid  superciliousness,  if  he  attempted  to  express 
his  opinion  in  the  state  council.  Viglius,  whom  Berlay- 
mont accused  of  doing  his  best,  without  success,  to  make 
his  peace  with  the  seigniors,  was  in  even  still  greater  dis- 
grace than  his  fellow-cardinalists.  When  other  council- 
lors were  summoned  to  a  session  at  three  o'clock,  the 
president  was  invited  at  four.  It  was  quite  impossible 
for  him  to  have  an  audience  of  the  Duchess  except  in  the 
presence  of  the  inevitable  Armenteros.  He  was  not  al- 
lowed to   open  his  mouth,  even  when  he   occasionally 


1564]  "POOR   VIGLIUS"  143 

plucked  up  heart  enough  to  attempt  the  utterance  of  his 
opinions.     His  authority  was  completely  dead. 

Viglius  was  anxious  to  retire,  but  unwilling  to  have  the 
appearance  of  being  disgraced.  He  felt  instinctively,  al- 
though deceived  as  to  the  actual  facts,  that  his  great  pa- 
tron had  been  defeated  and  banished.  He  did  not  wish  to 
be  placed  in  the  same  position.  He  had,  however,  with 
the  sagacity  of  an  old  navigator,  already  thrown  out  his 
anchor  into  the  best  holding-ground  during  the  storms 
which  he  foresaw  were  soon  to  sweep  the  state.  Before  the 
close  of  the  year  which  now  occupies  us,  the  learned  doc- 
tor of  laws  had  become  a  doctor  of  divinity  also  ;  and  had 
already  secured,  by  so  doing,  the  wealthy  prebend  of  Saint- 
Bavon  of  Ghent. 

Philip  lent  a  greedy  ear  to  the  scandalous  hints  of  Mar- 
garet concerning  Viglius  and  his  friends.  It  is  an  instruc- 
tive lesson  in  human  history  to  look  through  the  cloud  of 
dissimulation  in  which  the  actors  of  this  remarkable  ep- 
och were  ever  enveloped,  and  to  watch  them  all  stabbing 
fiercely  at  one  another  in  the  dark,  with  no  regard  to  pre- 
vious friendship,  or  even  present  professions.  It  is  edify- 
ing to  see  the  Cardinal,  with  all  his  genius  and  all  his  gri- 
mace, corresponding  on  familiar  terms  with  Armenteros, 
who  was  holding  him  up  to  obloquy  upon  all  occasions ; 
to  see  Philip  inclining  his  ear  in  pleased  astonishment  to 
Margaret's  disclosures  concerning  the  Cardinal,  whom  he 
was  at  the  very  instant  assuring  of  his  undiminished  con- 
fidence ;  and  to  see  Viglius,  the  author  of  the  edict  of 
1550,  and  the  uniform  opponent  of  any  mitigation  in  its 
horrors,  silently  becoming  involved,  without  the  least 
suspicion  of  the  fact,  in  the  meshes  of  the  inquisitor  Titel- 
mann. 

A  remarkable  tumult  occurred  in  October  of  this  year 
at  Antwerp.  A  Carmelite  monk,  Christopher  Smith,  com- 
monly called  Fabricius,  had  left  a  monastery  in  Bruges, 
adopted  the  principles  of  the  Reformation,  and  taken  to 
himself  a  wife.  He  had  resided  for  a  time  in  England, 
but,  invited  by  his  friends,  he  had  afterwards  undertaken 
the  dangerous  charge  of  gospel-teacher  in  the  commercial 
metropolis  of  the  Netherlands.     He  was,  however,  soon 


144  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1564 

betrayed  to  the  authorities  by  a  certain  bonnet  dealer, 
popularly  called  Long  Margaret,  who  had  pretended,  for 
the  sake  of  securing  the  informer's  fee,  to  be  a  convert  to 
his  doctrines.  He  was  seized,  and  immediately  put  to  the 
torture.  When  this  humble  imitator  of  Christ  was  led 
through  the  streets  of  Antwerp  to  the  stake,  the  popular 
emotion  was  at  once  visible.  The  crowd,  as  they  followed 
the  procession  of  hangmen,  halberdsmen,  and  magistrates, 
sang  the  hundred  and  thirtieth  psalm  in  full  chorus.  As 
the  victim  arrived  upon  the  market-place,  he  knelt  upon 
the  ground  to  pray,  for  the  last  time.  He  was,  however, 
rudely  forced  to  rise  by  the  executioner,  who  immediately 
chained  him  to  the  stake,  and  fastened  a  leathern  strap 
around  his  throat.  At  this  moment  the  popular  indigna- 
tion became  uncontrollable  ;  stones  were  showered  upon 
the  magistrates  and  soldiers,  who,  after  a  slight  resist- 
ance, fled  for  their  lives.  The  foremost  of  the  insur- 
gents dashed  into  the  enclosed  arena  to  rescue  the  pris- 
oner. It  was  too  late.  The  executioner,  even  as  he  fled, 
had  crushed  the  victim's  head  with  a  sledge-hammer,  and 
pierced  him  through  and  through  with  a  poniard.  Some  of 
the  by-standers  maintained  afterwards  that  his  fingers  and 
lips  were  seen  to  move,  as  if  in  feeble  prayer,  for  a  little 
time  longer,  until,  as  the  fire  mounted,  he  fell  into  the 
flames.  For  the  remainder  of  the  day,  after  the  fire  had 
entirely  smouldered  to  ashes,  the  charred  and  half-con- 
sumed body  of  the  victim  remained  on  the  market-place, 
a  ghastly  spectacle  to  friend  and  foe.  It  was  afterwards 
bound  to  a  stone  and  cast  into  the  Scheldt.  Such  was  the 
doom  of  Christopher  Fabricius,  for  having  preached  Chris- 
tianity in  Antwerp. 

It  was  precisely  at  this  epoch  that  the  burgomasters, 
senators,  and  council  of  the  city  of  Bruges  (all  Catholics) 
humbly  petitioned  the  Duchess  Regent  that  Peter  Titel- 
mann.  Inquisitor  of  the  Faith,  might  be  compelled  to  make 
use  of  preparatory  examinations  with  the  co-operation  of 
the  senators  of  the  city,  to  suffer  that  witnesses  should 
make  their  depositions  without  being  intimidated  by  men- 
ace, and  to  conduct  all  his  subsequent  proceedings  accord- 
ing to  legal  forms,  which  he  had  uniformly  violated,  pub- 


1564]  THE   COUNCIL   OF  TRENT  145 

licly  declaring  that  he  would  conduct  himself  according 
to  his  own  pleasure. 

Despite  a  solemn  address  of  the  four  estates  of  Flanders 
to  the  King,  and  advice  from  Margaret  to  Titelmann  to 
conduct  himself  in  office  "  with  discretion  and  modesty," 
he  continued  unchecked  in  his  infamous  career  until 
death,  which  did  not  occur  till  several  years  afterwards. 

Philip,  so  far  from  having  the  least  disposition  to  yield 
in  the  matter  of  the  great  religious  persecution,  was  more 
determined  as  to  his  course  than  ever.  He  had  already, 
as  early  as  August  of  this  year,  despatched  orders  to  the 
Duchess  that  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent  should 
be  published  and  enforced  throughout  the  Netherlands. 

The  decrees  were  to  be  proclaimed  and  enforced  with- 
out delay.  They  related  to  three  subjects — the  doctrines 
to  be  inculcated  by  the  Church,  the  reformation  of  eccle- 
siastical morals,  and  the  education  of  the  people.  Gen- 
eral police  regulations  were  issued  at  the  same  time,  by 
which  heretics  were  to  be  excluded  from  all  share  in  the 
usual  conveniences  of  society,  and  were,  in  fact,  to  be 
strictly  excommunicated.  Inns  were  to  receive  no  guests, 
schools  no  children,  almshouses  no  paupers,  graveyards 
no  dead  bodies,  unless  guests,  children,  paupers,  and  dead 
bodies  were  furnished  with  most  satisfactory  proofs  of  or- 
thodoxy. Midwives  of  unsuspected  Romanism  were  alone 
to  exercise  their  functions,  and  were  bound  to  give  notice 
within  twenty-four  hours  of  every  birth  which  occurred  ; 
the  parish  clerks  were  as  regularly  to  record  every  such 
addition  to  the  population,  and  the  authorities  to  see  that 
Catholic  baptism  was  administered  in  each  case  with  the 
least  possible  delay.  Births,  deaths,  and  marriages  could 
only  occur  with  validity  under  the  shadow  of  the  Church. 
No  human  being  could  consider  himself  born  or  defunct 
unless  provided  with  a  priest's  certificate.  The  heretic 
was  excluded,  so  far  as  ecclesiastical  dogma  could  exclude 
him,  from  the  pale  of  humanity,  from  consecrated  earth, 
and  from  eternal  salvation. 

The  decrees  contained  many  provisions  which  not  only 
conflicted  with  the  privileges  of  the  provinces  but  with 
the  prerogatives  of  the  sovereign.    For  this  reason  many  of 

10 


146  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1564 

the  lords  in  council  thought  that  at  least  the  proper  ex- 
ceptions should  be  made  upon  their  promulgation.  This 
was  also  the  opinion  of  the  Duchess,  but  the  King,  by  his 
letters  of  October  and  November  (1564),  expressly  pro- 
hibited any  alteration  in  the  ordinances,  and  transmitted 
a  copy  of  the  form  according  to  which  the  canons  had 
been  published  in  Spain,  together  with  the  expression  of 
his  desire  that  a  similar  course  should  be  followed  in  the 
Netherlands.  Margaret  of  Parma  was  in  great  embarrass- 
ment. It  was  evident  that  the  publication  could  no  lon- 
ger be  deferred. 

In  the  dilemma  to  which  the  Duchess  was  reduced,  she 
again  bethought  herself  of  a  special  mission  to  Spain. 
At  the  end  of  the  year  (1564)  it  was  determined  that 
Egmont  should  be  the  envoy.  Montigny  excused  himself 
on  account  of  private  affairs  ;  Marquis  Berghen,  *' because 
of  his  indisposition  and  corpulence."  There  was  a  stormy 
debate  in  council  after  Egmont  had  accepted  the  mission 
and  immediately  before  his  departure.  Viglius  had  been 
ordered  to  prepare  the  Count's  instructions.  Having  fin- 
ished the  rough  draught,  he  laid  it  before  the  board.  The 
paper  was  conceived  in  general  terms,  and  might  mean 
anything  or  nothing.  No  criticism  upon  its  language  was, 
however,  offered  until  it  came  to  the  turn  of  Orange  to 
vote  upon  the  document.  Then,  however,  William  the 
Silent  opened  his  lips,  and  poured  forth  a  long  and  ve- 
hement discourse,  such  as  he  rarely  pronounced,  but  such 
as  few  except  himself  could  utter.  There  was  no  shuf- 
fling, no  disguise,  no  timidity  in  his  language.  He  took 
the  ground  boldly  that  the  time  had  arrived  for  speaking 
out.  The  object  of  sending  an  envoy  of  high  rank  and 
European  reputation  like  the  Count  of  Egmont  was  to 
tell  the  King  the  truth.  Let  Philij)  know  it  now.  Let 
him  be  unequivocally  informed  that  this  whole  machinery 
of  placards  and  scaffolds,  of  new  bishops  and  old  hang- 
men, of  decrees,  inquisitors,  and  informers,  must  once 
and  forever  be  abolished.  Their  day  was  over.  The 
Netherlands  were  free  provinces,  they  were  surrounded 
by  free  countries,  they  were  determined  to  vindicate 
their  ancient  privileges.      Moreover,  his  Majesty  was  to 


1664]  SPEECH   OF  ORANGE  147 

be  plainly  informed  of  the  frightful  corruption  which 
made  the  whole  judicial  and  administrative  system  loath- 
some. The  venality  which  notoriously  existed  every- 
where—  on  the  bench,  in  the  council  -  chamber,  in  all 
public  offices,  where  purity  was  most  essential — was  de- 
nounced by  the  Prince  in  scathing  terms.  He  tore  the 
mask  from  individual  faces,  and  openly  charged  the  Chan- 
cellor of  Brabant,  Engelbert  Maas,  with  knavery  and  cor- 
ruption. He  insisted  that  the  King  should  be  informed 
of  the  necessity  of  abolishing  the  two  inferior  councils, 
and  of  enlarging  the  council  of  state  by  the  admission  of 
ten  or  twelve  new  members,  selected  for  their  patriotism, 
purity,  and  capacity.  Above  all,  it  was  necessary  plainly 
to  inform  his  Majesty  that  the  canons  of  the  Council  of 
Trent,  spurned  even  by  the  Catholic  princes  of  Ger- 
many, could  never  be  enforced  in  the  Netherlands,  and 
that  it  would  be  ruinous  to  make  the  attempt.  He  pro- 
posed and  insisted  that  the  Count  of  Egmont  should  be 
instructed  accordingly.  He  avowed,  in  conclusion,  that  he 
was  a  Catholic  himself  and  intended  to  remain  in  the 
Faith,  but  that  he  could  not  look  on  with  pleasure  when 
princes  strove  to  govern  the  souls  of  men,  and  to  take 
away  their  liberty  in  matters  of  conscience  and  religion. 

Here  certainly  was  no  daintiness  of  phraseology,  and 
upon  these  leading  points,  thus  slightly  indicated,  William 
of  Orange  poured  out  his  eloquence,  bearing  conviction 
upon  the  tide  of  his  rapid  invective.  His  speech  lasted 
till  seven  in  the  evening,  when  the  Duchess  adjourned  the 
meeting.  The  council  broke  up,  the  Regent  went  to  sup- 
per, but  the  effect  of  the  discourse  upon  nearly  all  the 
members  was  not  to  be  mistaken.  Viglius  was  in  a  state 
of  consternation,  perplexity,  and  despair.  After  a  feverish 
and  uncomfortable  night,  a  stroke  of  apoplexy  stretched 
him  senseless  upon  the  floor.  His  servants,  when  they 
soon  afterwards  entered  the  apartment,  found  him  rigid, 
and  to  all  appearance  dead.  After  a  few  days,  however, 
he  recovered  his  physical  senses  in  part,  but  his  reason  re- 
mained for  a  longer  time  shattered,  and  was  never  perhaps 
fully  restored  to  its  original  vigor. 

The  place  of  Viglius  was  temporarily  supplied  by  his 


148  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1565 

friend  and  countryman,  Joachim  Hopper,  like  himself  a 
Frisian  doctor  of  ancient  blood  and  extensive  acquire- 
ments, well  versed  in  philosophy  and  jurisprudence,  a 
professor  of  Lou  vain  and  a  member  of  the  Mechlin  coun- 
cil. He  was  likewise  the  original  founder  and  projector 
of  Douai  University,  an  institution  which  at  Philip's  de- 
sire he  had  successfully  organized  in  1556,  in  order  that  a 
French  university  might  be  furnished  for  Walloon  youths, 
as  a  substitute  for  the  seductive  and  poisonous  Paris.  For 
the  rest.  Hopper  was  a  mere  man  of  routine.  He  never 
opposed  the  Duchess,  so  that  his  colleagues  always  called 
him  Councillor  **  Yes,  Madam,''  and  he  did  his  best  to  be 
friends  with  all  the  world. 

In  deference  to  the  arguments  of  Orange,  the  instruc- 
tions for  Egmont  were  accordingly  considerably  modified 
from  the  original  draughts  of  Viglius.  As  drawn  up  by  the 
new  president,  they  contained  at  least  a  few  hints  to  his 
Majesty  as  to  the  propriety  of  mitigating  the  edicts  and  ex- 
tending some  mercy  to  his  suffering  people.  The  docu- 
ment was,  however,  not  very  satisfactory  to  the  Prince, 
nor  did  he  perhaps  rely  very  implicitly  upon  the  character 
of  the  envoy. 

Egmont  set  forth  upon  his  journey  early  in  January 
(1565).  He  travelled  in  great  state.  He  was  escorted 
as  far  as  Cambrai  by  several  nobles  of  his  acquaintance, 
who  improved  the  occasion  by  a  series  of  tremendous  ban- 
quets during  the  Count's  sojourn,  which  was  protracted 
till  the  end  of  January.  The  most  noted  of  these  gentle- 
men were  Hoogstraaten,  Brederode,  the  younger  Mans- 
feld,  Culemburg,  and  Noircarmes. 

In  the  revelry  at  one  of  these  banquets  in  the  citadel  of 
Cambrai,  the  Archbishop,  who  was  a  cardinalist,  and  who 
had  been  invited  only  to  be  insulted,  was  the  object  of 
much  banter  and  coarse  pleasantry.  His  episcopal  bonnet 
was  snatched  off  and  passed  from  hand  to  hand  and  head 
to  head  of  a  line  of  the  bacchanal  crew.  Hoogstraaten 
hurled  a  gilt  laver  of  water  at  the  Archbishop,  wetting 
him,  but  not  breaking  his  head.  Mansfeld  snapped  his 
fingers  under  the  prelate's  nose.  In  various  other  ways 
the  Bishop  was  badgered.     The  next  day,  by  the  efforts  of 


1666]  '  EGMONT   IN   SPAIN  149 

Egmont,  a  reconciliation  was  apparently  effected.  Never- 
theless, although  the  scandalous  scene  made  a  great  im- 
pression throughout  the  country,  little  sympathy  with 
this  cardinalist  was  shown  by  the  people,  who  detested  the 
persecuting  and  murderous  prelate. 

Egmont  departed  from  Oambrai  upon  the  30th  of  Jan- 
nary,  his  friends  taking  a  most  affectionate  farewell  of 
him,  and  Brederode  assuring  him,  with  a  thousand  oaths, 
that  he  would  forsake  God  for  his  service.  His  reception 
at  Madrid  was  most  brilliant.  When  he  made  his  first  ap- 
pearance at  the  palace,  Philip  rushed  from  his  cabinet 
into  the  grand  hall  of  reception,  and  fell  upon  his  neck, 
embracing  him  heartily  before  the  Count  had  time  to  drop 
upon  his  knee  and  kiss  the  royal  hand.  During  the  whole 
period  of  his  visit  he  dined  frequently  at  the  King's  pri- 
vate table,  an  honor  rarely  accorded  by  Philip,  and  was 
feasted  and  flattered  by  all  the  great  dignitaries  of  the 
court  as  never  a  subject  of  the  Spanish  crown  had  been 
before. 

Thus  feasted,  flattered,  and  laden  with  presents 
amounting  to  one  hundred  thousand  crowns,  Egmont 
hardly  broached  the  public  matters  which  had  brought 
him  to  Madrid.  Intoxicated  by  the  incense  offered  to 
him  at  the  Spanish  court,  he  was  a  different  man  from 
Egmont  in  the  Netherlands,  subject  to  the  calm  but 
piercing  glance  and  the  irresistible  control  of  Orange. 
He  made  no  effort  to  obtain  any  relaxation  of  those  re- 
ligious edicts  which  he  had  himself  declared  worthy  of 
approbation  and  fit  to  be  maintained.  As  to  the  ques- 
tion of  enlarging  the  state  council,  Philip  dismissed  the 
subject  with  a  few  vague  observations,  which  Egmont,  not 
very  zealous  on  the  subject  at  the  moment,  perhaps  mis- 
understood. The  punishment  of  heretics  by  some  new 
method,  so  as  to  secure  the  pains  but  to  take  away  the 
glories  of  martyrdom,  was  also  slightly  discussed,  and  here 
again  Egmont  was  so  unfortunate  as  to  misconceive  the 
royal  meaning,  and  to  interpret  an  additional  refinement 
of  cruelty  into  an  expression  of  clemency. 

Amicably  passed  the  hours  of  that  mission,  the  prelimi- 
naries for  which  had  called  forth  so  much  eloquence  from 


150  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS        '  [1566 

the  Prince  of  Orange  and  so  nearly  carried  off  with  apo- 
plexy the  President,  Viglius.  On  his  departure  Egmont 
received  a  letter  of  instructions  from  Philip  as  to  the  re- 
port which  he  was  to  make  upon  his  arrival  in  Brussels 
to  the  Duchess.  After  many  things  personally  flattering 
to  himself,  the  envoy  was  directed  to  represent  the  King 
as  overwhelmed  with  incredible  grief  at  hearing  the  prog- 
ress made  by  the  heretics,  but  as  immutably  determined 
to  permit  no  change  of  religion  within  his  dominions, 
even  were  he  to  die  a  thousand  deaths  in  consequence. 
The  King,  he  was  to  state,  requested  the  Duchess  forth- 
with to  assemble  an  extraordinary  session  of  the  council, 
at  which  certain  bishops,  theological  doctors,  and  very 
orthodox  lawyers,  were  to  assist,  in  which,  under  pre- 
tence of  discussing  the  Council  of  Trent  matter,  it  was 
to  be  considered  whether  there  could  not  be  some  '^  new 
way  devised  for  executing  heretics ;  not,  indeed,  one  hy 
tuliicli  any  deduction  sJiould  be  made  from  their  sufferings 
(which  certainly  was  not  the  royal  wish,  nor  likely  to  be 
grateful  to  God  or  salutar}^  to  religion),  but  by  which  all 
hopes  of  glory — that  powerful  incentive  to  their  impiety 
— might  be  precluded."  With  regard  to  any  suggested  al- 
terations in  the  council  of  state,  or  in  the  other  two  coun- 
cils, the  King  was  to  be  represented  as  unwilling  to  form 
any  decision  until  he  should  hear,  at  length,  from  the 
Duchess  Regent  upon  the  subject. 

Egmont  reached  Brussels  at  the  end  of  April.  Upon 
the  5th  of  May  he  appeared  before  the  council,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  give  an  account  of  his  interview  with  the  King, 
together  with  a  statement  of  the  royal  intentions  and 
opinions.  These  were  already  sufficiently  well  known. 
Letters  written  after  the  envoy's  departure  had  arrived 
before  him,  in  which,  while  in  the  main  presenting  the 
same  views  as  those  contained  in  the  instructions  to  Eg- 
mont, Philip  had  expressed  his  decided  prohibition  of 
the  project  to  enlarge  the  state  council  and  to  suppress 
the  authority  of  the  other  two. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  state  that  so  meagre  a  result 
to  the  mission  of  Egmont  was  not  likely  to  inspire  the 
hearts  of  Orange  and  his  adherents  with  much  confidence. 


1566]  CONFUSION  151 

No  immediate  explosion  of  resentment,  however,  occurred. 
Egmont  went  to  his  government  immediately  after  his  re- 
turn, assembled  the  states  of  Artois  in  the  city  of  Arras, 
and  delivered  the  letters  sent  to  that  body  by  the  King. 
He  described  Philip  as  the  most  liberal  and  debonair  of 
princes;  his  council  in  Spain  as  cruer  and  sanguinary. 
Egmont's  language,  used  before  the  estates  of  x\rtois, 
varied  materially  from  his  observation  to  the  Dowager 
Duchess  of  Aerschot,  denouncing  as  enemies  the  men  who 
accused  him  of  having  requested  a  moderation  of  the 
edicts.  In  truth,  this  most  vacillating,  confused,  and  un- 
fortunate of  men  perhaps  scarcely  comprehended  the  pur- 
port of  his  recent  negotiations  in  Spain,  nor  perceived  the 
drift  of  his  daily  remarks  at  home.  He  was,  however, 
somewhat  vainglorious  immediately  after  his  return,  and 
excessively  attentive  to  business.  "  He  talks  like  a  king," 
said  Morillon,  spitefully,  "negotiates  night  and  day,  and 
makes  all  bow  before  him."  His  house  was  more  thronged 
with  petitioners,  courtiers,  and  men  of  affairs  than  even 
the  palace  of  the  Duchess. 

,  It  was  but  a  very  short  time,  however,  before  a  total 
change  was  distinctly  perceptible  in  his  demeanor.  The 
most  stringent  instructions  to  keep  the  whole  machinery 
of  persecution  constantly  at  work  were  transmitted  to  the 
Duchess,  and  aroused  the  indignation  of  Orange  and  his 
followers.  They  avowed  that  they  could  no  longer  trust 
the  royal  word,  since,  so  soon  after  Egmont's  departure, 
the  King  had  written  despatches  so  much  at  variance  with 
his  language,  as  reported  by  the  envoy.  There  was  noth- 
ing, they  said,  clement  and  debonair  in  these  injunctions 
upon  gentlemen  of  their  position  and  sentiments  to  devote 
their  time  to  the  encouragement  of  hangmen  and  inquisi- 
tors. The  Duchess  was  unable  to  pacify  the  nobles.  Eg- 
mont was  beside  himself  with  rage.  With  his  usual  reck- 
lessness and  wrath,  he  expressed  himself  at  more  than  one 
session  of  the  state  council  in  most  unmeasured  terms. 
His  anger  had  been  more  inflamed  by  information  which 
he  had  received  from  the  second  son  of  Berlaymont,  a 
young  and  indiscreet  lad,  who  had  most  unfortunately 
communicated  many  secrets  which  he  had  learned  from 


152       .  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1565 

his  father,  but  which  were  never  intended  for  Egmont's 
ear. 

In  truth,  Egmont  had  been  an  easy  dupe.  He  had  been 
dazzled  by  royal  smiles,  intoxicated  by  court  incense,  con- 
taminated by  yet  baser  bribes.  He  had  been  turned  from  the 
path  of  honor  and  the  companionship  of  the  wise  and  noble 
to  do  the  work  of  those  who  were  to  compass  his  destruction. 
The  Prince  of  Orange  reproached  him  to  his  face  with  hav- 
ing forgotten,  when  in  Spain,  to  represent  the  views  of  his 
associates  and  the  best  interests  of  the  country,  while  he  had 
well  remembered  his  own  private  objects,  and  accepted  the 
lavish  bounty  of  the  King.  Egmont,  stung  to  the  heart 
by  the  reproof  from  one  whom  he  honored  and  who 
wished  him  well,  became  sad  and  sombre  for  a  long  time, 
abstained  from  the  court  and  from  society,  and  expressed 
frequently  the  intention  of  retiring  to  his  estates.  He 
was,  however,  much  governed  by  his  secretary,  the  Seign- 
eur de  Bakerzeel,  a  man  of  restless,  intriguing,  and  de- 
ceitful character,  who  at  this  period  exercised  as  great 
influence  over  the  Count  as  Armenteros  continued  to 
maintain  over  the  Duchess,  whose  unpopularity  from  that 
and  other  circumstances  was  daily  increasing. 

In  obedience  to  the  commands  of  the  King,  the  canons 
of  the  Council  of  Trent  had  been  published.  They  were 
nominally  enforced  at  Cambrai,  but  a  fierce  opposition  was 
made  by  the  clergy  themselves  to  the  innovation  in  Mech- 
lin, Utrecht,  and  many  other  places.  This  matter,  together 
with  other  more  vitally  important  questions,  came  before 
the  assembly  of  bishops  and  doctors,  which,  according  to 
Philip's  instructions,  had  been  convoked  by  the  Duchess. 
The  opinion  of  the  learned  theologians  was,  on  the  whole, 
that  the  views  of  the  Trent  Council,  with  regard  to  refor- 
mation of  ecclesiastical  morals  and  popular  education,  were 
sound.  There  was  some  discordancy  between  the  clerical 
and  lay  doctors  upon  other  points.  The  seigniors,  lawyers, 
and  deputies  from  the  estates  were  all  in  favor  of  repealing 
the  penalty  of  death  for  heretical  offences  of  any  kind. 
President  Viglius,  with  all  the  bishops  and  doctors  of 
divinity,  including  the  prelates  of  Saint  Omer,  Namur, 
and  Ypres,  and  four  theological  professors  from  Lou  vain, 


1565]  THE   DIE  CAST  153 

sto2itly  maintained  the  contrary  opinion.  After  sitting  for 
the  greater  part  of  six  days,  the  bishops  and  doctors  of 
divinity  reduced  their  sentiments  to  writing,  and  affixed 
their  signatures  to  the  document. 

It  was  settled  beyond  peradventure  that  there  was  to  be 
no  compromise  with  heresy. 

The  uneasiness,  the  terror,  the  wrath  of  the  people 
seemed  rapidly  culminating  to  a  crisis.  Nothing  was 
talked  of  but  the  edicts  and  the  inquisition.  Nothing 
else  entered  into  the  minds  of  men.  In  the  streets,  in 
the  shops,  in  the  taverns,  in  the  fields;  at  market,  at 
church,  at  funerals,  at  weddings ;  in  the  noble^s  castle, 
at  the  farmer's  fireside,  in  the  mechanic's  garret,  upon 
the  merchant's  exchange,  there  was  but  one  perpetual 
subject  of  shuddering  conversation.  It  was  better,  men 
began  to  whisper  to  each  other,  to  die  at  once  than  to 
live  in  perpetual  slavery.  It  was  better  to  fall  with  arms 
in  hand  than  to  be  tortured  and  butchered  by  the  inqui- 
sition. Who  could  expect  to  contend  with  such  a  foe  in 
the  dark  ? 

They  reproached  the  municipal  authorities  with  lend- 
ing themselves  as  instruments  to  the  institution.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  inquisitors  were  clamorous  in  abuse  of 
the  languor  and  the  cowardice  of  the  secular  authorities. 
They  wearied  the  ear  of  the  Duchess  with  complaints  of 
the  difficulties  which  they  encountered  in  the  execution 
of  their  functions — of  the  slight  alacrity  on  the  part  of 
the  various  officials  to  assist  them  in  the  discharge  of 
their  duties.  Thus  the  Duchess,  exposed  at  once  to  the 
rising  wrath  of  a  whole  people  and  to  the  shrill  blasts  of 
inquisitorial  anger,  was  tossed  to  and  fro,  as  upon  a 
stormy  sea. 

In  accordance  with  Philip's  suggestion,  orders  were  now 
given  that  the  heretics  should  be  executed  at  midnight 
in  their  dungeons,  by  binding  their  heads  between  their 
knees,  and  then  slowly  suffocating  them  in  tubs  of  wa- 
ter. Secret  drowning  was  substituted  for  public  burn- 
ing, in  order  that  the  heretic's  crown  of  vainglory,  which 
was  thought  to  console  him  in  his  agony,  might  never  be 
placed  upon  his  head. 


154  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1565 

In  the  course  of  the  summer,  Margaret  wrote  to  her 
brother  that  the  popular  frenzy  was  becoming  more  and 
more  intense.  The  people  were  crying  aloud,  she  said, 
that  the  Spanish  inquisition,  or  a  worse  than  Spanish  in- 
quisition, had  been  established  among  them  by  means  of 
bishops  and  ecclesiastics.  She  urged  Philip  to  cause  the 
instructions  for  the  inquisitors  to  be  revised.  Egmont, 
she  said,  was  vehement  in  expressing  his  dissatisfaction 
at  the  discrepancy  between  Philip's  language  to  him  by 
word  of  mouth  and  that  of  the  royal  despatches  on  the 
religious  question.  The  other  seigniors  v/ere  even  more 
indignant. 

The  celebrated  interview  between  Catharine  de  Medici 
and  her  daughter,  the  Queen  of  Spain,  through  which  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  was  simply  postponed  for  sev- 
en years,  added  to  the  prevailing  discontent  in  the  Neth- 
erlands. It  occurred  in  the  middle  of  the  month  of  June, 
at  Bayonne.  The  darkest  suspicions  as  to  the  results  to 
humanity  of  the  plots  to  be  engendered  in  this  famous 
conference  between  the  representatives  of  France  and 
Spain  were  universally  entertained. 

In  the  course  of  November,  fresh  letters  from  Philip 
arrived  in  the  Netherlands,  confirming  everything  which 
he  had  previously  written.  He  wrote  personally  to  the 
inquisitors -general,  Tiletanus  and  De  Bay,  encouraging 
them,  commending,  promising  them  his  support,  and  urg- 
ing them  not  to  be  deterred  by  any  consideration  from 
thoroughly  fulfilling  their  duties.  He  wrote  Peter  Titel- 
mann  a  letter,  in  which  he  applauded  the  pains  taken  by 
that  functionary  to  remedy  the  ills  which  religion  was  suf- 
fering, assured  him  of  his  gratitude,  exhorted  him  to  con- 
tinue in  his  virtuous  course,  and  avowed  his  determina- 
tion to  spare  neither  pains  nor  expense — not  even  his  own 
life — to  sustain  the  Catholic  Faith.  To  the  Duchess  he 
wrote  at  great  length,  and  in  most  unequivocal  language. 

To  Egmont,  the  King  wrote  with  his  own  hand,  ap- 
plauding much  that  was  contained  in  the  recent  decisions 
of  the  assembly  of  bishops  and  doctors  of  divinity,  and 
commanding  the  Count  to  assist  in  the  execution  of  the 
royal  determination.      In   affairs   of  religion,  Philip  ex- 


1666]  THE   INQUISITION   SUSTAINED  155 

pressed  the  opinion  that  dissimulation  and  weakness  were 
entirely  out  of  place. 

When  these  decisive  letters  came  before  the  state  coun- 
cil the  consternation  was  extreme.  The  Duchess  had 
counted,  in  spite  of  her  inmost  convictions,  upon  less 
peremptory  instructions.  The  Prince  of  Orange,  the 
Count  of  Egmont,  and  the  Admiral  Were  loud  in  their 
denunciations  of  the  royal  policy.  There  was  a  violent 
and  protracted  debate.  The  excitement  spread  at  once 
to  the  people.  Inflammatory  hand-bills  were  circulated. 
Placards  were  posted  every  night  upon  the  doors  of  Orange, 
Egmont,  and  Horn,  calling  upon  them  to  come  forth  bold- 
ly as  champions  of  the  people  and  of  liberty  in  religious 
matters.  Banquets  were  held  daily  at  the  houses  of  the 
nobility,  in  which  the  more  ardent  and  youthful  of  their 
order,  with  brains  excited  by  wine  and  anger,  indulged 
in  flaming  invectives  against  the  government,  and  inter- 
changed vows  to  protect  one  another  and  the  cause  of  the 
oppressed  provinces. 

Meanwhile  the  privy  council,  to  which  body  the  Duch- 
ess had  referred  the  recent  despatches  from  Madrid,  made 
a  report  upon  the  whole  subject  to  the  state  council  dur- 
ing the  month  of  November,  sustaining  the  royal  views, 
and  insisting  upon  the  necessity  of  carrying  them  into 
effect.  The  edicts  and  inquisition  having  been  so  vigor- 
ously insisted  upon  by  the  King,  nothing  was  to  be  done 
but  to  issue  new  proclamations  throughout  the  country, 
together  with  orders  to  bishops,  councils,  governors,  and 
judges,  that  every  care  should  be  taken  to  enforce  them 
to  the  full. 

This  report  came  before  the  state  council,  and  was  sus- 
tained by  some  of  its  members.  The  Prince  of  Orange  ex- 
pressed the  same  uncompromising  hostility  to  the  inquisi- 
tion which  he  had  always  manifested,  but  observed  that 
the  commands  of  the  King  were  so  precise  and  absolute 
as  to  leave  no  possibility  of  discussing  that  point.  There 
was  nothing  to  be  done,  he  said,  but  to  obey,  but  he  washed 
his  hands  of  the  fatal  consequences  which  he  foresaw. 
There  was  no  longer  any  middle  course  between  obedience 
and  rebellion.    This  opinion,  the  soundness  of  which  could 


156  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1565 

scarcely  be  disputed,  was  also  sustained  by  Egmont  and 
Horn. 

Viglius  was  disposed  to  temporize,  but  his  eloquence 
was  in  vain.  The  Duchess,  although  terrified  at  the  prob- 
able consequences,  felt  the  impossibility  of  disobeying  the 
deliberate  decree  of  her  brother.  A  proclamation  was 
accordingly  prepared,  by  which  it  was  ordered  that  the 
dogmas  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  the  edicts,  and  the  inqui- 
sition, should  be  published  in  every  town  and  village  in 
the  provinces  immediately,  and  once  in  six  months  forever 
afterwards.  The  deed  was  done,  and  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
stooping  to  the  ear  of  his  next  neighbor  as  they  sat  at  the 
council-board,  whispered  that  they  were  now  about  to  wit- 
ness the  commencement  of  the  most  extraordinary  tragedy 
which  had  ever  been  enacted. 

The  fiat  went  forth.  In  the  market-place  of  every  town 
and  village  of  the  Netherlands  the  inquisition  was  again 
formally  proclaimed.  Every  doubt  which  had  hitherto 
existed  as  to  the  intention  of  the  government  was  swept 
away.  No  argument  was  thenceforward  to  be  permissible 
as  to  the  constitutionality  of  the  edicts — as  to  the  com- 
patibility of  their  provisions  with  the  privileges  of  the 
land.    The  cry  of  a  people  in  its  agony  ascended  to  Heaven. 

There  was  almost  a  cessation  of  the  ordinary  business 
of  mankind.  Commerce  was  paralyzed.  Antwerp  shook 
as  with  an  earthquake.  A  chasm  seemed  to  open,  in 
which  her  prosperity  and  her  very  existence  were  to  be 
forever  engulfed.  The  foreign  merchants,  manufacturers, 
and  artisans  fled  from  her  gates  as  if  the  plague  was  rag- 
ing within  them.  Thriving  cities  were  likely  soon  to  be 
depopulated.  The  metropolitan  heart  of  the  whole  coun- 
try was  almost  motionless. 

Men  high  in  authority  sympathized  with  the  general  in- 
dignation. The  Marquis  Berghen,  the  younger  Mansfeld, 
and  the  Baron  Montigny  openly  refused  to  enforce  the 
edicts  within  their  governments.  Men  of  eminence  in- 
veighed boldly  and  bitterly  against  the  tyranny  of  the 
government,  and  counselled  disobedience.  The  Nether- 
landers,  it  was  stoutly  maintained,  were  not  such  senseless 
brutes  as  to  be  ignorant  of  the  mutual  relation  of  prince 


1666]  MARRIAGE   FEASTS  157 

and  people.  They  knew  that  the  obligation  of  a  king  to 
his  vassals  was  as  sacred  as  were  the  duties  of  the  subjects 
to  the  sovereign. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  (1565),  which  was  closing 
in  such  universal  gloom,  the  contemporary  chronicles  are 
enlivened  with  a  fitful  gleam  of  sunshine.  The  light  en- 
livens only  the  more  elevated  regions  of  the  Flemish  world, 
but  it  is  pathetic  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  those  nobles,  many 
of  whose  lives  were  to  be  so  heroic  and  whose  destinies 
so  tragic,  as,  amid  the  shadows  projected  by  coming  evil, 
they  still  found  time  for  the  chivalrous  festivals  of  their 
land  and  epoch.  A  splendid  tournament  was  held  at  the 
Chateau  d'Antoing  to  celebrate  the  nuptials  of  Baron 
Montigny  with  the  daughter  of  Prince  d'Espinoy.  Orange, 
Horn,  and  Hoogstraaten  were  the  challengers,  and  piain- 
tained  themselves  against  all  comers,  Egmont  and  other 
distinguished  knights  being  among  the  number. 

Meantime,  upon  the  11th  of  November,  1565,  the  mar- 
riage of  Prince  Alexander  and  Donna  Maria  was  cele- 
brated with  great  solemnity  by  the  Archbishop  of  Cam- 
brai,  in  the  chapel  of  the  court  at  Brussels.  On  the 
following  Sunday  the  wedding  banquet  was  held  in  the 
great  hall,  where,  ten  years  previously,  the  memorable 
abdication  of  the  bridegroom's  imperial  grandfather  had 
taken  place. 

The  walls  were  again  hung  with  the  magnificent  tapes- 
try of  Gideon,  while  the  Knights  of  the  Fleece,  with  all 
the  other  grandees  of  the  land,  were  assembled  to  grace 
the  spectacle.  The  King  was  represented  by  his  envoy  in 
England,  Don  Guzman  de  Silva,  who  came  to  Brussels  for 
the  occasion,  and  who  had  been  selected  for  this  duty  be- 
cause, according  to  Armenteros,  "he  was  endowed,  be- 
sides his  prudence,  with  so  much  witty  gracefulness  with 
ladies  in  matters  of  pastime  and  entertainment."  Early  in 
the  month  of  December  a  famous  tournament  was  held  in 
the  great  market-place  of  Brussels,  the  Duke  of  Parma, 
the  Duke  of  Aerschot,  and  Count  Egmont  being  judges 
of  the  jousts.  Count  Mansfeld  was  the  challenger,  as- 
sisted by  his  son  Charles,  celebrated  among  the  gentry  of 
the  land  for  his  dexterity  in  such  sports.     To  Count 


158  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1565 

Charles  was  awarded  upon  this  occasion  the  silver  cup 
from  the  lady  of  the  lists.  Count  Bossu  received  the 
prize  for  breaking  best  his  lances  ;  the  Seigneur  de  Beau- 
voir,  for  the  most  splendid  entrance ;  Count  Louis  of  Nas- 
sau, for  having  borne  himself  most  gallantly  in  the  melee. 
On  the  same  evening  the  nobles,  together  with  the  bridal 
pair,  were  entertained  at  a  splendid  supper  given  by  the 
city  of  Brussels  in  the  magnificent  Hotel  de  Ville.  On 
this  occasion  the  prizes  gained  at  the  tournament  were 
distributed,  amid  the  applause  and  hilarity  of  all  the  rev- 
ellers. 

Thus,  with  banquet,  tourney,  and  merry  marriage  bells, 
with  gayety  gilding  the  surface  of  society,  while  a  deadly 
hatred  to  the  inquisition  was  ealiug^nto  the  heart  of  the 
nation,  and  while  the  fires  of  civil  war  were  already  kind- 
ling, of  which  no  living  man  was  destined  to  witness  the 
extinction,  ended  the  year  1565. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  nobles'  compromise  AND   "THE  BEGGARS '' 

The  most  remarkable  occurrence  in  the  earlier  part  of 
the  year  1566  was  the  famous  Compromise.  This  docu- 
ment, by  which  the  signers  pledged  themselves  to  oppose 
the  inquisition  and  to  defend  one  another  against  all  con- 
sequences of  such  a  resistance,  was  probably  the  work  of 
Philip  de  Marnix,  Lord  of  8ainte-Aldegonde.  Much  ob- 
scurity, however,  rests  upon  the  origin  of  this  league.  Its 
foundations  had  already  been  laid  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
preceding  year.  The  nuptials  of  Parma  with  the  Portu- 
guese princess  had  been  the  cause  of  much  festivity,  not 
only  in  Brussels,  but  at  Antwerp.  On  the  wedding-day 
of  Parma,  Francis  Junius,  a  dissenting  minister  then  re- 
siding at  Antwerp,  was  invited  to  Brussels  to  preach  a  ser- 
mon in  the  house  of  Count  Culemburg,  on  the  horse-mar- 
ket (now  called  Little  Sablon),  before  a  small  assembly  of 
some  twenty  gentlemen. 

This  Francis  Junius,  born  of  a  noble  family  in  Bourges, 
was  the  pastor  of  the  secret  French  congregation  of  Hu- 
guenots at  Antwerp.  He  was  very  young,  having  arrived 
from  Geneva,  where  he  had  been  educated,  to  take  charge 
of  the  secret  church,  when  but  just  turned  twenty  years 
of  age.  He  was,  however,  already  celebrated  for  his  learn- 
ing, his  eloquence,  and  his  courage.  Towards  the  end  of 
1565  it  had  already  become  known  that  Junius  was  in  se- 
cret understanding  with  Louis  of  Nassau  to  prepare  an 
address  to  the  government  on  the  subject  of  the  inquisi- 
tion and  edicts.  Orders  were  given  for  his  arrest.  He 
escaped  to  Breda,  and  continued  his  labors  in  spite  of  per- 
secution.    The  man's  courage  may  be  estimated  from  the 


160  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

fact  that  he  preached  on  one  occasion  a  sermon,  advocat- 
ing with  his  usual  eloquence  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  in  a  room  overlooking  the  market-place,  where, 
at  the  very  instant,  the  execution  by  fire  of  several  her- 
etics was  taking  place,  while  the  light  from  the  flames  in 
which  the  brethren  of  their  Faith  were  burning  was  flick- 
ering through  the  glass  windows  of  the  conventicle.  Such 
was  the  man  who  preached  a  sermon  in  Culemburg  Palace 
on  Parma's  wedding-day.  The  nobles  who  listened  to  him 
were  occupied  with  grave  discourse  after  the  conclusion  of 
the  religious  exercises.  Junius  took  no  part  in  their  con- 
versation, but  in  his  presence  it  was  resolved  that  a  league 
against  the  ^'barbarous  and  violent  inquisition^'  should 
be  formed,  and  that  the  confederates  should  mutually 
bind  themselves  both  within  and  without  the  Nether- 
lands to  this  great  purpose.  Junius,  in  giving  this  ex- 
plicit statement,  has  not  mentioned  the  names  of  the  no- 
bles before  whom  he  preached.  It  may  be  inferred  that 
some  of  them  were  the  more  ardent  and  the  more  respect- 
able among  the  somewhat  miscellaneous  band  by  whom 
the  Compromise  was  afterwards  signed. 

At  about  the  same  epoch,  Louis  of  Nassau,  Nicolas  de 
Hammes,  and  certain  other  gentlemen  met  at  the  baths  of 
Spa.  At  this  secret  assembly  the  foundations  of  the  Com- 
promise were  definitely  laid.  A  document  was  afterwards 
drawn  up,  which  was  circulated  for  signatures  in  the  early 
part  of  1566.  Several  copies  of  the  Compromise  were 
passed  secretly  from  hand  to  hand,  and  in  the  course  of 
two  months  some  two  thousand  signatures  had  been  ob- 
tained. 

Sainte-Aldegonde,  the  reputed  author  of  this  instru- 
ment, was  one  of  the  most  accomplished  men  of  his  age. 
He  was  of  ancient  nobility,  as  he  proved  by  an  abundance 
of  historical  and  heraldic  evidence.  He  was  one  of  the 
many-sided  men  who  recalled  the  symmetry  of  antique 
patriots.  He  was  a  poet  of  much  vigor  and  imagination, 
a  prose  writer  whose  style  was  surpassed  by  that  of  none 
of  his  contemporaries,  a  diplomatist  in  whose  tact  and  del- 
icacy William  of  Orange  afterwards  reposed  in  the  most 
difiicult  and  important  negotiations, 'an  orator  whose  dis- 


SAINTE-AT.DEGONDK 


1566]  MARNIX  161 

courses  on  many  great  public  occasions  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  Europe,  a  soldier  whose  bravery  was  to  be 
attested  afterwards  on  many  a  well-fought  field,  a  theo- 
logian so  skilful  in  the  polemics  of  divinity  that,  as  it 
will  hereafter  appear,  he  was  more  than  a  match  for  a 
bench  of  bishops  upon  their  own  ground,  and  a  scholar 
so  accomplished  that,  besides  speaking  and  waiting  the 
classical  and  several  modern  languages  with  facility,  he 
had  also  translated  for  popular  use  the  Psalms  of  David 
into  vernacular  verse,  and  at  a  very  late  period  of  his  life 
was  requested  by  the  states  -  general  of  the  republic  to 
translate  all  the  Scriptures — a  work  the  fulfilment  of 
which  was  prevented  by  his  death.  A  passionate  foe 
to  the  inquisition  and  to  all  the  abuses  of  the  ancient 
Church,  an  ardent  defender  of  civil  liberty,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  he  partook  also  of  the  tyrannical  spirit  of 
Calvinism.  He  never  rose  to  the  lofty  heights  to  which 
the  spirit  of  the  great  founder  of  the  commonwealth  was 
destined  to  soar,  but  denounced  the  great  principle  of  re- 
ligious liberty  for  all  consciences  as  godless.  He  was  now 
twenty-eight  years  of  age,  having  been  born  in  the  same 
year  with  his  friend  Louis  of  Nassau.  His  device,  ^'Eepos 
ailleurs"  finely  typified  the  restless,  agitated,  and  labo- 
rious life  to  which  he  was  destined. 

The  other  distinguished  leader  of  the  newly  formed 
league,  Count  Louis,  was  a  true  knight  of  the  olden 
time,  the  very  mirror  of  chivalry.  Gentle,  generous, 
pious,  making  use  in  his  tent  before  the  battle  of  the 
prayers  which  his  mother  sent  him  from  the  home  of  his 
childhood,  yet  fiery  in  the  field  as  an  ancient  crusader — 
doing  the  work  of  general  and  soldier  with  desperate  valor 
and  against  any  numbers — cheerful  and  steadfast  under 
all  reverses,  witty  and  jocund  in  social  intercourse,  ani- 
mating with  his  unceasing  spirits  the  graver  and  more 
foreboding  soul  of  his  brother,  he  was  the  man  to  whom 
the  eyes  of  the  most  ardent  among  the  Netherland  Reform- 
ers were  turned  at  this  early  epoch,  the  trusty  staff  upon 
which  the  great  Prince  of  Orange  was  to  lean  till  it  was 
broken.     As  gay  as  Brederode,  he  was  unstained  by  his 

vices,  and  exercised  a  boundless  influence  over  that  reck- 
11 


162  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

less  personage,  who  often  protested  that  he  would  ^'die  a 
poor  soldier  at  his  feet."  The  career  of  Louis  was  destined 
to  be  short,  if  reckoned  by  years,  but  if  by  events,  it  was  to 
attain  almost  a  patriarchal  length.  At  the  age  of  nine- 
teen he  had  taken  part  in  the  battle  of  Saint-Quentin,  and 
when  once  the  war  of  freedom  opened,  his  sword  was  never 
to  be  sheathed.  His  days  were  filled  with  life,  and  when 
he  fell  into  his  bloody  but  unknown  grave,  he  was  to  leave 
a  name  as  distinguished  for  heroic  valor  and  untiring  en- 
ergy as  for  spotless  integrity.  He  was  small  of  stature, 
but  well  formed;  athletic  in  all  knightly  exercises,  with 
agreeable  features,  a  dark,  laughing  eye,  close  -  clipped 
brown  hair,  and  a  peaked  beard. 

"  Golden  Fleece,'^  as  Nicolas  de  Hammes  was  univer- 
sally denominated,  was  the  illegitimate  scion  of  a  noble 
house.  He  was  one  of  the  most  active  of  the  early  adhe- 
rents to  the  league,  kept  the  lists  of  signers  in  his  posses- 
sion, and  scoured  the  country  daily  to  procure  new  con- 
federates. At  the  public  preachings  of  the  Reformed 
religion,  which  soon  after  this  epoch  broke  forth  through- 
out the  Netherlands  as  by  a  common  impulse,  he  made 
himself  conspicuous.  He  was  fierce  in  his  hostility  to  the 
government,  and  one  of  those  fiery  spirits  whose  prema- 
ture zeal  was  prejudicial  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  dis- 
heartening to  the  cautious  patriotism  of  Orange.  He  was 
for  smiting  at  once  the  gigantic  atrocity  of  the  Spanish 
dominion,  without  waiting  for  the  forging  of  the  weapons 
by  which  the  blows  were  to  be  dealt.  He  forgot  that  men 
and  money  were  as  necessary  as  wrath  in  a  contest  with 
the  most  tremendous  despotism  of  the  world. 

As  for  Charles  Mansfeld  he  soon  fell  away  from  the 
league,  which  he  had  originally  embraced  with  excessive 
ardor. 

By  the  influence  of  the  leaders  many  signatures  were 
obtained  during  the  first  two  months  of  the  year.  The 
language  of  the  document  was  such  that  patriotic  Catho- 
lics could  sign  it  as  honestly  as  Protestants.  It  inveighed 
bitterly  against  the  tyranny  of  "a  heap  of  strangers," 
who,  influenced  only  by  private  avarice  and  ambition,  were 
making  use  of  an  affected  zeal  for  the  Catholic  religion  to 


1566]  OPINIONS   OF  ORANGE  163 

persuade  the  King  into  a  violation  of  his  oaths.  It  de- 
nounced the  refusal  to  mitigate  the  severity  of  the  edicts. 
It  declared  the  inquisition,  which  it  seemed  the  intention 
of  government  to  fix  permanently  upon  them,  as  "'iniqui- 
tous, contrary  to  all  laws  human  and  divine,  surpassing 
the  greatest  barbarism  which  was  ever  practised  by  tyrants, 
and  as  redounding  to  the  dishonor  of  God  and  to  the  total 
desolation  of  the  country."  They  declared  an  honest 
purpose  to  "  maintain  the  monarch  in  his  estate,  and  to 
suppress  all  seditions,  tumults,  monopolies,  and  factions.'' 
They  engaged  to  preserve  their  confederation,  thus  formed, 
forever  inviolable,  and  to  permit  none  of  its  members  to 
be  persecuted  in  any  manner,  in  body  or  goods,  by  any 
proceeding  founded  on  the  inquisition,  the  edicts,  or  the 
present  league. 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  Compromise  was,  in  its 
origin,  a  covenant  of  nobles.  It  was  directed  against  the 
foreign  influence  by  which  the  Netherlands  were  exclu- 
sively governed,  and  against  the  inquisition,  whether  pa- 
pal, episcopal,  or  by  edict.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
country  was  controlled  entirely  by  Spanish  masters,  and 
that  the  intention  was  to  reduce  the  ancient  liberty  of  the 
Netherlands  into  subjection  to  a  junta  of  foreigners  sitting 
at  Madrid.  Nothing  more  legitimate  could  be  imagined 
than  a  constitutional  resistance  to  such  a  policy. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  had  not  been  consulted  as  to  the 
formation  of  the  league.  It  was  sufficiently  obvious  to  its 
founders  that  his  cautious  mind  would  find  much  to  cen- 
sure in  the  movement.  His  sentiments  with  regard  to  the 
inquisition  and  the  edicts  and  the  canons  of  the  Council 
of  Trent  were  certainly  known  to  all  men.  In  the  conclu- 
sion of  his  letter  to  Margaret,  dated  January  24,  1566, 
he  had  observed  that  he  was  at  all  times  desirous  to  obey 
the  commands  of  his  Majesty  and  her  Highness,  and  to 
discharge  the  duties  of  ''a  good  Christian."  The  use  of 
the  latter  term  is  remarkable,  as  marking  an  epoch  in  the 
history  of  the  Prince's  mind.  A  year  before  he  would 
have  said  a  good  Catholic,  but  it  was  during  this  year  that 
his  mind  began  to  be  thoroughly  pervaded  by  religious 
doubt,  and  that  the  great  question  of  the  Reformation 


164  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1566 

forced  itself,  not  only  as  a  political,  but  as  a  moral  problem 
upon  him,  which  he  felt  that  he  could  not  much  longer 
neglect  instead  of  solving. 

Orange,  however,  could  not  safely  intrust  the  sacred  in- 
terests of  a  commonwealth  to  such  hands  as  those  of  Bre- 
derode — however  deeply  that  enthusiastic  personage  might 
drink  the  health  of  ^^  Younker  William,"  as  he  affection- 
ately denominated  the  Prince — or  to  "  Golden  Fleece,"  or 
to  Charles  Mansfeld,  or  to  that  younger  wild  boar  of  Ar- 
dennes, Robert  de  la  Marck.  In  his  brother  and  in  Sainte- 
Aldegonde  he  had  confidence,  but  he  did  not  exercise  over 
them  that  control  which  he  afterwards  acquired.  His  con- 
duct towards  the  confederacy  was  imitated  in  the  main  by 
the  other  great  nobles.  The  covenanters  never  expected 
to  obtain  the  signatures  of  such  men  as  Orange,  Egmont, 
Horn,  Meghen,  Berghen,  or  Montigny,  nor  were  those  em- 
inent personages  ever  accused  of  having  signed  the  Com- 
promise, although  some  of  them  were  afterwards  charged 
with  having  protected  those  who  did  affix  their  names  to 
the  document.  The  confederates  were  originally  found 
among  the  lesser  nobles.  Of  these  some  were  sincere 
Catholics,  who  loved  the  ancient  Church,  but  hated  the  in- 
quisition ;  some  were  fierce  Calvinists  or  determined  Lu- 
therans ;  some  were  troublous  and  adventurous  spirits,  men 
of  broken  fortunes,  extravagant  habits,  and  boundless  de- 
sires, who  no  doubt  thought  that  the  broad  lands  of  the 
Church,  with  their  stately  abbeys,  would  furnish  much 
more  fitting  homes  and  revenues  for  gallant  gentlemen 
than  for  lazy  monks.  All  were  young,  few  had  any  pru- 
dence or  conduct,  and  the  history  of  the  league  more  than 
justified  the  disapprobation  of  Orange.  The  nobles  thus 
banded  together  achieved  little  by  their  confederacy. 
They  disgraced  a  great  cause  by  their  orgies,  almost  ruined 
it  by  their  inefficiency,  and  when  the  rope  of  sand  which 
they  had  twisted  fell  asunder,  the  people  had  gained  noth- 
ing and  the  gentry  had  almost  lost  the  confidence  of  the 
nation.  These  remarks  apply  to  the  mass  of  the  confed- 
erates and  to  some  of  the  leaders.  Louis  of  Nassau  and 
Sainte-Aldegonde  were  ever  honored  and  trustee^  as  they 
deserved. 


1S66]  PRUDENT  PHILIP  AND  SILENT   WILLIAM  1^5 

Although  the  language  of  the  Compromise  spoke  of  the 
leaguers  as  nobles,  yet  the  document  was  circulated  among 
burghers  and  merchants  also,  many  of  whom,  according 
to  the  satirical  remark  of  a  Netherland  Catholic,  may  have 
been  influenced  by  the  desire  of  writing  their  names  in  such 
aristocratic  company,  and  some  of  whom  were  destined  to 
expiate  such  vainglory  upon  the  scaifold. 

With  such  associates,  therefore,  the  profound  and  anx- 
ious mind  of  Orange  could  have  little  in  common.  Con- 
fidence expanding  as  the  numbers  increased,  their  audac- 
ity and  turbulence  grew  with  the  growth  of  the  league. 
The  language  at  their  wild  banquets  was  as  hot  as  the  wine 
which  confused  their  heads  ;  yet  the  Prince  knew  that 
there  was  rarely  a  festival  in  which  there  did  not  sit  some 
calm,  temperate  Spaniard,  watching  with  quiet  eye  and 
cool  brain  the  extravagant  demeanor,  and  listening  with 
composure  to  the  dangerous  avowals  or  bravadoes  of  these 
revellers,  with  the  purpose  of  transmitting  a  record  of 
their  language  or  demonstrations  to  the  inmost  sanctuary 
of  Philip's  cabinet  at  Madrid.  The  Prince  knew,  too,  that 
the  King  was  very  sincere  in  his  determination  to  maintain 
the  inquisition,  however  dilatory  his  proceedings  might 
appear.  He  was  well  aware  that  an  armed  force  might  be 
expected  ere  long  to  support  the  royal  edicts.  Already 
the  Prince  had  organized  that  system  of  espionage  upon 
Philip,  by  which  the  champion  of  his  country  was  so  long 
able  to  circumvent  its  despot.  The  King  left  letters  care- 
fully locked  in  his  desk  at  night,  and  unseen  hands  had 
forwarded  copies  of  them  to  William  of  Orange  before  the 
morning.  He  left  memoranda  in  his  pockets  on  retiring 
to  bed,  and  exact  transcripts  of  those  papers  found  their 
way,  likewise,  ere  he  rose,  to  the  same  watchman  in  the 
Netherlands.  No  doubt  that  an  inclination  for  political 
intrigue  was  a  prominent  characteristic  of  the  Prince,  and 
a  blemish  upon  the  purity  of  his  moral  nature.  Yet  he 
had  mastered  the  dissimulating  policy  of  his  age  only  that 
he  might  accomplish  the  noblest  purposes  to  which  a  great 
and  good  man  can  devote  his  life — the  protection  of  the 
liberty  and  the  religion  of  a  whole  people  against  foreign 
tyranny.     His  intrigue  served  his  country,  not  a  narrow 


16(3  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1566 

personal  ambition,  and  it  was  only  by  such  arts  that  he  be- 
came Philip's  master,  instead  of  falling  at  once,  like  so 
many  great  personages,  a  blind  and  infatuated  victim.  No 
doubt  his  purveyors  of  secret  information  were  often  des- 
tined to  atone  fearfully  for  their  contraband  commerce, 
but  they  who  trade  in  treason  must  expect  to  pay  the  pen- 
alty of  their  traffic. 

Although,  therefore,  the  great  nobles  held  themselves 
aloof  from  the  confederacy,  yet  many  of  them  gave  une- 
quivocal signs  of  their  dissent  from  the  policy  adopted  by 
the  government  by  resignation  of  their  offices  or  public 
expression  of  their  adverse  opinion. 

The  Duchess  was  almost  reduced  to  desperation.  The 
condition  of  the  country  was  frightful.  Famine  reigned 
in  the  land.  Emigration,  caused  not  by  over-population, 
but  by  persecution,  was  fast  weakening  the  country.  It 
was  no  wonder  that  not  only  foreign  merchants  should  be 
scared  from  the  great  commercial  cities  by  the  approach- 
ing disorders,  but  that  every  industrious  artisan  who  could 
find  the  means  of  escape  should  seek  refuge  among  stran- 
gers, wherever  an  asylum  could  be  found.  That  asylum 
was  afforded  by  Protestant  England,  who  received  these 
intelligent  and  unfortunate  wanderers  with  cordiality,  and 
learned  with  eagerness  the  lessons  in  mechanical  skill 
which  they  had  to  teach.  Already  thirty  thousand  emi- 
grant Netherlanders  were  established  in  Sandwich,  Nor- 
wich, and  other  places  assigned  to  them  by  Elizabeth. 
It  had  always,  however,  been  made  a  condition  of  the 
liberty  granted  to  these  foreigners  for  practising  their 
handiwork  that  each  house  should  employ  at  least  one 
English  apprentice.*  The  current  of  trade  was  already 
turned.  The  cloth-making  of  England  was  already  gain- 
ing preponderance  over  that  of  the  provinces.  Vessels 
now  went  every  week  from  Sandwich  to  Antwerp  laden 
with  silk,  satin,  and  cloth  manufactured  in  England, 
while   as   many  but  a  few  years  before  had  borne  the 


*  The  tremendous  missionary  influence  of  this  immigration  upon  Eng- 
land has  been  ably  shown  by  such  writers  as  Fuller,  J.  Thorold  Rogers,  De 
Gibben,  and  Campbell.     See  The  Puritan  in  Holland^  England^  and  America. 


1566]  THE   REQUEST  167 

Flemish  fabrics  of  the  same  nature  from  Antwerp  to  Eng- 
land. 

It  might  be  supposed  by  disinterested  judges  that  per- 
secution was  at  the  bottom  of  this  change  in  commerce. 
The  Prince  of  Orange  estimated  that  up  to  this  period 
fifty  thousand  persons  in  the  provinces  had  been  put  to 
death  in  obedience  to  the  edicts.  He  was  a  moderate 
man,  and  accustomed  to  weigh  his  words.  As  a  new  im- 
pulse had  been  given  to  the  system  of  butchery — as  it  was 
now  sufficiently  plain  that  '*if  the  father  had  chastised 
his  people  with  a  scourge,  the  son  held  a  whip  of  scor- 
pions''— as  the  edicts  were  to  be  enforced  with  renewed 
vigor — it  was  natural  that  commerce  and  manufactures 
should  make  their  escape  out  of  a  doomed  land  as  soon 
as  possible,  whatever  system  of  tariffs  might  be  adopted 
by  neighboring  nations. 

A  new  step  had  been  resolved  upon  early  in  the  month 
of  March  by  the  confederates.  A  petition,  or  ^'  Request," 
was  drawn  up,  which  was  to  be  presented  to  the  Duchess 
Eegent  in  a  formal  manner  by  a  large  number  of  gentle- 
men belonging  to  the  league.  This  movement  was  so 
grave,  and  likely  to  be  followed  by  such  formidable  re- 
sults, that  it  seemed  absolutely  necessary  for  Orange  and 
his  friends  to  take  some  previous  cognizance  of  it  before 
it  was  finally  arranged. 

For  this  end  a  meeting,  ostensibly  for  social  purposes 
and  *'  good  cheer,"  was  held,  in  the  middle  of  March,  at 
Breda,  and  afterwards  adjourned  to  Hoogstraaten.  To 
these  conferences  Orange  invited  Egmont,  Horn,  Hoog- 
straaten, Berghen,  Meghen,  Montigny,  and  other  great 
nobles.  Brederode,  Tholouse,  Boxtel,  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  league,  were  also  present. 

The  line  of  policy  which  he  had  marked  out  required  the 
assent  of  the  magnates  of  the  land,  and  looked  towards 
the  convocation  of  the  states -general.  It  was  natural 
that  he  should  indulge  in  the  hope  of  being  seconded  by 
the  men  who  were  in  the  same  political  and  social  station 
with  himself.  All,  although  Catholics,  hated  the  inquisi- 
tion. The  Prince  of  Orange,  however,  was  not  able  to 
bring  his  usual  associates  to  his  way  of  thinking.     The 


168  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

violent  purposes  of  the  leaguers  excited  the  wrath  of  the 
more  loyal  nobles.  Their  intentions  were  so  dangerous, 
even  in  the  estimation  of  the  Prince  himself,  that  he  felt 
it  his  duty  to  lay  the  whole  subject  before  the  Duchess, 
although  he  was  not  opposed  to  the  presentation  of  a 
modest  and  moderate  Request. 

The  meeting  separated  at  Hoogstraaten  without  any 
useful  result,  but  it  was  now  incumbent  upon  the  Prince, 
in  his  own  judgment,  to  watch,  and  in  a  measure  to 
superintend,  the  proceedings  of  the  confederates.  By 
his  care  the  contemplated  Request  was  much  altered,  and 
especially  made  more  gentle  in  its  tone.  Meghen  separated 
himself  thenceforth  entirely  from  Orange,  and  ranged 
himself  exclusively  upon  the  side  of  government.  Eg- 
mont  vacillated  as  usual,  satisfying  neither  the  Prince 
nor  the  Duchess,  to  whom  both  Meghen  and  Egmont 
gave  absurd  accounts  of  a  very  extensive  conspiracy 
which  they  asserted  was  on  foot  for  the  invasion  of  the 
country. 

The  Duchess  at  once,  after  reading  the  Compromise,  in- 
formed her  brother  that  one  of  two  things  must  be  done 
without  further  delay.  The  time  had  arrived  for  the 
government  to  take  up  arms,  or  to  make  concessions. 

In  one  of  the  informal  meetings  of  councillors,  now  held 
almost  daily,  on  the  subject  of  the  impending  Request, 
Aremberg,  Meghen,  and  Berlaymont  maintained  that  the 
door  should  be  shut  in  the  face  of  the  petitioners  without 
taking  any  further  notice  of  the  petition.  Berlaymont 
suggested  also  that  if  this  course  were  not  found  ad- 
visable, the  next  best  thing  would  be  to  allow  the  con- 
federates to  enter  the  palace  with  their  Request,  and  then 
to  cut  them  to  pieces  to  the  very  last  man,  by  means  of 
troops  to  be  immediately  ordered  from  the  frontiers. 
Such  sanguinary  projects  were  indignantly  rebuked  by 
Orange.  He  maintained  that  the  confederates  were  en- 
titled to  be  treated  with  respect.  Many  of  them,  he  said, 
were  his  friends — some  of  them  his  relations — and  there 
was  no  reason  for  refusing  to  gentlemen  of  their  rank  a 
right  which  belonged  to  the  poorest  plebeian  in  the  land. 
Egmont  sustained  these  views  of  the  Prince  as  earnestly 


1566]  BREDERODE  169 

as  he  had  on  a  previous  occasion  appeared  to  countenance 
the  more  violent  counsels  of  Meghen. 

Meantime,  as  it  was  obvious  that  the  demonstration  on 
the  part  of  the  confederacy  was  soon  about  to  be  made, 
the  Duchess  convened  a  grand  assembly  of  notables,  in 
which  not  only  all  the  state  and  privy  councillors,  but  all 
the  governors  and  Knights  of  the  Fleece  were  to  take  part. 
On  the  28th  of  March  this  assembly  was  held,  at  which 
the  whole  subject  of  the  Request,  together  with  the  pro- 
posed modifications  of  the  edicts  and  abolition  of  the  in- 
quisition, was  discussed. 

It  had  been  decided  that  Count  Brederode  should  pre- 
sent the  petition  to  the  Duchess  at  the  head  of  a  deputa- 
tion of  about  three  hundred  gentlemen.  The  character 
of  the  nobleman  thus  placed  foremost  on  such  an  impor- 
tant occasion  has  been  sufficiently  made  manifest.  He 
was  the  lineal  descendant  and  representative  of  the  old 
Sovereign  Counts  of  Holland.  Five  hundred  years  before 
his  birth,  his  ancestor  Sikko,  younger  brother  of  Dirk  the 
Third,  had  died,  leaving  two  sons,  one  of  whom  was  the 
first  Baron  of  Brederode.  A  descent  of  five  centuries  in 
unbroken  male  succession  from  the  original  sovereigns  of 
Holland  gave  him  a  better  genealogical  claim  to  the  prov- 
inces than  any  which  Philip  of  Spain  could  assert  through 
the  usurping  house  of  Burgundy.  In  the  approaching 
tumults  he  hoped  for  an  opportunity  of  again  asserting 
the  ancient  honors  of  his  name.  He  was  a  sworn  foe  to 
Spaniards  and  to  "water  of  the  fountain."  Of  his  courage 
there  was  no  question,  but  he  was  not  destined  to  the  death 
either  of  a  warrior  or  a  martyr.  Headlong,  noisy,  de- 
bauched, but  brave,  kind-hearted,  and  generous,  he  was  a 
fitting  representative  of  his  ancestors,  the  hard-fighting, 
hard-drinking,  crusading,  freebooting  sovereigns  of  Hol- 
land and  Friesland,  and  would  himself  have  been  more 
at  home  and  more  useful  in  the  eleventh  century  than 
in  the  sixteenth. 

It  was  about  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  on  the  third 
day  of  x\pril  (156G),  that  the  long-expected  cavalcade  at 
last  entered  Brussels.  An  immense  concourse  of  citizens 
of  all  ranks  thronged  around  the  noble  confederates  as 


170  HISTORY    Oh'   THE   NETHERLANDS  [156» 

soon  as  they  made  their  appearance.  They  were  abovit 
two  hundred  in  number,  all  on  horseback,  with  pistols  in 
their  holsters,  and  Brederode,  tall,  athletic,  and  martial 
in  his  bearing,  with  handsome  features  and  fair  curling 
locks  upon  his  shoulders,  seemed  an  appropriate  chieftain 
for  that  band  of  Batavian  chivalry.  The  procession  was 
greeted  with  frequent  demonstrations  of  applause  as  it 
wheeled  slowly  through  the  city  till  it  reached  the  man- 
sion of  Orange  Nassau.  Here  Brederode  and  Count 
Louis  alighted,  while  the  rest  of  the  company  dispersed 
to  different  quarters  of  the  town. 

"They  thought  that  I  should  not  come  to  Brussels," 
said  Brederode,  as  he  dismounted.  "Very  well,  here  I 
am ;  and  perhaps  I  shall  depart  in  a  different  manner." 
In  the  course  of  the  next  day.  Counts  Culemburg  and 
Van  den  Berg  entered  the  city  with  one  hundred  other 
cavaliers. 

On  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  April  the  confederates 
were  assembled  at  the  Culemburg  mansion,  which  stood 
on  the  square  called  the  Sablon,  within  a  few  minutes' 
walk  of  the  palace.  A  straight,  handsome  street  led  from 
the  house  along  the  summit  of  the  hill  to  the  splendid 
residence  of  the  ancient  Dukes  of  Brabant,  then  the 
abode  of  Duchess  Margaret.  At  a  little  before  noon  the 
gentlemen  came  forth,  marching  on  foot,  two  by  two, 
to  the  number  of  three  hundred.  Nearly  all  were  young, 
many  of  them  bore  the  most  ancient  historical  names  of 
their  country,  every  one  was  arrayed  in  magnificent  cos- 
tume. It  was  regarded  as  ominous  that  the  man  who  led 
the  procession,  Philip  de  Bailleul,  was  lame.  The  line 
was  closed  by  Brederode  and  Count  Louis,  who  came  last, 
walking  arm  in  arm.  An  immense  crowd  was  collected 
in  the  square  in  front  of  the  palace  to  welcome  the  men 
who  were  looked  upon  as  the  deliverers  of  the  land  from 
Spanish  tyranny,  from  the  cardinalists,  and  from  the  in- 
quisition. They  were  received  with  deafening  huzzas 
and  clappings  of  hands  by  the  assembled  populace.  As 
they  entered  the  council  -  chamber,  passing  through  the 
great  hall,  where  ten  years  before  the  Emperor  had  given 
away  his  crowns,  they  found   the   Emperor's  daughter 


1566]         ^  BEGGARS  171 

seated  in  the  chair  of  state  and  surrounded  by  the  high- 
est personages  of  the  country. 

They  begged  the  Duchess  Regent  to  despatch  an  envoy 
on  their  behalf,  who  should  humbly  implore  his  Majesty 
to  abolish  the  edicts.  In  the  mean  time  they  requested  her 
Highness  to  order  a  general  surcease  of  the  inquisition, 
and  of  all  executions,  until  the  King's  further  pleasure  was 
made  known,  and  until  new  ordinances,  made  by  his  Maj- 
esty, with  advice  and  consent  of  the  states-general  duly  as- 
sembled, should  be  established.  The  petition  terminated 
as  it  had  commenced,  with  expressions  of  extreme  respect 
and  devoted  loyalty. 

The  agitation  of  Duchess  Margaret  increased  very  per- 
ceptibly during  the  reading  of  the  paper.  When  it  was 
finished,  she  remained  for  a  few  minutes  quite  silent,  with 
tears  rolling  down  her  cheeks.  As  soon  as  she  could  over- 
come her  excitement  she  uttered  a  few  words  to  the  effect 
that  she  would  advise  with  her  councillors  and  give  the 
petitioners  such  answer  as  should  be  found  suitable.  The 
confederates  then  passed  out  from  the  council-chamber 
into  the  grand  hall,  each  individual,  as  he  took  his  depart- 
ure, advancing  towards  the  Duchess  and  making  what  was 
called  the  "  caracole,"  in  token  of  reverence.  There  was 
thus  ample  time  to  contemplate  the  whole  company,  and 
to  count  the  numbers  of  the  deputation. 

After  this  ceremony  had  been  concluded,  there  was  much 
earnest  debate  in  the  council.  The  Prince  of  Orange  ad- 
dressed a  few  words  to  the  Duchess,  with  the  view  of 
calming  her  irritation.  He  observed  that  the  confederates 
were  no  seditious  rebels,  but  loyal  gentlemen,  well  born, 
well  connected,  and  of  honorable  character.  They  had 
been  influenced,  he  said,  by  an  honest  desire  to  save  their 
country  from  impending  danger — not  by  avarice  or  ambi- 
tion. Egmont  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  observed  that 
it  was  necessary  for  him  to  leave  the  court  for  a  season,  in 
order  to  make  a  visit  to  the  baths  of  Aix  for  an  inflamma- 
tion which  he  had  in  the  leg.  It  was  then  that  Berlay- 
mont,  according  to  the  account  which  has  been  sanctioned 
by  nearly  every  contemporary  writer,  whether  Catholic  or 
Protestant,  uttered  the  gibe  which  was  destined  to  become 


172  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

immortal,  and  to  give  a  popular  name  to  the  confederacy. 
'^  What,  Madam,"  he  is  reported  to  have  cried  in  a  passion, 
*^  is  it  possible  that  your  Highness  can  entertain  fears  of 
these  beggars  ?  {gueux).  Is  it  not  obvious  what  manner 
of  men  they  are  ?  They  have  not  had  wisdom  enough  to 
manage  their  own  estates,  and  are  they  now  to  teach  the 
King  and  your  Highness  how  to  govern  the  country  ?  By 
the  living  God,  if  my  advice  were  taken,  their  petition 
should  have  a  cudgel  for  a  commentary,  and  we  would 
make  them  go  down  the  steps  of  the  palace  a  great  deal 
faster  than  they  mounted  them  !" 

On  the  6th  of  April  Brederode,  attended  by  a  large 
number  of  his  companions,  again  made  his  appearance 
at  the  palace.  He  then  received  the  petition,  which  was 
returned  to  him  with  an  apostille,  or  commentary,  to  this 
effect :  Her  Highness  would  despatch  an  envoy  for  the  pur- 
pose of  inducing  his  Majesty  to  grant  the  Request.  Every- 
thing worthy  of  the  King^s  unaffected  (naive)  and  custom- 
ary benignity  might  be  expected  as  to  the  result. 

Upon  the  next  day  but  one,  Monday,  8th  of  April,  Bre- 
derode, attended  by  a  number  of  the  confederates,  again 
made  his  appearance  at  the  palace,  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
livering an  answer  to  the  apostille. 

The  Duchess  replied  by  word  of  mouth  to  the  second 
address  thus  made  to  her  by  the  confederates,  that  she 
could  not  go  beyond  the  apostille  which  she  had  put  on 
record.  As  for  the  printing  of  their  petition,  she  was  will- 
ing to  grant  their  demand,  and  would  give  orders  to  that 
effect. 

The  gentlemen  having  received  this  answer,  retired  into 
the  great  hall.  After  a  few  minutes'  consultation,  how- 
ever, they  returned  to  the  council  -  chamber,  where  the 
Seigneur  d'Esquerdes,  one  of  their  number,  addressed  a 
few  parting  words,  in  the  name  of  his  associates,  to  the 
Regent ;  concluding  with  a  request  that  she  would  declare 
the  confederates  to  have  done  no  act,  and  made  no  demon- 
stration, inconsistent  with  their  duty  and  with  a  perfect 
respect  for  his  Majesty. 

To  this  demand  the  Duchess  answered,  somewhat  dryly, 
that  she  could  not  be  judge  in  such  a  cause.    Time,  and 


1566]  THE  BANQUET  AT  CULEMBtTRG  HOUSE  1^3 

their  future  deeds,  she  observed,  could  only  bear  witness 
as  to  their  purposes. 

If  a  civil  and  religious  revolution  could  have  been  ef- 
fected by  a  few  gentlemen  going  to  court  in  fine  clothes 
to  present  a  petition,  and  by  sitting  down  to  a  tremendous 
banquet  afterwards,  Brederode  and  his  associates  were  the 
men  to  accomplish  the  task.  Unfortunately,  a  sea  of 
blood  and  long  years  of  conflict  lay  between  the  nation 
and  the  promised  land,  which  for  a  moment  seemed  so 
nearly  within  reach. 

Meantime  the  next  important  step  in  Brederode's  eyes 
was  a  dinner.  He  accordingly  invited  the  confederates  to 
a  magnificent  repast  which  he  had  ordered  to  be  prepared 
in  the  Culemburg  mansion.  Three  hundred  guests  sat 
down,  upon  the  8th  of  April,  to  this  luxurious  banquet, 
which  was  destined  to  become  historical. 

There  was  an  earnest  discussion  as  to  an  appropriate 
name  to  be  given  to  their  confederacy.  Should  they  call 
themselves  the  ^^  Society  of  Concord,"  the  restorers  of  lost 
liberty,  or  by  what  other  attractive  title  should  the  league 
be  baptized  ?  Brederode  was,  however,  already  prepared 
to  settle  the  question.  He  knew  the  value  of  a  popular 
and  original  name ;  he  possessed  the  instinct  by  which 
adroit  partisans  in  every  age  have  been  accustomed  to 
convert  the  reproachful  epithets  of  their  opponents  into 
watchwords  of  honor,  and  he  had  already  made  his  prep- 
arations for  a  startling  theatrical  effect.  Suddenly,  amid 
the  din  of  voices,  he  arose,  with  all  his  rhetorical  powers 
at  command.  He  recounted  to  the  company  the  observa- 
tions which  the  Seigneur  de  Berlaymont  was  reported  to 
have  made  to  the  Duchess  upon  the  presentation  of  the 
Kequest,  and  the  name  which  he  had  thought  fit  to  apply 
to  them  collectively.  Most  of  the  gentlemen  then  heard 
the  memorable  sarcasm  for  the  first  time.  Great  was  the 
indignation  of  all  that  the  state  councillor  should  have 
dared  to  stigmatize  as  beggars  a  band  of  gentlemen  with 
the  best  blood  of  the  land  in  their  veins.  Brederode,  on 
the  contrary,  smoothing  their  anger,  assured  them  with 
good  humor  that  nothing  could  be  more  fortunate.  ^'  They 
call  us  beggars  !"  said  he.    ''  Let  us  accept  the  name.    We 


174  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1566 

will  contend  with  the  inquisition,  but  remain  loyal  to  the 
King,  even  till  compelled  to  wear  the  beggar's  sack." 

He  then  beckoned  to  one  of  his  pages,  who  brought  him 
a  leathern  wallet,  such  as  was  worn  at  that  day  by  profes- 
sional mendicants,  together  with  a  large  wooden  bowl, 
which  also  formed  part  of  their  regular  appurtenances. 
Brederode  immediately  hung  the  wallet  around  his  neck, 
filled  the  bowl  with  wine,  lifted  it  with  both  hands,  and 
drained  it  at  a  draught.  **  Long  live  the  beggars  !"  he 
cried,  as  he  wiped  his  beard  and  set  the  bowl  down. 
^'Vivent  Us  gueux."  Then  for  the  first  time,  from  the 
lips  of  those  reckless  nobles,  rose  the  famous  cry  which 
was  so  often  to  ring  over  land  and  sea,  amid  blazing  cities, 
on  blood-stained  decks,  through  the  smoke  and  carnage 
of  many  a  stricken  field.  The  humor  of  Brederode  was 
hailed  with  deafening  shouts  of  applause.  The  Count 
then  threw  the  wallet  around  the  neck  of  his  nearest 
neighbor  and  handed  him  the  wooden  bowl.  Each  guest 
in  turn  donned  the  mendicant's  knapsack.  Pushing  aside 
his  golden  goblet,  each  filled  the  beggars'  bowl  to  the 
brim,  and  drained  it  to  the  beggars'  health.  Roars  of 
laughter  and  shouts  of  "  Vivent  Us  gueiixT  shook  the 
walls  of  the  stately  mansion  as  they  were  doomed  never 
to  shake  again.  The  shibboleth  was  invented.  The  con- 
juration which  they  had  been  anxiously  seeking  was  found. 
Their  enemies  had  provided  them  with  a  spell,  which  was 
to  prove,  in  after  days,  potent  enough  to  start  a  spirit  from 
palace  or  hovel,  forest  or  wave,  as  the  deeds  of  the  *^wild 
beggars,"  the  '^wood  beggars,"  and  the  •'^beggars  of  the 
sea,"  taught  Philip  at  last  to  understand  the  nation  which 
he  had  driven  to  madness. 

When  the  wallet  and  bowl  had  made  the  circuit  of  the 
table  they  were  suspended  to  a  pillar  in  the  hall.  Each 
of  the  company  in  succession  then  threw  some  salt  into 
his  goblet,  and,  placing  himself  under  those  symbols  of  the 
brotherhood,  repeated  a  jingling  distich,  produced  im- 
promptu for  the  occasion : 

By  this  salt,  by  this  bread,  by  this  wallet  we  swear. 

These  beggars  ne'er  will  change,  though  all  the  world  should  stare  ! 


1566]  ''VI VENT  LES  GUEUXT  175 

This  ridiculous  ceremony  completed  the  rites  by  which 
the  confederacy  received  its  name  ;  but  the  banquet  was 
by  no  means  terminated.  The  uproar  became  furious. 
The  younger  and  more  reckless  nobles  abandoned,  them- 
selves to  revelry  which  would  have  shamed  heathen  Sat- 
urnalia. They  renewed  to  one  another  every  moment 
their  vociferous  oaths  of  fidelity  to  the  common  cause, 
drained  huge  beakers  to  the  beggars^  health,  turned  their 
caps  and  doublets  inside  out,  danced  upon  chairs  and 
tables.  In  some  cases  one  addressed  the  another  as  Lord 
Abbot  or  Reverend  Prior  of  this  or  that  religious  institu- 
tion, thus  indicating  the  means  by  which  some  of  them 
hoped  to  mend  their  broken  fortunes. 

While  the  tumult  was  at  its  height,  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
with  Counts  Horn  and  Egmont,  entered  the  apartment. 
They  had  been  dining  quietly  with  Mansfeld,  who  was 
confined  to  his  house  with  an  inflamed  eye,  and  they  were 
on  their  way  to  the  council-chamber,  where  the  sessions 
were  now  prolonged  nightly  to  a  late  hour.  Knowing 
that  Hoogstraaten,  somewhat  against  his  will,  had  been 
induced  to  be  present  at  the  banquet,  they  had  come  round 
by  the  way  of  Culemburg  House  to  induce  him  to  retire. 
They  were  also  disposed,  if  possible,  to  ibridge  the  fes- 
tivities which  their  influence  would  have  been  powerless 
to  prevent. 

These  great  nobles,  as  soon  as  they  made  their  appear- 
ance, were  surrounded  by  a  crew  of  "  beggars,"  maddened 
and  dripping  with  their  recent  baptism  of  wine,  who  com- 
pelled them  to  drink  a  cup  amid  shouts  of  *'  Vivent  le  roi 
et  les  gueuxr  The  meaning  of  this  cry  they  of  course 
could  not  understand,  for  even  those  who  had  heard  Ber- 
laymonfs  contemptuous  remarks  might  not  remember 
the  exact  term  which  he  had  used,  and  certainly  could 
not  be  aware  of  the  importance  to  which  it  had  just  been 
elevated.  As  for  Horn,  he  disliked  and  had  long  before 
quarrelled  with  Brederode,  had  prevented  many  persons 
from  signing  the  Compromise,  and,  although  a  guest  at 
that  time  of  Orange,  was  in  the  habit  of  retiring  to  bed 
before  supper  to  avoid  the  company  of  many  who  fre- 
quented the  house.     Yet  his  presence  for  a  few  moments. 


176  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1566 

with  the  best  intentions,  at  the  conclusion  of  this  famous 
banquet,  was  made  one  of  the  most  deadly  charges  which 
were  afterwards  drawn  up  against  him  by  the  crown. 
The  three  seigniors  refused  to  be  seated,  and  remained 
but  for  a  moment,  ''the  length  of  a  Miserere,^"*  taking  with 
them  Hoogstraaten  as  they  retired.  They  also  prevailed 
upon  the  whole  party  to  break  up  at  the  same  time,  so 
that  their  presence  had  served  at  least  to  put  a  conclusion 
to  the  disgraceful  riot.  When  they  arrived  at  the  coun- 
cil-chamber they  received  the  thanks  of  the  Duchess  for 
what  they  had  done. 

Such  was  the  first  movement  made  by  the  members  of 
the  Compromise.  Was  it  strange  that  Orange  should  feel 
little  affinity  with  such  companions  ?  Had  he  not  reason 
to  hesitate,  if  the  sacred  cause  of  civil  and  religious  lib- 
erty could  only  be  maintained  by  these  defenders  and  with 
such  assistance  ? 

The  "beggars"  did  not  content  themselves  with  the 
name  alone  of  the  time-honored  fraternity  of  mendicants 
in  which  they  had  enrolled  themselves.  Immediately  af- 
ter the  Culemburg  banquet  a  costume  for  the  confeder- 
acy was  decided  upon.  These  young  gentlemen,  discard- 
ing gold  lace  and  velvet,  thought  it  expedient  to  array 
themselves  in  doublets  and  hose  of  ashen  gray,  with  short 
cloaks  of  the  same  color,  all  of  the  coarsest  materials. 
They  appeared  in  this  guise  in  the  streets,  with  common 
felt  hats  on  their  heads,  and  beggars'  pouches  and  bowls 
at  their  sides.  They  caused  also  medals  of  lead  and  cop- 
per to  be  struck,  bearing  upon  one  side  the  head  of  Philip; 
upon  the  reverse,  two  hands  clasped  within  a  wallet,  with 
the  motto,  "Faithful  to  the  King,  even  to  wearing  the 
beggar's  sack.''  These  badges  they  wore  around  their 
necks,  or  as  buttons  to  their  hats.  As  a  further  distinc- 
tion they  shaved  their  beards  close,  excepting  the  mous- 
tachios,  which  were  left  long  and  pendent  in  the  Turkish 
fashion,  that  custom,  as  it  seemed,  being  an  additional 
characteristic  of  mendicants. 

Very  soon  after  these  events  the  nobles  of  the  league 
dispersed  from  the  capital  to  their  various  homes.  Bre- 
derode  rode  out  of  Brussels  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  cava- 


1566]  MODERATION  177 

liers,  who  sainted  the  concourse  of  applauding  spectators 
with  a  discharge  of  their  pistols.  Forty-three  gentlemen 
accompanied  him  to  Antwerp,  where  he  halted  for  a  night. 
The  Duchess  had  already  sent  notice  to  the  magistrates  of 
that  city  of  his  intended  visit,  and  warned  them  to  have 
an  eye  upon  his  proceedings.  *^*^The  great  beggar/'  as 
Hoogstraaten  called  him,  conducted  himself,  however, 
with  as  much  propriety  as  could  be  expected.  Four  or 
five  thousand  of  the  inhabitants  thronged  about  the  hotel 
Avhere  he  had  taken  up  his  quarters.  He  appeared  at  a 
window  with  his  wooden  bowl,  filled  with  wine,  in  his 
hands,  and  his  wallet  at  his  side.  He  assured  the  multi- 
tude that  he  was  ready  to  die  to  defend  the  good  people  of 
Antwerp  and  of  all  the  Netherlands  against  the  edicts  and 
the  inquisition.  Meantime  he  drank  their  healths,  and 
begged  all  who  accepted  the  pledge  to  hold  up  their  hands. 
The  populace,  highly  amused,  held  up  and  clapped  their 
hands  as  honest  Brederode  drained  his  bowl,  and  were  soon 
afterwards  persuaded  to  retire  in  great  good-humor. 

These  proceedings  were  all  chronicled  and  transmitted 
with  additions  and  embellishment  to  Madrid. 

The  privy  council,  assisted  by  thirteen  Knights  of  the 
Fleece,  had  been  hard  at  work,  and  the  result  of  their  wis- 
dom was  at  last  revealed  in  a  "  Moderation  "  consisting  of 
fifty-three  articles. 

What,  now,  was  the  substance  of  those  fifty-three  articles, 
so  painfully  elaborated  by  Viglius,  so  handsomely  drawn 
up  into  shape  by  Councillor  d'Assonleville  ?  Siniply  to 
substitute  the  halter  for  the  fagot.  After  elimination  of 
all  verbiage,  this  fact  was  the  only  residuum.  The  pre- 
tended mercy  to  the  misguided  was  a  mere  delusion.  The 
superintendents,  preachers,  teachers,  ministers,  sermon- 
makers,  deacons,  and  other  officers,  were  to  be  executed 
with  the  halter,  with  confiscation  of  their  whole  property. 
All  persons  who  harbored  or  protected  ministers  and  teach- 
ers of  any  sect  were  to  be  put  to  death.  All  the  criminals 
thus  carefully  enumerated  were  to  be  executed,  whether 
repentant  or  not.  If,  however,  they  abjured  their  errors, 
they  were  to  be  beheaded  instead  of  being  strangled.  Thus 
it  was  obvious  that  almost  any  heretic  might  be  brought 
12 


178  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

to  the  halter  at  a  moment^s  notice.  The  draft  of  the  new 
edict  was  ostentatiously  called  the  '^  Moderatie/'  or  the 
'^Moderation."  It  was  very  natural,  therefore,  that  the 
common  people,  by  a  quibble,  which  is  the  same  in  Flem- 
ish as  in  English,  should  call  the  proposed  ''^Moderation" 
the  "  Murderation."  The  rough  mother-wit  of  the  people 
had  already  characterized  and  annihilated  the  project 
while  dull  formalists  were  carrying  it  through  the  prelim- 
inary stages. 

A  vote  in  favor  of  the  project  having  been  obtained  from 
the  estates  of  Artois,  Hainault,  and  Flanders,  the  instruc- 
tions for  the  envoys.  Baron  Montigny  and  Marquis  Berg- 
hen,  were  made  out  in  conformity  to  the  scheme.  The 
two  nobles  who  consented  to  undertake  the  office  were  per- 
suaded into  acceptance  sorely  against  their  will.  They  had 
maintained  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  state,  and  they 
had  declined  to  act  as  executioners  for  the  inquisition,  but 
they  were  yet  to  learn  that  such  demonstrations  amounted 
to  high  treason. 

Montigny  departed,  on  the  29th  of  May,  from  Brussels. 
He  left  the  bride  to  whom  he  had  been  wedded  amid 
scenes  of  festivity  the  preceding  autumn  and  the  unborn 
child  who  was  never  to  behold  its  father's  face.  No  hints 
had  any  effect  in  turning  him  from  his  course,  and  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Madrid,  where  he  arrived  on  the  17th  of  June. 
It  was  not  until  the  Ist  of  July  that  Berghen  was  able  to 
take  his  departure  from  Brussels.  Both  these  unfortunate 
nobles  thus  went  forth  to  fulfil  that  dark  and  mysterious 
destiny  from  which  the  veil  of  three  centuries  has  but  re- 
cently been  removed. 

The  mission  of  the  envoys  was  an  elaborate  farce  to  in- 
troduce a  terrible  tragedy.  They  were  sent  to  procure 
from  Philip  the  abolition  of  the  inquisition  and  the  mod- 
eration of  the  edicts.  At  the  very  moment,  however,  of 
all  these  legislative  and  diplomatic  arrangements,  Marga- 
ret of  Parma  was  in  possession  of  secret  letters  from  Philip, 
which  she  was  charged  to  deliver  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Sorrento,  papal  nuncio  at  the  imperial  court,  then  on  a 
special  visit  to  Brussels.  This  ecclesiastic  had  come  to  the 
Netherlands  ostensibly  to  confer  with  the  Prince  of  Orange 


1566]  CAMP-MEETINGS  179 

apon  the  affairs  of  his  principality,  to  remonstrate  with 
Count  Culembnrg,  and  to  take  measures  for  the  reforma- 
tion of  the  clergy.  The  real  object  of  his  mission,  how- 
ever, was  to  devise  means  for  strengthening  the  inquisition 
and  suppressing  heresy  in  the  provinces.  Philip,  at  whose 
request  he  came,  had  charged  him  by  no  means  to  divulge 
the  secret,  as  the  King  was  anxious  to  have  it  believed 
that  the  ostensible  business  was  the  only  one  that  the  pre- 
late had  to  perform  in  the  country.  Margarei:  according- 
ly delivered  to  him  the  private  letters,  in  which  Philip 
avowed  his  determination  to  maintain  the  inquisition  and 
the  edicts  in  all  their  rigor,  but  enjoined  profound  secrecy 
upon  the  subject. 

At  this  very  moment,  in  the  early  summer  of  1566,  many 
thousands  of  burghers,  merchants,  peasants,  and  gentle- 
men were  seen  mustering  and  marching  through  the  fields 
of  every  province,  armed  with  arquebus,  javelin,  pike,  and 
broadsword.  For  what  purpose  were  these  gatherings  ? 
Only  to  hear  sermons  and  to  sing  hymns  in  the  open  air, 
as  it  was  unlawful  to  profane  the  churches  with  such 
rites.  This  was  the  first  great  popular  phase  of  the  Neth- 
erland  rebellion.  Notwithstanding  the  edicts  and  the  in- 
quisition with  their  daily  hecatombs,  notwithstanding  the 
special  publication  at  this  time  throughout  the  country  by 
the  Duchess  Regent  that  all  the  sanguinary  statutes  con- 
cerning religion  were  in  as  great  vigor  as  ever,  notwithstand- 
ing that  Margaret  offered  a  reward  of  seven  hundred  crowns 
to  the  man  who  would  bring  her  a  preacher  dead  or  alive, 
the  popular  thirst  for  the  exercises  of  the  Reformed  relig- 
ion could  no  longer  be  slaked  at  the  obscure  and  hidden 
fountains  where  their  priests  had  so  long  privately  minis- 
tered. 

Partly  emboldened  by  a  temporary  lull  in  the  persecu- 
tion, partly  encouraged  by  the  presentation  of  the  Request 
and  by  the  events  to  which  it  had  given  rise,  the  Reform- 
ers now  came  boldly  forth  from  their  lurking  places  and 
held  their  religious  meetings  in  the  light  of  day.  The 
consciousness  of  numbers  and  of  right  had  brought  the 
conviction  of  strength.  The  field-preaching  seemed  in  the 
eyes  of  government  to  spread  with  the  rapidity  of  a  malig- 


180  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

nant  pestilence.  The  miasma  flew  npon  the  wings  of  the 
wind.  It  now  broke  forth  as  by  one  impulse  from  one  end  of 
the  country  to  the  other.  In  the  latter  part  of  June,  Her- 
mann Strycker,  or  Modet,  a  monk  who  had  renounced  his 
vows  to  become  one  of  the  most  popular  preachers  in  the 
Reformed  Church,  addressed  a  congregation  of  seven  or 
eight  thousand  persons  in  the  neighborhood  of  Ghent. 
Peter  Dathenus,  another  unfrocked  monk,  preached  at 
various  places  in  West  Flanders,  with  great  effect.  A  man 
endowed  with  a  violent,  stormy  eloquence,  intemperate  as 
most  zealots,  he  was  then  rendering  better  services  to  the 
cause  of  the  Reformation  than  he  was  destined  to  do  at 
later  periods. 

But  apostate  priests  were  not  the  only  preachers.  To  the 
ineffable  disgust  of  the  conservatives  in  Church  and  State, 
there  were  men  with  little  education,  utterly  devoid  of 
Hebrew,  of  lowly  station — hatters,  curriers,  tanners,  dyers, 
and  the  like  —  who  began  to  preach  also  ;  remembering, 
unseasonably  perhaps,  that  the  early  disciples  selected  by 
the  Founder  of  Christianity  had  not  all  been  doctors  of 
theology,  with  diplomas  from  a  "  renowned  university." 
But  if  the  nature  of  such  men  were  subdued  to  what  it 
worked  in,  that  charge  could  not  be  brought  against  min- 
isters with  the  learning  and  accomplishments  of  Ambrose 
Wille,  Marnier,  Guy  de  Bray,  or  Francis  Junius,  the  man 
whom  Scaliger  called  the  '^greatest  of  all  theologians  since 
the  days  of  the  Apostles."  An  aristocratic  sarcasm  could 
not  be  levelled  against  Peregrine  de  la  Grange,  of  a  noble 
family  in  Provence,  with  the  fiery  blood  of  southern  France 
in  his  veins,  brave  as  his  nation,  learned,  eloquent,  enthu- 
siastic, who  galloped  to  his  field-preaching  on  horseback, 
and  fired  a  pistol-shot  as  a  signal  for  his  congregation  to 
give  attention. 

The  preaching  spread  through  the  Walloon  provinces  to 
the  northern  Netherlands.  Towards  the  end  of  July  an 
apostate  monk,  of  singular  eloquence,  Peter  Gabriel  by 
name,  was  announced  to  preach  at  Overveen,  near  Haarlem. 
This  was  the  first  field-meeting  which  had  taken  place  in 
Holland.  The  people  were  wild  with  enthusiasm,  the 
authorities  beside  themselves  with  apprehension.     People 


1566]  VAST   ASSEMBLAGES  181 

from  the  country  flocked  into  the  tpwn  by  thousands.  The 
other  cities  were  deserted  ;  Haarlem  was  filled  to  overflow- 
ing. The  services  commenced  with  the  singing  of  a  psalm 
by  the  whole  vast  assemblage.  Clement  Marot's  verses, 
recently  translated  by  Dathenus,  were  then  new  and  pop- 
ular. The  strains  of  the  monarch  minstrel,  chanted  thus 
in  their  homely  but  nervous  mother-tongue  by  a  multitude 
who  had  but  recently  learned  that  all  the  poetry  and  rapt- 
ure of  devotion  were  not  irrevocably  coffined  with  a  buried 
language  or  immured  in  the  precincts  of  a  church,  had 
never  produced  a  more  elevating  effect.  No  anthem  from 
the  world-renowned  organ  in  that  ancient  city  ever  awak- 
ened more  lofty  emotions  than  did  those  ten  thousand 
human  voices  ringing  from  the  grassy  meadows  in  that 
fervid  midsummer  noon. 

By  the  middle  of  July  the  custom  was  established  out- 
side all  the  principal  cities.  Camp-meetings  were  held  in 
some  places — as,  for  instance,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Ant- 
werp, where  the  congregations  numbered  often  fifteen 
thousand,  and  on  some  occasions  were  estimated  at  be- 
tween twenty  and  thirty  thousand  persons  at  a  time ; 
*'  very  many  of  them,"  said  an  eye-witness,  *'  the  best  and 
wealthiest  in  the  town." 

The  sect  to  which  most  of  these  worshippers  belonged 
was  that  of  Calvin.  In  Antwerp  there  were  Lutherans, 
Calvinists,  and  Anabaptists.  The  Lutherans  were  the 
richest  sect,  but  the  Calvinists  the  most  numerous  and 
enthusiastic.  The  Prince  of  Orange  at  this  moment  was 
strenuously  opposed  both  to  Calvinism  and  Anabaptism, 
but  inclining  to  Lutheranism.  Political  reasons  at  this 
epoch  doubtless  influenced  his  mind  in  religious  matters. 
The  aid  of  the  Lutheran  princes  of  Germany,  who  detest- 
ed the  doctrines  of  Geneva,  could  hardly  be  relied  upon 
for  the  Netherlanders  unless  they  would  adopt  the  Con- 
fession of  Augsburg.  The  Prince  knew  that  the  Emperor, 
although  inclined  to  the  Reformation,  was  bitterly  averse 
to  Calvinism,  and  he  was,  therefore,  desirous  of  healing 
the  schism  which  existed  in  the  general  Reformed  Church. 
To  accomplish  this,  however,  would  be  to  gain  a  greater 
victory  over  the  bigotry  which  was  the  prevailing  charac* 


182  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1566 

teristic  of  the  age  than  perhaps  could  be  expected.  The 
Prince,  from  the  first  moment  of  his  abandoning  the  an- 
cient doctrines,  was  disposed  to  make  the  attempt. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Duchess,  having  neither  an  army 
nor  money  to  enroll  one,  did  what  she  could  with  ^''public 
prayers,  processions,  fasts,  sermons,  exhortations,"  and 
other  ecclesiastical  machinery,  which  she  ordered  the 
bishops  to  put  in  motion.  Her  situation  was  indeed  suffi- 
ciently alarming. 

Meanwhile,  also,  the  sincere  Reformers  in  Antwerp  were 
made  nearly  as  uncomfortable  by  the  presence  of  their 
avowed  friends,  Brederode  and  his  roistering  crew,  as  by 
that  of  Meghen  and  Aremberg,  and  earnestly  desired  to 
be  rid  of  them  all.  Long  and  anxious  were  the  ponder- 
ings  of  the  magistrates  upon  all  these  subjects.  It  was 
determined  at  last  to  send  a  fresh  deputation  to  Brus- 
sels, requesting  the  Regent  to  order  the  departure  of 
Meghen,  Aremberg,  and  Brederode  from  Antwerp ;  re- 
monstrating with  her  against  any  plan  she  might  be  sup- 
posed to  entertain  of  sending  mercenary  troops  into  the 
city  ;  pledging  the  word  of  the  senate  to  keep  the  peace, 
meanwhile,  by  their  regular  force  ;  and,  above  all,  implor- 
ing her  once  more,  in  the  most  urgent  terms,  to  send 
thither  the  burgrave,  as  the  only  man  who  was  capable 
of  saving  the  city  from  the  calamities  into  which  it  was 
so  likely  to  fall. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  being  thus  urgently  besought  by 
the  government  of  Antwerp,  by  the  inhabitants  of  that 
city,  and  by  the  Regent  herself,  at  last  consented  to  make 
the  visit  so  earnestly  demanded.  On  the  13th  of  July  he 
arrived  in  Antwerp.  The  whole  city  was  alive  with  en- 
thusiasm. Half  its  population  seemed  to  have  come  forth 
from  the  gates  to  bid  him  welcome,  lining  the  road  for 
miles.  Wild  shouts  of  welcome  rose  upon  every  side  as 
he  rode  through  the  town,  mingled  with  occasional  vo- 
ciferations of  ^'  Long  life  to  the  beggars  !"  These  party 
cries  were  instantly  and  sharply  rebuked  by  Orange,  who 
expressed,  in  Brederode's  presence,  the  determination  that 
he  would  make  men  unlearn  that  mischievous  watchword. 
He  had,  moreover,  little  relish  at  that  time  for  the  tumult- 


1566J  ORANGE   AT   ANTWERP  183 

uoas  demonstrations  of  attachment  to  his  person,  wliich 
were  too  fervid  to  be  censured  but  too  unseasonable  to 
be  approved.  He  held  at  once  a  long  consultation  with 
the  upper  branch  of  the  government.  Afterwards,  day 
after  day,  he  honestly,  arduously,  sagaciously  labored  to 
restore  the  public  tranquillity,  which  at  last,  by  his  ef- 
forts, was  restored.  The  broad -council  having  been  as- 
sembled, it  was  decided  that  the  exercise  of  the  Reformed 
religion  should  be  excluded  from  the  city,  but  silently 
tolerated  in  the  suburbs,  while  an  armed  force  was  to  be 
kept  constantly  in  readiness  to  suppress  all  attempts  at 
insurrection. 

Thus,  during  the  remainder  of  July  and  the  early. part 
of  August,  was  William  of  Orange  strenuously  occupied 
in  doing  what  should  have  been  the  Regent's  work.  He 
was  still  regarded,  both  by  the  Duchess  and  by  the  Cal- 
vinist  party — although  having  the  sympathies  of  neither 
— as  the  only  man  in  the  Netherlands  who  could  control 
the  rising  tide  of  a  national  revolt.  He  took  care,  said 
his  enemies,"  that  his  conduct  at  Antwerp  should  have 
every  appearance  of  loyalty,  but  they  insinuated  that  he 
was  a  traitor  from  the  beginning,  who  was  insidiously 
fomenting  the  troubles  which  he  appeared  to  rebuke. 

A  report  that  the  High  Sheriff  of  Brabant  was  collect- 
ing troops  by  command  of  government,  in  order  to  attack 
the  Reformers  at  their  field-preachings,  went  far  to  undo 
the  work  already  accomplished  by  the  Prince.  The  as- 
semblages swelled  again  from  ten  or  twelve  thousand  to 
twenty-five  thousand,  the  men  all  providing  themselves 
more  thoroughly  with  weapons  than  before. 

So  long  as  this  great  statesman  could  remain  in  the 
metropolis,  his  temperate  firmness  prevented  the  explo- 
sion which  had  so  long  been  expected.  His  own  govern- 
ment of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  too,  especially  demanded  his 
care.  The  field-preaching  had  spread  in  that  region  with 
prodigious  rapidity.  Armed  assemblages,  utterly  beyond 
the  power  of  the  civil  authorities,  were  taking  place  daily 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Amsterdam.  Yet  the  Duchess 
could  not  allow  him  to  visit  his  government  in  the  north. 
If  he  could  be  spared  from  Antwerp  for  a  day,  it  was  neces- 


184  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

sary  that  he  should  aid  her  in  a  fresh  complication  with 
the  confederated  nobles.  In  the  very  midst,  therefore, 
of  his  Antwerp  labors,  he  had  been  obliged,  by  Margaret's 
orders,  to  meet  a  committee  at  Duffel.  For  in  this  same 
eventful  month  of  July  a  great  meeting  was  held  by  the 
members  of  the  Compromise  at  Saint-Trond,  in  the  bish- 
opric of  Liege.  They  came  together  on  the  13th  of  the 
month,  and  remained  assembled  till  the  beginning  of  Au- 
gust. It  was  a  wild,  tumultuous  convention,  numbering 
some  fifteen  hundred  cavaliers,  each  with  his  esquires  and 
armed  attendants ;  a  larger  and  more  important  gath- 
ering than  had  yet  been  held.  Brederode  and  Count 
Louis  were  the  chieftains  of  the  assembly,  which,  as  may 
be  supposed  from  its  composition  and  numbers,  was  likely 
to  be  neither  very  orderly  in  its  demonstrations  nor  whole- 
some in  its  results.  It  was  an  ill-timed  movement.  The 
convention  was  too  large  for  deliberation,  too  riotous  to 
inspire  confidence.  The  nobles  quartered  themselves  every- 
where in  the  taverns  and  the  farm-houses  of  the  neigh- 
borhood, while  large  numbers  encamped  upon  the  open 
fields.  There  was  a  constant  din  of  revelry  and  uproar, 
mingled  with  wordy  warfare,  and  an  occasional  crossing 
of  swords.  It  seemed  rather  like  a  congress  of  ancient, 
savage  Batavians,  assembled  in  Teutonic  fashion  to  choose 
a  king  amid  hoarse  shouting,  deep  drinking,  and  the  clash 
of  spear  and  shield,  than  a  meeting  for  a  lofty  and  ear- 
nest purpose  by  their  civilized  descendants.  A  crowd  of 
spectators,  landlopers,  mendicants,  daily  aggregated  them- 
selves to  the  aristocratic  assembly,  joining,  with  natural 
unction,  in  the  incessant  shout  of  ^^  Vivent  les  gueux!" 
It  was  impossible  that  so  soon  after  their  baptism  the  self- 
styled  beggars  should  repudiate  all  connection  with  the 
time-honored  fraternity  in  which  they  had  enrolled  them- 
selves. 

The  confederates  discussed — if  an  exchange  of  vocifera- 
tions could  be  called  discussion — principally  two  points  : 
whether,  in  case  they  obtained  the  original  objects  of  their 
petition,  they  should  pause,  or  move  still  further  onward  ; 
and  whether  they  should  insist  upon  receiving  some  pledge 
from  the  government  that  no  vengeance  should  be  taken 


1566]  DUFFEL   CONFERENCE  185 

upon  them  for  their  previous  proceedings.  Upon  both 
questions  there  was  much  vehemence  of  argument  and 
great  difference  of  opinion.  They,  moreover,  took  two 
very  rash  and  very  grave  resolutions — to  guarantee  the 
people  against  all  violence  on  account  of  their  creeds,  and 
to  engage  a  force  of  German  soldiery,  four  thousand  horse 
and  forty  companies  of  infantry,  by  '^  wart  geld"  or  retain- 
ing wages. 

Upon  the  18th  of  July  the  Prince  of  Orange,  at  the 
earnest  request  of  the  Regent,  met  a  committee  of  the 
confederated  nobles  at  Duffel.  Count  Egmont  was  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  this  duty.  The  conference  was  not 
very  satisfactory.  The  deputies  from  Saint-Trond,  con- 
sisting of  Brederode,  Culemburg,  and  others,  exchanged 
with  the  two  seigniors  the  old  arguments.  Finally,  a  paper 
was  drawn  up  which  Brederode  carried  back  to  the  con- 
vention, and  which  it  was  proposed  to  submit  to  the 
Duchess  for  her  approval.  At  the  end  of  the  month, 
Louis  of  Nassau  was  accordingly  sent  to  Brussels,  accom- 
panied by  twelve  associates,  who  were  familiarly  called  his 
twelve  apostles.  Here  he  laid  before  her  Highness  in 
council  a  statement  embodying  the  views  of  the  confeder- 
ates. In  this  paper  they  asserted  that  they  were  ever 
ready  to  mount  and  ride  against  a  foreign  foe,  but  that 
they  would  never  draw  a  sword  against  their  innocent 
countrymen.  If  she  would  convoke  the  states  -  general, 
then,  and  then  only,  were  the  confederates  willing  to  ex- 
ert their  energies  to  preserve  peace,  to  restrain  popular 
impetuosity,  and  banish  universal  despair. 

So  far  Louis  of  Nassau  and  his  twelve  apostles.  It 
must  be  confessed  that,  whatever  might  be  thought 
of  the  justice,  there  could  be  but  one  opinion  as  to  the 
boldness  of  these  views.  The  Duchess  was  furious.  If 
the  language  held  in  April  had  been  considered  audacious, 
certainly  this  new  request  was,  in  her  own  words,  '^  still 
more  bitter  to  the  taste  and  more  difficult  of  digestion." 
She  therefore  answered  in  a  very  unsatisfactory,  haughty, 
and  ambiguous  manner,  reserving  decision  upon  their 
propositions  till  they  had  been  discussed  by  the  state  coun- 
cil, and  intimating  that  they  would  also  be  laid  before 


186  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

the  Knights  of  the  Fleece,  who  were  to  hold  a  meeting 
upon  the  26th  of  August.  There  was  some  further  con- 
versation, without  any  result. 

The  assembly  at  Saint-Trond  was  dissolved,  having  made 
violent  demonstrations,  which  were  not  followed  by  bene- 
ficial results,  and  having  laid  itself  open  to  various  sus- 
picions, most  of  which  were  ill-founded,  while  some  of 
them  were  just. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE   IMAGE-STORM 

The  Netherlands  possessed  an  extraordinary  number  of 
churches  and  monasteries.  Their  exquisite  architecture 
and  elaborate  decoration  had  been  the  earliest  indication 
of  intellectual  culture  displayed  in  the  country.  In  the 
vast  number  of  cities,  towns,  and  villages  which  were 
crowded  upon  that  narrow  territory,  there  had  been,  from 
circumstances  operating  throughout  Christendom,  a  great 
accumulation  of  ecclesiastical  wealth.  The  same  causes 
can  never  exist  again  which  at  an  early  day  covered  the 
soil  of  Europe  with  those  magnificent  creations  of  Chris- 
tian art.  It  was  in  these  anonymous  but  entirely  original 
achievements  that  Gothic  genius,  awaking  from  its  long 
sleep  of  the  Dark  Ages,  first  expressed  itself.  The  early 
poetry  of  the  German  races  was  hewn  and  chiselled  in 
stone.  Around  the  steadfast  principle  of  devotion,  then  so 
firmly  rooted  in  the  soil,  clustered  the  graceful  and  vigor-^ 
ous  emanations  of  the  newly  awakened  mind.  All  that 
science  could  invent,  all  that  art  could  embody,  all  that 
mechanical  ingenuity  could  dare,  all  that  wealth  could 
lavish  —  whatever  there  was  of  human  energy  which  was 
panting  for  pacific  utterance,  wherever  there  stirred  the 
vital  principle  which  instinctively  strove  to  create  and  to 
adorn  at  an  epoch  when  vulgar  violence  and  destructive- 
ness  were  the  general  tendencies  of  humanity,  all  gathered 
around  these  magnificent  temples  as  their  aspiring  pin- 
nacles at  last  pierced  the  mist  which  had  so  long  brooded 
over  the  world. 

Among  the  noblest  of  these  church  edifices  in  the  Neth- 
erlands was  the  cathedral  at  Antwerp.    Upon  this  one,  and 


188  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1566 

upon  hundreds  of  others^  the  storm  of  iconoclasm  was  to 
burst  during  six  or  seven  summer  days  of  the  year  1566. 
The  atmosphere  of  the  cathedral  was  no  longer  holy  in  the 
eyes  of  increasing  multitudes.  The  inquisition  had  opened 
the  eyes  and  changed  the  hearts  of  those  who  worshipped 
God.  Better  the  sanguinary  rites  of  Belgic  Druids,  better 
the  yell  of  slaughtered  victims  from  the  "  wild  wood  with- 
out mercy  "  of  the  pagan  forefathers  of  the  nation,  than 
this  fantastic  intermingling  of  divine  music,  glowing  col- 
ors, gorgeous  ceremonies,  with  all  the  burning,  beheading, 
and  strangling  work  which  had  characterized  the  system 
of  human  sacrifice  for  the  past  half-century. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  had  been  anxiously  solicited  by 
the  Regent  to  attend  the  conference  at  Duffel.  After  re- 
turning to  Antwerp,  he  consented,  in  consequence  of  the 
urgent  entreaties  of  the  senate,  to  delay  his  departure  un- 
til the  18th  of  August  should  be  passed.  The  meeting  of 
the  Fleece  Knights  seemed,  in  Margaret's  opinion,  impera- 
tively to  require  his  presence  in  Brussels.  She  insisted 
by  repeated  letters  that  he  should  leave  Antwerp  imme- 
diately. 

Upon  the  18th  of  August  the  great  and  time-honored 
ceremony  of  the  Ommegang,  or  out-door  procession  bearing 
the  Virgin's  image,  occurred.  The  pageant,  solemn  but 
noisy,  was  exactly  such  a  show  as  was  most  fitted  at  that 
moment  to  irritate  Protestant  minds  and  to  lead  to  mis- 
chief. No  violent  explosion  of  ill-feeling,  however,  took 
place.  A  few  missiles  were  thrown  occasionally  at  the 
procession  as  it  passed  through  the  city,  but  no  damage 
was  inflicted.  When  the  image  was  at  last  restored  to  its 
place,  and  the  pageant  brought  to  a  somewhat  hurried 
conclusion,  there  seemed  cause  for  congratulation  that  no 
tumult  had  occurred. 

On  the  following  morning  there  was  a  large  crowd  col- 
lected in  front  of  the  cathedral.  The  image  was  now  ig- 
nominiously  placed  behind  an  iron  railing  within  the  choir. 
Many  vagabonds  of  dangerous  appearance,  many  idle  ap- 
prentices and  ragged  urchins  were  lounging  for  a  long  time 
about  the  imprisoned  image.  Others  thronged  around  the 
balustrade,  shouting  ''  Vivent  les  gueux!"  and   hoarsely 


1566]  A   VULGAR    RIOT  189 

commanding  the  image  to  join  in  the  beggars''  cry.  Then, 
leaving  the  spot,  the  mob  roamed  idly  about  the  magnif- 
icent church,  sneering  at  the  idols,  execrating  the  gorgeous 
ornaments,  scoffing  at  crucifix  and  altar. 

Presently  one  of  the  rabble,  a  ragged  fellow  of  mechan- 
ical aspect,  in  a  tattered  black  doublet  and  an  old  straw 
hat,  ascended  the  pulpit.  Opening  a  sacred  volume  which 
he  found  there,  he  began  to  deliver  an  extemporaneous 
and  coarse  caricature  of  a  monkish  sermon.  Some  of  the 
bystanders  applauded,  some  cried  "  Shame  !"  some  shouted 
'^  Long  live  the  beggars  !"  some  threw  sticks  and  rubbish  at 
the  mountebank,  some  caught  him  by  the  legs  and  strove 
to  pull  him  from  the  place.  He,  on  the  other  hand,  man- 
fully maintained  his  ground,  hurling  back  every  missile, 
struggling  with  his  assailants,  and  continuing  the  while  to 
pour  forth  a  malignant  and  obscene  discourse.  At  last  a 
young  sailor,  warm  in  the  Catholic  faith,  and  impulsive 
as  mariners  are  prone  to  be,  ascended  the  pulpit  from  be- 
hind, sprang  upon  the  mechanic,  and  flung  him  headlong 
down  the  steps.  The  preacher  grappled  with  his  enemy 
as  he  fell,  and  both  came  rolling  to  the  ground.  Neither 
was  much  injured,  but  a  tumult  ensued.  A  pistol-shot  was 
fired,  and  the  sailor  was  wounded  in  the  arm.  Daggers 
were  drawn,  cudgels  brandished,  the  bystanders  taking 
part  generally  against  the  sailor,  while  those  who  protected 
him  were  somewhat  bruised  and  belabored  before  they 
could  convey  him  out  of  the  church.  Nothing  more,  how- 
ever, transpired  that  day,  and  the  keepers  of  the  cathedral 
were  enabled  to  expel  the  crowd  and  to  close  the  doors  for 
the  night. 

Information  of  this  tumult  was  brought  to  the  senate, 
then  assembled  in  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  That  body  was 
thrown  into  a  state  of  great  perturbation.  In  losing  the 
Prince  of  Orange  they  seemed  to  have  lost  their  own 
brains,  and  the  first  measure  which  they  took  was  to  de- 
spatch a  messenger  to  implore  his  return.  Never  were 
magistrates  in  greater  perplexity.  They  knew  not  what 
course  was  likely  to  prove  the  safest,  and,  in  their  anxiety 
to  do  nothing  wrong,  the  senators  did  nothing  at  all.  Af- 
ter a  long  and  anxious  consultation,  the  honest  burgomas- 


190  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1566 

ter  and  his  associates  all  went  home  to  their  beds,  hoping 
that  the  threatening  flame  of  civil  tumult  would  die  out 
of  itself,  or  perhaps  that  i;heir  dreams  would  supply  them 
with  that  wisdom  which  seemed  denied  to  their  waking 
hours. 

In  the  morning,  as  it  was  known  that  no  precaution  had 
been  taken,  the  audacity  of  the  Reformers  was  naturally 
increased.  Within  the  cathedral  a  great  crowd  was  at  an 
early  hour  collected,  whose  savage  looks  and  ragged  ap- 
pearance denoted  that  the  day  and  night  were  not  likely 
to  pass  away  so  peacefully  as  the  last.  The  same  taunts 
and  imprecations  were  hurled  at  the  image  of  the  Virgin  ; 
the  same  howling  of  the  beggars'  cry  resounded  through 
the  lofty  arches.  Having  first  roused  to  violence  an  old 
woman  who  sold  wax- tapers  at  the  door  of  the  cathedral 
and  then  destroyed  her  whole  stock-in-trade,  they  pro- 
voked others  to  appear  in  her  defence.  The  passers-by 
thronged  to  the  scene  ;  the  cathedral  was  soon  filled  to 
overflowing ;  a  furious  tumult  was  already  in  progress. 

Many  persons  fled  in  alarm  to  the  town-house,  carrying 
information  of  this  outbreak  to  the  magistrates.  John 
Van  Immerzeel,  Margrave  of  Antwerp,  was  then  holding 
communication  with  the  senate,  which  at  once  proceeded 
to  the  cathedral  in  a  body,  with  the  hope  of  quelling  the 
mob  by  the  dignity  of  their  presence.  The  margrave,  who 
was  the  high  executive  officer  of  the  little  commonwealth, 
marched  down  to  the  cathedral  accordingly,  attended  by 
the  two  burgomasters  and  all  the  senators.  At  first  their 
authority,  solicitations,  and  personal  influence  produced 
a  good  effect,  but  no  sooner  had  the  magistrates,  retired 
than  the  rabble  flowed  in  like  an  angry  sea.  The  whole  of 
the  cathedral  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  rioters,  who  were 
evidently  bent  on  mischief.  The  wardens  and  treasurers 
of  the  church,  after  a  vain  attempt  to  secure  a  few  of  its 
most  precious  possessions,  retired.  They  carried  the  news 
to  the  senators,  who,  accompanied  by  a  few  halberdmen, 
again  ventured  to  approach  the  spot.  It  was  but  for  a 
moment,  however,  for,  appalled  by  the  furious  sounds 
which  came  from  within  the  church,  as  if  subterranean 
and  invisible  forces  were  preparing  a  catastrophe  which  no 


1566]  PRETERHUMAN   MISCHIEF  191 

human  power  could  withstand,  the  magistrates  fled  pre- 
cipitately from  the  scene.  Fearing  that  the  next  attack 
would  be  upon  the  city -hall,  they  hastened  to  concen- 
trate at  that  point  their  available  forces,  and  left  the  state- 
ly cathedral  to  its  fate. 

And  now,  as  the  shadows  of  night  were  deepening  the 
perpetual  twilight  of  the  church,  the  work  of  destruction 
commenced.  Instead  of  vesper  hymn  rose  the  fierce  mu- 
sic of  a  psalm  yelled  by  a  thousand  angry  voices.  It 
seemed  the  preconcerted  signal  for  a  general  attack.  A 
band  of  marauders  flew  upon  the  image  of  the  Virgin, 
dragged  it  forth  from  its  receptacle,  plunged  daggers  into 
its  inanimate  body,  tore  off  its  jewelled  and  embroidered 
garments,  broke  the  whole  figure  into  a  thousand  pieces, 
and  scattered  the  fragments  along  the  floor.  A  wild  shout 
succeeded,  and  then  the  work,  which  seemed  delegated  to 
a  comparatively  small  number  of  the  assembled  crowd, 
went  on  with  incredible  celerity.  Some  were  armed  with 
axes,  some  with  bludgeons,  some  with  sledge-hammers ; 
others  brought  ladders,  pulleys,  ropes,  and  levers.  Every 
statue  was  hurled  from  its  niche,  every  picture  torn  from 
the  wall,  every  wonderfully  painted  window  shivered  to 
atoms,  every  ancient  monument  shattered,  every  sculpt- 
ured decoration,  however  inaccessible  in  appearance, 
hurled  to  the  ground.  Indefatigably,  audaciously,  en- 
dowed, as  it  seemed,  with  preternatural  strength  and  nim- 
bleness,  these  furious  iconoclasts  clambered  up  the  dizzy 
heights,  shrieking  and  chattering  like  malignant  apes,  as 
they  tore  oif  in  triumph  the  slowly  matured  fruit  of  cen- 
turies. In  a  space  of  time  wonderfully  brief,  they  had 
accomplished  their  task. 

The  statues,  images,  pictures,  ornaments,  as  they  lay 
upon  the  ground,  were  broken  with  sledge-hammers,  hewn 
with  axes,  trampled,  torn,  and  beaten  into  shreds.  A 
troop  of  harlots,  snatching  waxen  tapers  from  the  altars, 
stood  around  the  destroyers  and  lighted  them  at  their 
work.  Nothing  escaped  their  omnivorous  rage.  They 
desecrated  seventy  chapels,  forced  open  all  the  chests  of 
treasure,  covered  their  own  squalid  attire  with  the  gor- 
geous robes  of  the  ecclesiastics,  broke  the  sacred  bread. 


192  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

poured  out  the  sacramental  wine  into  golden  chalices,  quaff- 
ing huge  draughts  to  the  beggars'  health  ;  burned  all  the 
splendid  missals  and  manuscripts,  and  smeared  their  shoes 
with  the  sacred  oil  with  which  kings  and  prelates  had 
been  anointed.  It  seemed  that  each  of  these  malicious 
creatures  must  have  been  endowed  with  the  strength  of  a 
hundred  giants.  How  else,  in  the  few  brief  hours  of  a 
midsummer  night,  could  such  a  monstrous  desecration 
have  been  accomplished  by  a  troop  which,  according  to 
all  accounts,  was  not  more  than  one  hundred  in  num- 
ber ?  There  was  a  multitude  of  spectators,  as  upon 
all  such  occasions,  but  the  actual  spoilers  were  very 
few. 

iThe  noblest  and  richest  temple  of  the  Netherlands  was 
a  wreck,  but  the  fury  of  the  spoilers  was  excited,  not  ap- 
peased. Each  seizing  a  burning  torch,  the  whole  herd 
rushed  from  the  cathedral,  and  swept  howling  through 
the  streets.  ''  Long  live  the  beggars  !"  resounded  through 
the  sultry  midnight  air  as  the  ravenous  pack  flew  to  and 
fro,  smiting  every  image  of  the  Virgin,  every  crucifix, 
every  sculptured  saint,  every  Catholic  symbol  which  they 
met  upon  their  path.  All  night  long  they  roamed  from 
one  sacred  edifice  to  another,  thoroughly  destroying  as 
they  went.  Before  morning  they  had  sacked  thirty 
churches  within  the  city  walls.  They  entered  the  mon- 
asteries, burned  their  invaluable  libraries,  destroyed  their 
altars,  statues,  pictures,  and,  descending  into  the  cellars, 
broached  every  cask  which  they  found  there,  pouring  out 
in  one  great  flood  all  the  ancient  wine  and  ale  with  which 
those  holy  men  had  been  w^ont  to  solace  their  retirement 
from  generation  to  generation.  They  invaded  the  nun- 
neries, whence  the  occupants,  panic-stricken,  fled  for 
refuge  to  the  houses  of  their  friends  and  kindred.  The 
streets  were  filled  with  monks  and  nuns,  running  this  way 
and  that,  shrieking  and  fluttering,  to  escape  the  claws  of 
these  flendish  Calvinists.  The  terror  was  imaginary,  for 
not  the  least  remarkable  feature  in  these  transactions  was 
that  neither  insult  nor  injury  was  offered  to  man  or  woman, 
and  that  not  a  farthing's  value  of  the  immense  amount 
of  property  destroyed  was  appropriated.     The   task  was 


1566]  DURATION  OF  THE   HAVOC  193 

most  thoroughly  performed,  but  it  was  prompted  by  a 
furious  fanaticism,  not  by  baser  motives. 

Two  days  and  nights  longer  the  havoc  raged  unchecked 
through  all  the  churches  of  Antwerp  and  the  neighboring 
villages.  Hardly  a  statue  or  picture  escaped  destruction. 
Yet  the  rage  was  directed  exclusively  against  stocks  and 
stones.  Not  a  man  was  wounded  nor  a  woman  outraged. 
Prisoners,  indeed,  who  had  been  languishing  hopelessly 
in  dungeons  were  liberated.  A  monk  who  bad  been  in 
the  prison  of  the  Monastery  of  the  Barefooters  for  twelve 
years  recovered  his  freedom.  Art  was  trampled  in  the 
dust,  but  humanity  deplored  no  victims.  / 

These  leading  features  characterized  the  movement 
everywhere.  The  process  was  simultaneous  and  almost 
universal.  It  was  difficult  to  say  where  it  began  and  where 
it  ended.  A  few  days  in  the  middle  of  August  sufficed  for 
the  whole  work.  The  number  of  churches  desecrated  has 
never  been  counted.  In  the  single  province  of  Flanders 
four  hundred  were  sacked.  In  Limburg,  Luxembourg, 
and  Namur  there  was  no  image-breaking.  In  Mechlin, 
seventy  or  eighty  persons  accomplished  the  work  thorough, 
ly  in  the  very  teeth  of  the  grand  council  and  of  an  as- 
tonished magistracy. 

On  the  22d  of  August  the  news  reached  Tournay  that 
the  churches  in  Antwerp,  Ghent,  and  many  other  places 
had  been  sacked.  There  was  an  instantaneous  movement 
towards  imitating  the  example  on  the  same  evening.  Pas- 
quier  de  la  Barre,  procureur-general  of  the  city,  succeeded 
by  much  entreaty  in  tranquillizing  the  people  for  the  night. 
The  "guard  of  terror"  was  set,  and  hopes  were  enter- 
tained that  the  storm  might  blow  over.  The  expectation 
was  vain.  At  daybreak  next  day  the  mob  swept  down  upon 
the  cliurches  and  stripped  them  to  the  very  walls.  Pict- 
ures, statues,  organs,  ornaments,  chalices  of  silver  and 
gold,  reliquaries,  albs,  chasubles,  copes,  cibories,  crosses, 
chandeliers,  lamps,  censers,  all  of  richest  material,  glit- 
tering with  pearls,  rubies,  and  other  precious  stones,  were 
scattered  in  heaps  of  ruin  upon  the  ground. 

A  large  assemblage  of  rioters,  growing  in  numbers  as 
they  advanced,  swept  over  the  province  of  Tournay,  after 

13 


194  HISTORY   OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1566 

accomplishing  the  sack  of  the  city  churches.  Armed  with 
halberds,  hammers,  and  pitchforks,  they  carried  on  the 
war  day  after  day  against  the  images.  At  the  convent 
of  Marchiennes,  considered  by  contemporaries  the  most 
beautiful  abbey  in  all  the  Netherlands,  they  halted  to  sing 
the  Ten  Commandments  in  Marot^'s  verse.  Hardly  had  the 
vast  chorus  finished  the  precept  against  graven  images, 
when  the  whole  mob  seemed  seized  with  sudden  madness. 
Without  waiting  to  complete  the  psalm,  they  fastened 
upon  the  company  of  marble  martyrs  as  if  they  had  pos- 
sessed sensibility  to  feel  the  blows  inflicted.  In  an  hour 
they  had  laid  the  whole  in  ruins. 

Having  accomplished  this  deed,  they  swept  on  towards 
Anchin.  Here,  however,  they  were  confronted  by  the 
Seigneur  de  la  Tour,  who,  at  the  head  of  a  small  company 
of  peasants,  attacked  the  marauders  and  gained  a  com- 
plete victory.  Five  or  six  hundred  of  them  were  slain, 
others  were  drowned  in  the  river  and  adjacent  swamps, 
the  rest  were  dispersed.  It  was  thus  proved  that  a  little 
more  spirit  upon  the  part  of  the  orderly  portion  of  the 
inhabitants  might  have  brought  about  a  different  result 
than  the  universal  image-breaking. 

In  Valenciennes,  ^^the  tragedy,''  as  an  eye-witness  calls 
it,  was  performed  upon  St.  Bartholomew's  Day.  It  was, 
however,  only  a  tragedy  of  statues.  Hardly  as  many  sense- 
less stones  were  victims  as  there  were  to  be  living  Hugue- 
nots sacrificed  in  a  single  city  upon  a  Bartholomew  which 
was  fast  approaching.  In  the  Valenciennes  massacre  not 
a  human  being  was  injured. 

Such  in  general  outline,  and  in  certain  individual  details, 
was  the  celebrated  iconomachy  of  the  Netherlands.  The 
movement  was  a  sudden  explosion  of  popular  revenge 
against  the  symbols  of  that  Church  from  which  the  Re- 
formers had  been  enduring  such  terrible  persecution.  It 
was  also  an  expression  of  the  general  sympathy  for  the  doc- 
trines which  had  taken  possession  of  the  national  heart. 
It  was  the  deprivation  of  that  instinct  which  had  in  the 
beginning  of  the  summer  drawn  Calvinists  and  Lutherans 
forth  in  armed  bodies,  twenty  thousand  strong,  to  worship 
God  in  the  open  fields.     The  difference  between  the  two 


1566]  CHARACTERISTIC  OF  THE  TUMULTS  195 

phenomena  was,  that  the  field-preaching  was  a  crime  com- 
mitted by  the  whole  mass  of  the  Eef  ormers — men,  women, 
and  children  confronting  the  penalties  of  death  by  a  gen- 
eral determination — while  the  image-breaking  was  the  act 
of  a  small  portion  of  the  populace.  A  hundred  persons 
belonging  to  the  lowest  order  of  society  sufficed  for  the 
desecration  of  the  Antwerp  churches.  It  was,  said  Orange, 
*'sk  mere  handful  of  rabble"  who  did  the  deed.  Sir  Rich- 
ard Clough  saw  ten  or  twelve  persons  entirely  sack  church 
after  church,  while  ten  thousand  spectators  looked  on, 
indifferent  or  horror-struck.  The  bands  of  iconoclasts 
were  of  the  lowest  character,  and  few  in  number.  Per- 
haps the  largest  assemblage  was  that  which  ravaged  the 
province  of  Tournay,  but  this  was  so  weak  as  to  be  en- 
tirely routed  by  a  small  and  determined  force.  The  duty 
of  repression  devolved  upon  both  Catholics  and  Protes- 
tants. Neither  party  stirred.  All  seemed  overcome  with 
special  wonder  as  the  tempest  swept  over  the  land. 

The  ministers  of  the  Reformed  religion,  and  the  chiefs 
of  the  liberal  party,  all  denounced  the  image-breaking. 
Francis  Junius  bitterly  regretted  such  excesses.  Am- 
brose Wille,  pure  of  all  participation  in  the  crime,  stood 
up  before  ten  thousand  Reformers  at  Tournay — even  while 
the  storm  was  raging  in  the  neighboring  cities,  and  when 
many  voices  around  him  were  hoarsely  commanding  simi- 
lar depravities — to  rebuke  the  outrages  by  which  a  sacred 
cause  was  disgraced.  The  Prince  of  Orange,  in  his  pri- 
vate letters,  deplored  the  riots  and  stigmatized  the  per- 
petrators. Even  Brederode,  while  as  Suzerain  of  his  city 
of  Vianen  he  ordered  the  images  there  to  be  quietly  taken 
from  the  churches,  characterized  this  popular  insurrec- 
tion as  insensate  and  flagitious.  Many  of  the  leading 
confederates  not  only  were  offended  with  the  proceedings, 
but,  in  their  eagerness  to  chastise  the  iconoclasts  and  to 
escape  from  a  league  of  which  they  were  weary,  began  to 
take  severe  measures  against  the  ministers  and  Reformers, 
of  whom  they  had  constituted  themselves  in  April  the  es- 
pecial protectors. 

The  next  remarkable  characteristic  of  these  tumults  was 
the  almost  entire  abstinence  of  the  rioters  from  personal 


196  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

outrage  and  from  pillage.  The  testimony  of  a  very  bitter 
but  honest  Catholic  at  Valenciennes  is  remarkable  upon 
this  point.  "  Certain  chroniclers/^  said  he,  ^'^have  greatly 
mistaken  the  character  of  this  image  -  breaking.  It  has 
been  said  that  the  Calvinists  killed  a  hundred  priests  in 
this  city,  cutting  some  of  them  into  pieces,  and  burning 
others  over  a  slow  fire.  /  remember  very  well  everytliing 
wliicJi  happened  upon  that  abominable  day,  and  I  can  affirm 
that  not  a  single  priest  was  injured.  The  Huguenots  took 
good  care  7iot  to  injure  in  any  way  the  living  images." 
This  was  the  case  everywhere.  Catholic  and  Protestant 
writers  agree  that  no  deeds  of  violence  were  committed 
against  man  or  woman. 

It  would  be  also  very  easy  to  accumulate  a  vast  weight 
of  testimony  as  to  their  forbearance  from  robbery.  They 
destroyed  for  destruction's  sake,  not  for  purposes  of  plun- 
der. Although  belonging  to  the  lowest  classes  of  society, 
they  left  heaps  of  jewelry,  of  gold  and  silver  plate,  of 
costly  embroidery,  lying  unheeded  upon  the  ground.  They 
felt  instinctively  that  a  great  passion  would  be  contami- 
nated by  admixture  with  paltry  motives.  In  Flanders  a 
company  of  rioters  hanged  one  of  their  own  number  for 
stealing  articles  to  the  value  of  five  shillings.  In  Valen- 
ciennes the  iconoclasts  were  offered  large  sums  if  they 
would  refrain  from  desecrating  the  churches  of  that  city, 
but  they  rejected  the  proposal  with  disdain.  The  honest 
Catholic  burgher  who  recorded  the  fact  observed  that  he 
did  so  because  of  the  many  misrepresentations  on  the  sub- 
ject, not  because  he  wished  to  flatter  heresy  and  rebellion. 

Yet  the  effect  of  the  riots  was  destined  to  be  most  dis- 
astrous for  a  time  to  the  reforming  party.  It  furnished 
plausible  excuses  for  many  lukewarm  friends  of  their  cause 
to  withdraw  from  all  connection  with  it.  Egmont  de- 
nounced the  proceedings  as  highly  flagitious,  and  busied 
himself  with  punishing  the  criminals  in  Flanders.  The 
Eegent  was  beside  herself  with  indignation  and  terror. 
Philip,  when  he  heard  the  news,  fell  into  a  paroxysm  of 
frenzy.  ^*  It  shall  cost  them  dear  \"  he  cried,  as  he  tore 
his  beard  for  rage — '^  it  shall  cost  them  dear  !  I  swear  it 
by  the  soul  of  my  father  V  The  Reformation  in  the  Netli- 


1566]  FIRST  EFFECTS  197 

eriands,  by  the  fary  of  these  fanatics,  was  thus  made  ap- 
parently to  abandon  the  high  ground  upon  which  it  had 
stood  in  the  early  summer.  The  sublime  spectacle  of  the 
multitudinous  field-preaching  was  sullied  by  the  excesses 
of  the  image-breaking.  The  religious  war,  before  immi- 
nent, became  inevitable. 

Nevertheless,  the  first  effect  of  the  tumults  was  a  tem- 
porary advantage  to  the  Reformers.  A  great  concession 
was  extorted  from  the  fears  of  the  Duchess  Regent,  who 
was  certainly  placed  in  a  terrible  position.  Her  conduct 
was  not  heroic,  although  she  might  be  forgiven  for  trepi- 
dation. Her  treachery,  however,  under  these  trying  cir- 
cumstances was  less  venial.  At  three  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing of  the  22d  of  August,  Orange,  Egmont,  Horn,  Hoog- 
straaten,  Mansfeld,  and  others  were  summoned  to  the 
palace.  They  found  her  already  equipped  for  flight,  sur- 
rounded by  her  waiting-women,  chamberlains,  and  lack- 
eys, while  the  mules  and  hackneys  stood  harnessed  in  the 
court-yard,  and  her  body-guard  were  prepared  to  mount 
at  a  moment's  notice.  She  announced  her  intention  of 
retreating  at  once  to  Mons,  in  which  city,  owing  to  Aer- 
schot's  care,  she  hoped  to  find  refuge  against  the  fury  of 
the  rebellion  then  sweeping  the  country.  Her  alarm  was 
almost  beyond  control.  She  was  certain  that  the  storm 
was  ready  to  burst  upon  Brussels,  and  that  every  Catholic 
was  about  to  be  massacred  before  her  eyes.  Aremberg, 
Berlaymont,  and  Noircarmes  were  with  the  Duchess  when 
the  other  seigniors  arrived.  After  repeated  interviews 
and  precautions,  taken  to  insure  the  personal  safety  of  the 
Duchess,  she  was  persuaded  to  remain  in  the  city.  The 
Regent  was  spared  the  ignominy  and  the  disaster  of  a 
retreat  before  an  insurrection  which  was  only  directed 
against  statues,  and  the  ecclesiastical  treasures  of  Brus- 
sels were  saved  from  sacrilege. 

On  the  25th  of  August  came  the  crowning  act  of  what 
the  Reformers  considered  their  most  complete  triumph, 
and  the  Regent  her  deepest  degradation.  It  was  found 
necessary  under  the  alarming  aspect  of  affairs,  that  liberty 
of  worship,  in  places  where  it  had  been  already  established, 
should  be  accorded  to  the  new  religion.    Articles  of  agree- 


198  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

merit  to  this  effect  were  accordingly  drawn  np  and  ex- 
changed between  the  government  and  Louis  of  Nassau, 
attended  by  fifteen  others  of  the  confederacy.  A  corre- 
sponding pledge  was  signed  by  them,  that,  so  long  as  the 
Kegent  was  true  to  her  engagement,  they  would  consider 
their  previously  existing  league  annulled,  and  would  as- 
sist cordially  in  every  endeavor  to  maintain  tranquillity 
and  support  the  authority  of  his  Majesty.  The  impor- 
tant Accord  was  then  duly  signed  by  the  Duchess.  It 
declared  that  the  inquisition  was  abolished,  that  his  Majes- 
ty would  soon  issue  a  new  general  edict,  expressly  and 
unequivocally  protecting  the  nobles  against  all  evil  con- 
sequences from  past  transactions,  that  they  were  to  be 
employed  in  the  royal  service,  and  that  public  preaching 
according  to  the  forms  of  the  new  religion  was  to  be  prac- 
tised in  places  where  it  had  already  taken  place.  Letters 
general  were  immediately  despatched  to  the  senates  of  all 
the  cities,  proclaiming  these  articles  of  agreement  and 
ordering  their  execution.  Thus  for  a  fleeting  moment 
there  was  a  thrill  of  joy  throughout  the  Netherlands. 
The  inquisition  was  thought  forever  abolished,  the  era 
of  religious  reformation  arrived. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
FIELD-PREACHING  AND  THE  KING'S  WRATH 

Egmont  in  Flanders,  Orange  at  Antwerp,  Horn  at  Tour- 
nay,  Hoogstraaten  at  Mechlin,  were  exerting  themselves 
to  suppress  insurrection  and  to  avert  ruin.  What,  mean- 
while, was  the  policy  of  the  government  ?  The  secret 
course  pursued  both  at  Brussels  and  at  Madrid  may  be 
condensed  into  the  usual  formula  —  dissimulation,  pro- 
crastination, and  again  dissimulation. 

It  is  at  this  point  necessary  to  take  a  rapid  survey  of 
the  open  and  the  secret  proceedings  of  the  King  and  his 
representatives  from  the  moment  at  which  Berghen  and 
Montigny  arrived  in  Madrid.  Those  ill-fated  gentlemen 
had  been  received  with  apparent  cordiality,  and  admitted 
to  frequent  but  unmeaning  interviews  with  his  Majesty. 
The  current  upon  which  they  were  embarked  was  deep 
and  treacherous,  but  it  was  smooth  and  very  slow.  They 
assured  the  King  that  his  letters  ordering  the  rigorous 
execution  of  the  inquisition  and  edicts  had  engendered 
all  the  evils  under  which  the  provinces  were  laboring. 
They  told  him  that  Spaniards  and  tools  of  Spaniards 
had  attempted  to  govern  the  country,  to  the  exclusion  of 
native  citizens  and  nobles,  but  that  it  would  soon  be  found 
that  Netherlanders  were  not  to  be  trodden  upon  like  the 
abject  inhabitants  of  Milan,  Naples,  and  Sicily.  Such 
words  as  these  struck  with  an  unaccustomed  sound  upon 
the  royal  ear,  but  the  envoys,  who  were  both  Catholic  and 
loyal,  had  no  idea  in  thus  expressing  their  opinions,  ac- 
cording to  their  sense,  of  duty  and  in  obedience  to  the 
King's  desire,  upon  the  causes  of  the  discontent,  that  they 
were  committing  an  act  of  high  treason. 


200  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

When  the  news  of  the  public  preaching  reached  Spain, 
there  were  almost  daily  consultations  at  the  grove  of  Se- 
govia. The  eminent  personages  who  composed  the  royal 
council  were  the  Duke  of  Alva,  the  Count  de  Feria,  Don 
Antonio  de  Toledo,  Don  Juan  Manrique  de  Lara,  Ruy 
Gomez,  Quixada,  Councillor  Tisnacq,  recently  appointed 
president  of  the  state  council,  and  Councillor  Hopper. 
Six  Spaniards  and  two  Netherlanders,  one  of  whom,  too, 
a  man  of  dull  intellect  and  thoroughly  subservient  char- 
acter, to  deal  with  the  local  affairs  of  the  Netherlands  in 
a  time  of  intense  excitement !  The  instructions  of  the 
envoys  had  been  to  represent  the  necessity  of  according 
three  great  points — abolition  of  the  inquisition,  modera- 
tion of  the  edicts,  according  to  the  draft  prepared  in  Brus- 
sels, and  an  ample  pardon  for  past  transactions.  There 
was  much  debate  upon  all  these  propositions.  Philip  said 
little,  but  he  listened  attentively  to  the  long  discourses  in 
council,  and  he  took  an  incredible  quantity  of  notes.  It 
was  the  general  opinion  that  this  last  demand  on  the  part 
of  the  Netherlanders  was  the  fourth  link  in  the  chain  of 
treason.  The  first  had  been  the  cabal  by  which  Granvelle 
had  been  expelled ;  the  second,  the  mission  of  Egmont, 
the  main  object  of  which  had  been  to  procure  a  modifi- 
cation of  the  state  council,  in  order  to  bring  that  body 
under  the  control  of  a  few  haughty  and  rebellious  nobles  ; 
the  third  had  been  the  presentation  of  the  insolent  and 
seditious  Request ;  and  now,  to  crown  the  whole,  came  a 
proposition  embodying  the  three  points — abolition  of  the 
inquisition,  revocation  of  the  edicts,  and  a  pardon  to  crim- 
inals for  whom  death  was  the  only  sufficient  punishment. 

With  regard  to  these  three  points,  it  was,  after  much 
wrangling,  decided  to  grant  them  under  certain  restric- 
tions. 

It  was  the  last  day  of  July  before  the  King  wrote  at  all, 
to  communicate  his  decisions  upon  the  crisis  which  had 
occurred  in  the  first  week  of  April.  His  masterly  dis- 
simulation was  employed  in  the  direction  suggested  by 
his  councillors.  He  wrote  accordingly  to  say  that  the 
pardon,  under  certain  conditions,  might  be  granted,  and 
that  the  papal  inquisition  might  cease — the  bishops  now 


1566]  PIOUS   FRAUD  201 

being  present  in  such  numbers,  "to  take  care  of  their 
flocks/'  and  the  episcopal  inquisition  being  therefore  es- 
tablished upon  so  secure  a  basis.  He  added  that,  if  a 
moderation  of  the  edicts  were  still  desired,  a  new  project 
might  be  sent  to  Madrid,  as  the  one  brought  by  Berghen 
and  Montigny  was  not  satisfactory. 

Certainly,  here  was  not  much  encouragement  for  patri- 
otic hearts  in  the  Netherlands.  A  pardon  so  restricted 
that  none  were  likely  to  be  forgiven  save  those  who  had 
done  no  wrong ;  an  episcopal  inquisition  stimulated  to 
renewed  exertions,  on  the  ground  that  the  papal  func- 
tionaries were  to  be  discharged  ;  and  a  promise  that,  al- 
though the  proposed  moderation  of  the  edicts  seemed  too 
mild  for  the  monarch's  acceptance,  yet  at  some  future 
period  another  project  would  be  matured  for  settling  the 
matter  to  universal  satisfaction — such  were  the  proposi- 
tions of  the  crown.  Nevertheless,  Philip  thought  he  had 
gone  too  far  even  in  administering  this  meagre  amount 
of  mercy,  and  that  he  had  been  too  frank  in  employing  so 
slender  a  deception  as  in  the  scheme  thus  sketched.  He, 
therefore,  summoned  a  notary,  before  whom,  in  presence 
of  the  Duke  of  Alva,  the  Licentiate  Menchaca,  and  Dr. 
Velasco,  he  declared  that,  although  he  had  just  authorized 
Margaret  of  Parma,  by  force  of  circumstances,  to  grant 
pardon  to  all  those  who  had  been  compromised  in  the  late 
disturbances  of  the  Netherlands,  yet,  as  he  had  not  done 
this  spontaneously  nor  freely,  he  did  not  consider  himself 
bound  by  the  authorization,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  he 
reserved  his  right  to  punish  all  the  guilty,  and  particu- 
larly those  who  had  been  the  authors  and  encouragers  of 
the  sedition. 

So  much  for  the  pardon  promised  in  his  official  cor- 
respondence. 

With  regard  to  the  concessions  which  he  supposed  him- 
self to  have  made  in  the  matter  of  the  inquisition  and  the 
edicts,  he  saved  his  conscience  by  another  process.  Re- 
voking with  his  right  hand  all  which  his  left  had  been 
doing,  he  had  no  sooner  despatched  his  letters  to  the 
Duchess  Regent  than  he  sent  off  another  to  his  envoy  at 
Rome.     In  this  despatch  he  instructed  Requesens  to  in- 


202  HISTORY   OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1566 

form  the  Pope  as  to  the  recent  royal  decisions  upon  the 
three  points,  and  to  state  that  there  had  not  been  time  to 
consult  his  Holiness  beforehand. 

With  regard  to  the  proposed  moderation  of  the  edicts, 
the  project  sent  by  the  Duchess  not  having  been  approved, 
orders  had  been  transmitted  for  a  new  draft,  in  which  all 
the  articles  providing  for  the  severe  'punishment  of  heretics 
were  to  he  retained,  while  alterations,  to  be  agreed  upon 
by  the  state  and  privy  councils  and  the  Knights  of  the 
Fleece,  were  to  be  adopted — certainly  in  no  sense  of  clem- 
ency. On  the  contrary,  the  King  assured  his  Holiness 
that,  if  the  severity  of  chastisement  should  he  mitigated  the 
least  in  the  world  by  the  new  articles,  they  would  in  no 
case  receive  the  royal  approbation.  Philip  further  im- 
plored the  Pope  ^"^not  to  be  scandalized^'  with  regard  to 
the  proposed  pardon,  as  it  would  be  by  no  means  extended 
to  offenders  against  religion.  All  this  was  to  be  kept  en- 
tirely secret.  The  King  added  that,  rather  than  permit  the 
least  prejudice  to  the  ancient  religion,  he  would  sacrifice 
all  his  states,  and  lose  a  hundred  lives  if  he  had  so  many ; 
for  he  would  never  consent  to  be  the  sovereign  of  heretics. 

Here  was  plain  speaking.  Here  were  all  the  coming 
horrors  distinctly  foreshadowed.  Here  was  the  truth  told 
to  the  only  being  with  whom  Philip  ever  was  sincere. 
Yet  even  on  this  occasion  he  permitted  himself  a  false- 
hood, by  which  his  Holiness  was  not  deceived.  Philip 
had  no  intention  of  going  to  the  Netherlands  in  person, 
and  the  Pope  knew  that  he  had  none. 

Notwithstanding  the  urgent  representations  of  Duch- 
ess Margaret  to  her  brother,  that  nobles  and  people  were 
all  clamoring  about  the  necessity  of  convening  the  states- 
general,  Philip  was  true  to  his  instincts  on  this  as  on  the 
other  questions.  He  knew  very  well  that  the  states- 
general  of  the  Netherlands  and  Spanish  despotism  were 
incompatible  ideas,  and  he  recoiled  from  the  idea  of  the 
assembly  with  infinite  aversion.  At  the  same  time  a 
little  wholesome  deception  could  do  no  harm.  He  wrote 
to  the  Duchess,  therefore,  that  he  was  determined  never 
to  alloio  the  states  -  general  to  be  convened.  He  forbade 
her  to  consent  to  the  step  under  any  circumstances,  but 


1566]  EGMONT   IN   FLANDERS  203 

ordered  her  to  keep  his  prohibition  a  profound  secret.  He 
wished,  he  said,  the  people  to  think  that  it  was  only  for 
the  moment  that  the  convocation  was  forbidden,  and  that 
the  Duchess  was  expecting  to  receive  the  necessary  per- 
mission at  another  time. 

Such,  then,  was  the  policy  secretly  resolved  upon  by 
Philip  even  before  he  had  heard  of  the  startling  events  of 
field-preaching  and  image-breaking. 

Meanwhile,  with  infamous  calumnies,  utterly  disproved 
by  every  fact  in  the  case,  and  unsupported  by  a  tittle  of 
evidence,  save  the  hearsay  reports  of  a  man  like  Noir- 
carmes,  did  the  Duchess  of  Parma  dig  the  graves  of  men 
who  were  doing  their  best  to  serve  her. 

The  essence  of  the  compact  agreed  to  upon  the  23d  of 
August  between  the  confederates  and  the  Regent  was 
that  the  preaching  of  the  Reformed  religion  should  be 
tolerated  in  places  where  it  had  previously  to  that  date 
been  established.  Upon  this  basis  Egmont,  Horn,  Or- 
ange, Hoogstraaten,  and  others,  were  directed  once  more 
to  attempt  the  pacification  of  the  different  provinces. 

Egmont  departed  for  his  government,  and  from  that 
moment  vanished  all  his  pretensions,  which  at  best  had  been 
slender  enough,  to  the  character  of  a  national  chieftain. 
He  entered  Flanders,  not  as  a  chief  of  rebels,  not  as 
a  wise  pacificator,  but  as  an  unscrupulous  partisan  of 
government,  disposed  to  take  summary  vengeance  on  all 
suspected  persons  who  should  fall  in  his  way.  He  or- 
dered numerous  executions  of  image-breakers  and  of  other 
heretics.  The  whole  province  was  in  a  state  of  alarm; 
for,  although  he  had  not  been  furnished  by  the  Regent 
with  a  strong  body  of  troops,  yet  the  name  of  the  con- 
queror at  Saint-Quentin  and  Gravelines  was  worth  many 
regiments.  His  severity  was  excessive.  His  sanguinary 
exertions  were  ably  seconded  also  by  his  secretary,  Bak- 
kerzeel,  a  man  who  exercised  the  greatest  influence  over 
his  chief,  and  who  was  now  fiercely  atoning  for  having 
signed  the  Compromise  by  persecuting  those  whom  that 
league  had  been  formed  to  protect.  On  one  occasion 
Bakkerzeel  hanged  twenty  heretics,  including  a  minister, 
at  a  single  heat. 


204  HISTORY   OP   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

Such  achievements  as  these  by  the  hands  or  the  orders 
of  the  distinguished  general  who  had  been  most  absurdly 
held  up  as  a  possible  protector  of  the  civil  and  religious 
liberties  of  the  country,  created  a  profound  sensation. 
Flanders  and  Artois  were  filled  with  the  wives  and  chil- 
dren of  suspected  thousands  who  had  fled  the  country 
to  escape  the  wrath  of  Egmont.  The  cries  and  piteous 
lamentations  of  these  unfortunate  creatures  were  heard 
on  every  side.  In  vain  did  Count  Louis  intercede  for  the 
persecuted  Reformers.  Flanders  was  soon  pacified  ;  nor 
was  that  important  province  permitted  to  enjoy  the  bene- 
fits of  the  agreement  which  had  been  extorted  from  the 
Duchess.  The  preachings  were  forbidden,  and  the  min- 
isters and  congregations  arrested  and  chastised,  even  in 
places  where  the  custom  had  been  established  previously 
to  the  23d  of  August.  Certainly  such  vigorous  exertions 
upon  the  part  both  of  master  and  man  did  not  savor  of 
treason  to  Philip,  and  hardly  seemed  to  indicate  the  final 
doom  of  Egmont  and  Bakkerzeel. 

The  course  of  Orange  at  Antwerp  was  consistent  with 
his  whole  career.  He  honestly  came  to  arrange  a  pacifi- 
cation, but  he  knew  that  this  end  could  be  gained  only 
by  loyally  maintaining  the  Accord  which  had  been  signed 
between  the  confederates  and  the  Regent.  He  came  back 
to  the  city  on  the  26th  of  August,  and  found  order  par- 
tially re-established. 

Three  image-breakers,  who  had  been  taken  in  the  act, 
were  hanged  by  order  of  the  magistrates  upon  the  28th 
of  August.  The  presence  of  Orange  gave  them  courage 
to  achieve  these  executions  which  he  could  not  prevent, 
as  the  fifth  article  of  the  Accord  enjoined  the  chastise- 
ment of  the  rioters.  The  magistrates  chose  that  the 
'^ chastisement"  on  this  occasion  should  be  exemplary, 
and  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  Orange  to  interfere  with 
the  regular  government  of  the  city  when  acting  accord- 
ing to  its  laws.  The  deed  was  not  his,  however,  and  he 
hastened,  in  order  to  obviate  the  necessity  of  further 
violence,  to  prepare  articles  of  agreement,  upon  the  basis 
of  Margaret's  concessions.  Public  preaching,  according 
to  the  Reformed  religion,  had  already  taken  place  within 


1566]  TOLERATION  205 

the  city.  Upon  the  22d,  possession  had  been  taken  of 
at  least  three  churches.  Even  the  great  cathedral,  that 
had  so  long  echoed  dead  Latin,  resounded  with  the  ver- 
nacular of  native  worshippers  in  psalm  and  sermon,  as 
the  Flemish  preacher,  Herman  Modet,  preached,  prayed, 
and  sang. 

The  city  of  Antwerp,  therefore,  was  clearly  within  the 
seventh  clause  of  the  treaty  of  the  24th  of  August,  for 
preaching  had  taken  place  in  the  cathedral  previously  to 
the  signing  of  that  Accord. 

Upon  the  2d  of  September,  therefore,  after  many  pro- 
tracted interviews  with  the  heads  of  the  Reformed  re- 
ligion, the  Prince  drew  up  sixteen  articles  of  mutual  agree- 
ment by  them  and  the  magistrates  and  the  government, 
which  were  duly  signed  and  exchanged.  They  were  con- 
ceived in  the  true  spirit  of  statesmanship,  and  could  the 
rulers  of  the  land  have  elevated  themselves  to  the  mental 
height  of  William  of  Nassau,  had  Philip  been  capable  of 
comprehending  such  a  mind,  the  Prince,  who  alone  pos- 
sessed the  power  in  those  distracted  times  of  governing 
the  wills  of  all  men,  would  have  enabled  the  monarch  to 
transmit  that  beautiful  cluster  of  provinces,  without  the 
loss  of  a  single  jewel,  to  the  inheritors  of  his  crown. 

If  the  Prince  were  playing  a  game,  he  played  it  honor- 
ably. To  have  conceived  the  thought  of  religious  tolera- 
tion in  an  age  of  universal  dogmatism;  to  have  labored  to 
produce  mutual  respect  among  conflicting  opinions,  at  a 
period  when  many  Dissenters  were  as  bigoted  as  the  ortho- 
dox, and  when  most  Reformers  fiercely  proclaimed  not 
liberty  for  every  Christian  doctrine,  but  only  a*new  creed 
in  place  of  all  the  rest;  to  have  admitted  the  possibility  of 
several  roads  to  heaven,  when  zealots  of  all  creeds  would 
shut  up  all  pathways  but  their  own ;  if  such  sentiments 
and  purposes  were  sins,  they  would  have  been  ill-exchanged 
for  the  best  virtues  of  the  age.  Yet,  no  doubt,  this  was 
his  crying  offence  in  the  opinion  of  many  contemporaries. 
He  was  now  becoming  apostate  from  the  ancient  Church, 
but  he  had  long  thought  that  Emperors,  Kings,  and  Popes 
had  taken  altogether  too  much  care  of  men's  souls  in  times 
past,  and  had  sent  too  many  of  them  prematurely  to  their 


206  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1666 

great  account.  He  was  equally  indisposed  to  grant  full 
powers  for  the  same  purpose  to  Calvinists,  Lutherans,  or 
Anabaptists. 

The  articles  of  agreement  at  Antwerp  thus  promulgated 
assigned  three  churches  to  the  different  sects  of  Reformers, 
stipulated  that  no  attempt  should  be  made  by  Catholics  or 
Protestants  to  disturb  the  religious  worship  of  each  other, 
and  provided  that  neither  by  mutual  taunts  in  their  ser- 
mons, nor  by  singing  street  ballads,  together  with  improp- 
er allusions  and  overt  acts  of  hostility,  should  the  good- 
fellowship  which  ought  to  reign  between  brethren  and 
fellow-citizens,  even  although  entertaining  different  opin- 
ions as  to  religious  rites  and  doctrines,  be  for  the  future 
interrupted. 

This  was  the  basis  upon  which  the  very  brief  religious 
peace,  broken  almost  as  soon  as  established,  was  concluded 
by  William  of  Orange,  not  only  at  Antwerp,  but  at  Utrecht, 
Amsterdam,  and  other  principal  cities  within  his  govern- 
ment. 

While  Egmont  had  been  busy  in  Flanders,  and  Orange  at 
Antwerp,  Count  Horn  had  been  doing  his  best  at  Tournai, 
or  Doornik  in  Hainault.  The  Admiral  was  not  especial- 
ly gifted  with  intellect,  nor  with  the  power  of  managing 
men,  but  he  went  there  with  an  honest  purpose  of  seeing 
the  Accord  executed,  intending,  if  it  should  prove  practi- 
cable, rather  to  favor  the  government  than  the  Reformers. 
At  the  same  time,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  satisfaction  to 
the  members  of  "  the  religion,"  and  of  manifesting  his  sin- 
cere desire  for  a  pacification,  he  accepted  lodgings  which 
had  been  prepared  for  him  at  the  house  of  a  Calvinist  mer- 
chant in  the  city,  rather  than  take  up  his  quarters  with 
fierce  old  Governor  Moulbais  in  the  citadel.  This  gave 
much  offence  to  the  Catholics,  and  inspired  the  Reformers 
with  the  hope  of  having  their  preaching  inside  the  town. 
To  this  privilege  they  were  entitled,  for  the  practice  had 
already  been  established  there  previously  to  the  23d  of 
August.  Nevertheless,  at  first  he  was  disposed  to  limit 
them,  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  Duchess,  to 
extra-mural  exercises. 

At  a  great  banquet  held  on  the  following  Sunday,  and. 


1666]  HORN  AT  TOURNAI  207 

strangely  enongh,  in  the  hall  of  the  ''gehenna  "  or  torture- 
room,  there  was  an  ominous  interruption,  ending  in  a 
quarrel.  Popular  tradition  and  monkish  legend  having 
declared  that  a  vast  treasure  was  hidden  under  the  vaults 
of  the  cathedral.  Count  Horn  had,  as  soon  as  he  arrived, 
placed  a  strong  guard  and  ordered  extensive  excavations. 
This  caused  great  offence  and  finally  a  quarrel  between  the 
canons  and  the  money-diggers.  When  the  incensed  com- 
mander of  the  guards  and  an  angry  local  official  came  to- 
gether to  the  banquet  to  have  their  dispute  settled,  the 
Count  rebuked  and  threatened  the  unpopular  municipal 
officer  in  a  way  that  delighted  the  merchants  present.  Af- 
ter long  excavation,  nothing  of  importance  was  found  ; 
the  Admiral,  despite  good  intentions,  gaining  only  local 
hatred  from  the  Catholics  and  misrepresentation  to  Philip 
from  Margaret. 

Horn  had  taken  his  apartments  in  the  city  in  order  to 
be  at  hand  to  suppress  any  tumults  and  to  inspire  confi- 
dence in  the  people.  He  had  come  to  a  city  where  five- 
sixths  of  the  inhabitants  were  of  the  Reformed  religion,  and 
he  did  not,  therefore,  think  it  judicious  to  attempt  vio- 
lently the  suppression  of  their  worship.  Upon  his  arrival 
he  had  issued  a  proclamation,  ordering  that  all  property 
which  might  have  been  pillaged  from  the  religious  houses 
should  be  instantly  restored  to  the  magistracy  under  pen- 
alty that  all  who  disobeyed  the  command  should  "  be 
forthwith  strangled  at  the  gibbet.^'  Nothing  was  brought 
back,  however,  for  the  simple  reason  that  nothing  had 
been  stolen.     There  was,  therefore,  no  one  to  be  strangled. 

The  next  step  was  to  publish  the  Accord  of  the  23d  of 
August,  and  to  signify  the  intention  of  the  Admiral  to  en- 
force its  observance.  The  preachings  were  as  enthusias- 
tically attended  as  ever,  while  the  storm  which  had  been 
raging  among  the  images  had  in  the  mean  time  been  entire- 
ly allayed.  Congregations  of  fifteen  thousand  were  still 
going  to  hear  Ambrose  Wille  in  the  suburbs,  but  they  were 
very  tranquil  in  their  demeanor.  It  was  arranged  between 
the  Admiral  and  the  leaders  of  the  Reformed  consistories, 
that  three  places,  to  be  selected  by  Horn,  should  be  as- 
signed for  their  places  of  worship.     At  these  spots,  which 


20S  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1566 

were  outside  the  walls,  permission  was  given  the  Reform- 
ers to  build  meeting-houses.  To  this  arrangement  the 
Duchess  formally  gave  her  consent. 

Nicholas  Taffin,  councillor,  in  the  name  of  the  Reform- 
ers, made  ^'a  brave  and  elegant  harangue"  before  the 
magistrates,  representing  that  as  on  the  most  moderate 
computation  three-quarters  of  the  population  were  Dissen- 
ters, as  the  Regent  had  ordered  the  construction  of  the 
new  temples,  and  as  the  Catholics  retained  possession  of 
all  the  churches  in  the  city,  it  was  no  more  than  fair  that 
the  community  should  bear  the  expense  of  the  new  build- 
ings. It  was  indignantly  replied,  however,  that  Catholics 
could  not  be  expected  to  pay  for  the  maintenance  of  her- 
esy, particularly  when  they  had  just  been  so  much  exas- 
perated by  the  image-breaking.  Councillor  Taffin  took 
nothing,  therefore,  by  his  "  brave  and  elegant  harangue," 
saving  a  small  vote  of  forty  livres. 

The  building  was,  however,  immediately  commenced. 
Vast  heaps  of  broken  images  and  other  ornaments  of  the 
desecrated  churches  were  most  unwisely  used  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  the  Catholics  were  exceedingly  enraged  at  be- 
holding those  male  and  female  saints  who  had  for  centu- 
ries been  placed  in  such  "  reverend  and  elevated  positions," 
fallen  so  low  as  to  be  the  foundation  -  stones  of  temples 
whose  builders  denounced  all  those  holy  things  as  idols. 

As  the  autumn  began  to  wane,  the  people  were  clamor- 
ous for  permission  to  have  their  preaching  inside  the  city, 
but  the  Duchess  was  furious  at  the  proposition,  and  the 
Admiral  was  thus  placed  in  a  most  intolerable  position. 
An  honest,  commonplace,  sullen  kind  of  man,  he  had 
come  to  a  city  full  of  heretics,  to  enforce  concessions  just 
made  by  the  government  to  heresy.  He  soon  found  him- 
self watched,  paltered  with,  suspected  by  the  administra- 
tion at  Brussels.  Governor  Moulbais,  in  the  citadel,  who 
was  nominally  under  his  authority,  refused  obedience  to 
his  orders,  was  evidently  receiving  secret  instructions  from 
the  Regent,  and  was  determined  to  cannonade  the  city 
into  submission  at  a  very  early  day.  Horn  required  him 
to  pledge  himself  that  no  fresh  troops  should  enter  the 
castle.     Moulbais  swore  he  would  make  no  such  promise 


1566]  THE   ADMIRAL  RECALLED  209 

to  a  living  soul,  gmall  reinforcements  were  daily  arriv- 
ing at  the  castle ;  the  soldiers  of  the  garrison  had  been 
heard  to  boast  ''  that  they  would  soon  carve  and  eat  the 
townsmen's  flesh  on  their  dressers/'  and  all  the  good  ef- 
fect from  the  Admiral's  proclamation  on  arriving  had 
completely  vanished. 

Horn  complained  bitterly  of  the  situation  in  which  he 
was  placed,  but  his  remonstrances  were  of  no  avail. 

In  the  middle  of  October  he  was  recalled  by  the  Duch- 
ess, whose  letters  had  been  uniformly  so  ambiguous  that 
he  confessed  he  was  quite  unable  to  divine  their  meaning. 
Before  he  left  the  city  he  committed  his  most  unpardon- 
able crime.  Urged  by  the  leaders  of  the  Reformed  con- 
gregations to  permit  their  exercises  in  the  Clothiers'  Hall 
until  their  temples  should  be  finished,  the  Count  accorded 
his  consent  provisionally,  and  subject  to  revocation  by  the 
Regent,  to  whom  the  arrangement  was  immediately  to  be 
communicated. 

Horn  departed,  and  the  Reformers  took  instant  posses- 
sion of  the  hall.  It  was  found  in  a  very  dirty  and  disor- 
derly condition,  encumbered  with  benches,  scaffoldings, 
stakes,  gibbets,  and  all  the  machinery  used  for  public 
executions  upon  the  market-place.  A  vast  body  of  men 
went  to  work  with  a  will,  scrubbing,  cleaning,  white- 
washing, and  removing  all  the  foul  lumber  of  the  hall, 
singing  in  chorus,  as  they  did  so,  the  hymns  of  Clement 
Marot.  By  dinner-time  the  place  was  ready.  The  pulpit 
and  benches  for  the  congregation  had  taken  the  place  of 
the  gibbet  timber.  It  is  difficult  to  comprehend  that  such 
work  as  this  was  a  deadly  crime.  Nevertheless,  Horn, 
who  was  Imnself  a  sincere  Catholic,  had  committed  the 
most  mortal  of  all  his  offences  against  Philip  and  against 
God  by  having  countenanced  so  flagitious  a  transaction. 

The  Admiral  went  to  Brussels.  Secretary  de  la  Torre, 
a  very  second-rate  personage,  was  despatched  to  Tournai 
to  convey  the  orders  of  the  Regent.  Governor  Moulbais, 
now  in  charge  of  affairs  both  civil  and  military,  was  to 
prepare  all  things  for  the  garrison,  which  was  soon  to  be 
despatched  under  Noircarmes.  The  Duchess  had  now 
arms  in  her  hands,  and  her  language  was  bold.  La  Torre 
14 


210  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

advised  the  Reformers  to  be  wise  '^w]iile  the  rod  was  yet 
green  and  growing,  lest  it  should  be  gathered  for  their 
backs;  for  it  was  unbecoming  in  subjects  to  make  bar- 
gains with  their  King/" 

At  the  close  of  the  year  the  city  of  Tournai  was  com- 
pletely subjugated  and  the  Reformed  religion  suppressed. 
Upon  the  2d  day  of  January,  1567,  the  Seigneur  de  Noir- 
carmes  arrived  before  the  gates  at  the  head  of  eleven  com- 
panies, with  orders  from  Duchess  Margaret  to  strengthen 
the  garrison  and  disarm  the  citizens.  He  gave  the  mag- 
istrates exactly  one  hour  and  a  half  to  decide  whether 
they  would  submit  without  a  murmur.  He  expressed  an 
intention  of  maintaining  the  Accord  of  the  23d  of  Au- 
gust ;  a  ridiculous  affectation,  under  the  circumstances,  as 
the  event  proved.  The  notables  were  summoned,  sub- 
mission agreed  upon,  and  within  the  prescribed  time  the 
magistrates  came  before  Noircarmes  with  an  uncondi- 
tional acceptance  of  his  terms.  That  truculent  person- 
age told  them  in  reply  that  they  had  done  wisely,  for  if 
they  had  delayed  receiving  the  garrison  a  minute  longer 
he  would  have  instantly  burned  the  city  to  ashes  and  put 
every  one  of  the  inhabitants  to  the  sword.  He  had  been 
fully  authorized  to  do  so,  and  subsequent  events  were  to 
show,  upon  more  than  one  dreadful  occasion,  how  capa- 
ble Noircarmes  would  have  been  of  fulfilling  this  menace. 

The  soldiers,  who  had  made  a  forced  march  all  night, 
and  who  had  been  firmly  persuaded  that  the  city  would 
refuse  the  terms  demanded,  were  excessively  disappointed 
at  being  obliged  to  forego  the  sack  and  pillage  upon  which 
they  had  reckoned.  Eight  or  nine  hundred  rascally  peas- 
ants, too,  who  had  followed  in  the  skirts  of  the  regiments, 
each  provided  with  a  great  empty  bag,  which  they  expected 
to  fill  with  booty  that  they  might  purchase  of  the  soldiers, 
or  steal  in  the  midst  of  the  expected  carnage  and  rapine, 
shared  the  discontent  of  the  soldiery,  by  whom  they  were 
now  driven  ignominiously  out  of  the  town.  The  citizens 
were  immediately  disarmed.  All  the  fine  weapons  which 
they  had  been  obliged  to  purchase  at  their  own  expense, 
when  they  had  been  arranged  by  the  magistrates  under 
eight  banners  for  defence  of  the  city  against  tumult  and 


1566]  CALUMNIATION  211 

invasion,  were  taken  from  them  ;  the  most  beautiful  cut- 
lasses, carbines,  poniards,  and  pistols,  being  divided  by 
Noircarmes  among  his  officers.  Thus  Tournai  was  tran- 
quillized. 

During  the  whole  of  these  proceedings  in  Flanders, 
and  at  Antwerp,  Tournai,  and  Mechlin,  the  conduct  of 
the  Duchess  had  been  marked  with  more  than  her  usual 
treachery. 

When  Orange  complained  that  she  had  beer  censuring 
his  proceedings  at  Antwerp,  and  holding  language  un- 
favorable to  his  character,  she  protested  that  she  thor- 
oughly approved  his  arrangements  —  excepting  only  the 
two  points  of  the  intramural  preachings  and  the  permis- 
sion to  heretics  of  other  exercises  than  sermons — and  that 
if  she  were  displeased  with  him  he  might  be  sure  that 
she  would  rather  tell  him  so  than  speak  ill  of  him  behind 
his  back.  She  also  sent  Councillor  d'Assonleville  on  a 
special  mission  to  the  Prince,  instructing  that  smooth 
personage  to  inform  her  said  cousin  of  Orange  that  he 
was,  and  always  had  been,  "loved  and  cherished  by  his 
Majesty,  and  that  for  herself  she  had  ever  loved  him  like 
a  brother  or  a  child.'^ 

She  wrote  to  Horn,  approving  of  his  conduct  in  the 
main,  although  in  obscure  terms,  and  expressing  great 
confidence  in  his  zeal,  loyalty,  and  good  intentions.  She 
accorded  the  same  praise  to  Hoogstraaten,  while  as  to 
Egmont  she  was  perpetually  reproaching  him  for  the  sus- 
picions which  he  seemed  obstinately  to  entertain  as  to  her 
disposition  and  that  of  Philip  in  regard  to  his  conduct 
and  character. 

Margaret's  pictures  were  painted  in  daily  darkening  col- 
ors. She  informed  the  King  that  the  scheme  for  dividing 
the  country  was  already  arranged  :  that  Augustus  of  Sax- 
ony was  to  have  Friesland  and  Overyssel ;  Count  Brede- 
rode,  Holland ;  the  Dukes  of  Cleves  and  Lorraine,  Guel- 
dres ;  the  King  of  France,  Flanders,  Artois,  and  Hainault, 
of  which  territories  Egmont  was  to  be  perpetual  stad- 
holder ;  the  Prince  of  Orange,  Brabant ;  and  so  on  indef- 
initely. A  general  massacre  of  all  the  Catholics  had  been 
arranged  by  Orange,  Horn,  and  Egmont,  to   commence 


;812  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1566 

as  soon  as  the  King  should  put  his  foot  on  shipboard  to 
come  to  the  country.  This  last  remarkable  fact  Margaret 
reported  to  Philip  upon  the  respectable  authority  of  Noir- 
carmes. 

The  Duchess  gave,  moreover,  repeated  warnings  to  her 
brother  that  the  nobles  were  in  the  habit  of  obtaining 
possession  of  all  the  correspondence  between  Madrid  and 
Brussels,  and  that  they  spent  a  vast  deal  of  money  in 
order  to  read  her  own  and  Philip's  most  private  letters. 
She  warned  him,  therefore,  to  be  upon  his  guard,  for  she 
believed  that  almost  all  their  despatches  were  read.  Such 
being  the  case,  and  the  tenor  of  those  documents  being 
what  we  have  seen  it  to  be,  her  complaints  as  to  the  in- 
credulity of  those  seigniors  to  her  affectionate  protesta- 
tions seem  quite  wonderful. 


CHAPTER  IX 
ORANGE,  BREDERODE,  HORN,    AND   EGMONT 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1566  it  was  necessary 
that  the  Prince  of  Orange  should  make  a  personal  visit 
to  his  government  of  Holland,  where  disorders  similar  to 
those  in  Antwerp  had  been  prevailing,  and  where  men  of 
all  ranks  and  parties  were  clamoring  for  their  stadholder. 

Notwithstanding  all  his  exertions,  however,  he  was  thor- 
oughly aware  of  the  position  in  which  he  stood  towards 
the  government.  The  sugared  phrases  of  Margaret,  the 
deliberate  commendation  of  the  ''benign  and  debonair" 
Philip,  produced  no  effect  upon  this  statesman,  who  was 
accustomed  to  look  through  and  through  men's  actions 
to  the  core  of  their  hearts.  In  the  hearts  of  Philip  and 
Margaret  he  already  saw  treachery  and  revenge  indelibly 
imprinted.  He  had  been  especially  indignant  at  the  in- 
sult which  the  Duchess  Regent  had  put  upon  him,  by 
sending  Duke  Eric  of  Brunswick  with  an  armed  force 
into  Holland  in  order  to  protect  Gouda,  Woerden,  and 
other  places  within  the  Prince's  own  government.  He 
was  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  general  tone  in  which 
the  other  seigniors  and  himself  were  described  to  their 
sovereign.  He  was  already  convinced  that  the  country 
was  to  be  conquered  by  foreign  mercenaries,  and  that  his 
own  life,  with  those  of  many  other  nobles,  was  to  be  sac- 
rificed. The  moment  had  arrived  in  which  he  was  justi- 
fied in  looking  about  him  for  means  of  defence  both  for 
himself  and  his  country,  if  the  King  should  be  so  insane 
as  to  carry  out  the  purposes  which  the  Prince  suspected. 
The  time  was  fast  approaching  in  which  a  statesman 
placed  upon  such  an  elevation  before  the  world  as  that 


214  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

which  he  occupied  would  be  obliged  to  choose  his  part 
for  life.  To  be  the  unscrupulous  tool  of  tyranny,  a  rebel, 
or  an  exile,  was  his  necessary  fate.  To  a  man  so  prone 
to  read  the  future  the  moment  for  his  choice  seemed 
already  arrived.  Moreover,  he  thought  it  doubtful,  and 
events  were  most  signally  to  justify  his  doubts,  whether 
he  could  be  accepted  as  the  instrument  of  despotism,  even 
were  he  inclined  to  prostitute  himself  to  such  service. 
At  this  point,  therefore,  undoubtedly  began  the  treason- 
able thoughts  of  William  the  Silent,  if  it  be  treason  to 
attempt  the  protection  of  ancient  and  chartered  liberties 
against  a  foreign  oppressor. 

Nothing  came  of  a  secret  embassy  which  the  Prince 
despatched  to  Egmont,  to  warn  him  of  impending  dan- 
gers and  to  propose  resistance  to  them,  for  Egmont's 
heart  and  fate  were  already  fixed.  Before  Orange  de- 
parted, however,  for  the  north,  where  his  presence  in  the 
Dutch  provinces  was  now  imperatively  required,  a  mem- 
orable interview  took  place  at  Dendermonde  between 
Orange,  Horn,  Egmont,  Hoogstraaten,  and  Count  Louis. 
It  was  not  a  long  consultation.  The  gentlemen  met  at 
eleven  o'clock,  and  conversed  until  dinner  was  ready, 
which  was  between  twelve  and  one  in  the  afternoon. 
They  discussed  the  contents  of  a  letter  recently  received 
by  Horn  from  his  brother  Montigny  at  Segovia,  giving  a 
lively  picture  of  Philip's  fury  at  the  recent  events  in  the 
Netherlands,  and  expressing  the  Baron's  own  astonish- 
ment and  indignation  that  it  had  been  impossible  for  the 
seigniors  to  prevent  such  outrages  as  the  public  preach- 
ing, the  image-breaking,  and  the  Accord.  They  had  also 
some  conversation  concerning  the  dissatisfaction  mani- 
fested by  the  Duchess  at  the  proceedings  of  Count  Horn 
at  Tournai. 

There  was  doubtless  some  talk  at  Dendermonde  as  to 
the  propriety  or  possibility  of  forcible  resistance  to  a  Span- 
ish army,  with  which  it  seemed  probable  that  Philip  was 
about  to  invade  the  provinces  and  take  the  lives  of  the 
leading  nobles.  Count  Louis  was  in  favor  of  making  pro- 
vision in  Germany  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  pur- 
pose.   It  is  also  highly  probable  that  the  Prince  may  have 


1566]  POSITION   OF  THE   LEADERS  215 

encouraged  the  proposition.  In  the  sense  of  his  former 
communication  to  Egmont,  he  may  have  reasoned  on  the 
necessity  of  making  levies  to  sustain  the  decisions  of  the 
states-general  against  violence.  There  is,  however,  no 
proof  of  any  such  fact.  Egmont,  at  any  rate,  opposed 
the  scheme,  on  the  ground  that  ^^  it  was  wrong  to  enter- 
tain any  such  ill  opinion  of  so  good  a  king  as  Philip,  that 
he  had  never  done  anything  unjust  towards  his  subjects, 
and  that  if  any  one  was  in  fear,  he  had  better  leave  the 
country. ''  Egmont,  moreover,  doubted  the  authenticity 
of  the  letters  from  Alva,  the  Spanish  envoy  at  Paris,  in 
which  the  deep  and  long -settled  hostility  of  Philip  to 
Orange,  Horn,  and  Egmont  was  alluded  to  as  a  fact  well 
known  to  the  writer,  which  had  been  discussed  at  the 
dinner.  Egmont  agreed  to  carry  them  to  Brussels  and 
to  lay  them  before  the  Regent.  That  lady,  when  she  saw 
them,  warmly  assured  the  Count  that  they  were  inven- 
tions. 

The  conference  broke  up  after  it  had  lasted  an  hour 
and  a  half.  The  nobles  then  went  to  dinner,  at  which 
other  persons  appear  to  have  been  present,  and  the  cele- 
brated Dendermonde  meeting  was  brought  to  a  close. 
After  the  repast  was  finished,  each  of  the  five  nobles 
mounted  his  horse  and  departed  on  his  separate  way. 

From  this  time  forth  the  position  of  these  leading 
seigniors  became  more  sharply  defined.  Orange  was  left 
in  almost  complete  isolation.  Without  the  assistance  of 
Egmont,  any  effective  resistance  to  the  impending  inva- 
sion from  Spain  seemed  out  of  the  question.  The  Count, 
however,  had  taken  his  irrevocable  and  fatal  resolution. 
He  was  sanguine  by  nature,  a  Catholic  in  religion,  a  roy- 
alist from  habit  and  conviction.  Henceforth  he  was  de- 
termined that  his  services  to  the  crown  should  more  than 
counterbalance  any  idle  speeches  or  insolent  demonstra- 
tions of  which  he  might  have  been  previously  guilty. 

Horn  pursued  a  different  course,  but  one  which  sepa- 
rated him  also  from  the  Prince,  while  it  led  to  the  same 
fate  which  Egmont  was  blindly  pursuing.  The  Admiral 
had  committed  no  act  of  treason.  On  the  contrary,  he 
had   been  doing  his  best,  under  most  difficult  circum- 


216  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

stances,  to  avert  rebellion  and  save  the  interests  of  a  most 
ungrateful  sovereign.  He  had  served  Philip  long  and 
faithfully,  but  he  had  never  received  a  stiver  of  salary 
or  ^^merced,"  notwithstanding  all  his  work  as  state  coun- 
cillor, as  admiral,  as  superintendent  in  Spain,  while  his 
younger  brother  had  long  been  in  receipt  of  nine  or  ten 
thousand  florins  yearly.  He  had  spent  four  hundred 
thousand  florins  in  the  King's  service  ;  his  estates  were 
mortgaged  to  their  full  value  ;  he  had  been  obliged  to  sell 
his  family  plate.  He  had  done  his  best  in  Tournai  to 
serve  the  Duchess,  and  he  had  averted  a  repetition  of  the 
Sicilian  Vespers,  which  had  been  imminent  at  his  arrival. 
He  had  saved  the  Catholics  from  a  general  massacre,  yet 
he  heard  nevertheless  from  Montigny  that  all  his  actions 
were  distorted  in  Spain  and  his  motives  blackened. 

Smarting  under  a  sense  of  gross  injustice,  the  Admiral 
expressed  himself  in  terms  which  Philip  was  not  likely  to 
forgive.  He  had  undertaken  the  pacification  of  Tournai 
because  it  was  Montigny's  government,  and  he  had  promised 
his  services  whenever  they  should  be  requisite.  Not  an 
entirely  disinterested  man,  perhaps,  but  an  honest  one,  as 
the  world  went,  mediocre  in  mind,  but  brave,  generous, 
and  direct  of  purpose,  goaded  by  the  shafts  of  calumny, 
hunted  down  by  the  whole  pack  which  fawned  upon  power 
as  it  grew  more  powerful,  he  now  retreated  to  his  "  des- 
ert,''  as  he  called  his  ruined  home  at  Weert,  where  he 
stood  at  bay,  growling  defiance  at  the  Eegent,  at  Philip, 
at  all  the  world. 

Thus  were  the  two  prominent  personages  upon  whose 
co-operation  Orange  had  hitherto  endeavored  to  rely  en- 
tirely separated  from  him.  The  confederacy  of  nobles, 
too,  was  dissolved,  having  accomplished  little,  notwith- 
standing all  its  noisy  demonstrations,  and  having  lost  all 
credit  with  the  people  by  the  formal  cassation  of  the  Com- 
promise in  consequence  of  the  Accord  of  August. 

No  doubt  there  were  many  individuals  in  the  confed- 
eracy for  whom  it  was  reserved  to  render  honorable  service 
in  the  national  cause.  The  names  of  Louis  of  Nassau, 
Marnix  of  Sainte-Aldegonde,  Bernard  de  Merode,  were  to 
be  written  in  golden  letters  in  their  country's  rolls;  but  at 


/566J  THE   WATCHMAN  217 

this  moment  they  were  impatient,  inconsiderate,  out  of 
the  control  of  Orange.  Louis  was  anxious  for  the  King 
to  come  from  Spain  with  his  army,  and  for  "  the  bear 
dance  to  begin/'  Brederode,  noisy,  brawling,  and  absurd 
as  ever,  was  bringing  ridicule  upon  the  national  cause  by 
his  buffoonery,  and  endangering  the  whole  people  by  his 
inadequate  yet  rebellious  exertions. 

What  course  was  the  Prince  of  Orange  to  adopt  ?  He 
could  find  no  one  to  comprehend  his  views.  His  first 
principle  was  that  Christians  of  all  denominations  should 
abstain  from  mutual  insults.  He  mistrusted  the  King. 
He  trusted  the  people.  He  felt  certain  at  the  close  of 
the  year  that  the  purpose  of  the  government  was  fixed. 
He  made  no  secret  of  his  determination  never  to  lend 
himself  as  an  instrument  for  the  contemplated  subjuga- 
tion of  the  people.  He  had  repeatedly  resigned  all  his 
offices.  He  was  now  determined  that  the  resignation  once 
for  all  should  be  accepted.  If  he  used  dissimulation,  it 
was  because  Philip's  deception  permitted  no  man  to  be 
frank.  If  the  sovereign  constantly  disavowed  all  hostile 
purposes  against  his  people,  and  manifested  extreme  affec- 
tion for  the  men  whom  he  had  already  doomed  to  the 
scaffold,  how  could  the  Prince  openly  denounce  him  ?  It 
was  his  duty  to  save  his  country  and  his  friends  from  im- 
pending ruin.  He  preserved,  therefore,  an  attitude  of 
watchfulness. 

Philip,  in  the  depth  of  his  cabinet,  was  under  a  con- 
stant inspection  by  the  sleepless  Prince.  The  sovereign 
assured  his  sister  that  her  apprehensions  about  their  cor- 
respondence were  groundless.  He  always  locked  up  his 
papers,  and  took  the  key  with  him.  Nevertheless,  the 
key  was  taken  out  of  his  pocket  and  the  papers  read. 
Orange  was  accustomed  to  observe  that  men  of  leisure 
might  occupy  themselves  with  philosophical  pursuits  and 
with  the  secrets  of  nature,  but  that  it  was  his  business  to 
study  the  hearts  of  kings.  He  knew  the  man  and  the 
woman  with  whom  he  had  to  deal.  We  have  seen  enough 
of  the  policy  secretly  pursued  by  Philip  and  Margaret  to 
appreciate  the  accuracy  with  wliich  the  Prince,  groping 
as  it  were  in  the  dark,  had  judged  the  whole  situation. 


j;i8  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1566 

Had  his  friends  taken  his  warnings,  they  might  have  lived 
to  render  services  against  tyranny.  Had  he  imitated  their 
example  of  false  loyalty,  there  would  have  been  one  addi- 
tional victim  more  illustrious  than  all  the  rest,  and  a 
whole  country  hopelessly  enslaved. 

It  is  by  keeping  these  considerations  in  view  that  we 
can  explain  his  connection  with  such  a  man  as  Brederode. 
The  enterprises  of  that  noble  of  Tholouse,  and  others, 
and  the  resistance  of  Valenciennes,  could  hardly  have 
been  prevented  even  by  the  opposition  of  the  Prince. 
But  why  should  he  take  the  field  against  men  who,  how- 
ever rashly  or  ineffectually,  were  endeavoring  to  oppose 
tyranny,  when  he  knew  himself  already  proscribed  and 
doomed  by  the  tyrant  ?  Such  loyalty  he  left  to  Egmont. 
Till  late  in  the  autumn  he  had  still  believed  in  the  pos- 
sibility of  convoking  the  states-general,  and  of  making 
preparations  in  Germany  to  enforce  their  decrees. 

The  confederates  and  sectaries  had  boasted  that  they 
could  easily  raise  an  army  of  sixty  thousand  men  within 
the  provinces,  that  twelve  hundred  thousand  florins  month- 
ly would  be  furnished  by  the  rich  merchants  of  Antwerp, 
and  that  it  was  ridiculous  to  suppose  that  the  German 
mercenaries  enrolled  by  the  Duchess  in  Saxony,  Hesse, 
and  other  Protestant  countries,  would  ever  render  serious 
assistance  against  the  adherents  of  the  Reformed  religion. 
Without  placing  much  confidence  in  such  exaggerated 
statements,  the  Prince  might  well  be  justified  in  believ- 
ing himself  strong  enough,  if  backed  by  the  confederacy, 
by  Egmont,  and  by  his  own  boundless  influence,  both  at 
Antwerp  and  in  his  own  government,  to  sustain  the  con- 
stituted authorities  of  the  nation  even  against  a  Spanish 
army,  and  to  interpose  with  legitimate  and  irresistible 
strength  between  the  insane  tyrant  and  the  country  which 
he  was  preparing  to  crush.  It  was  the  opinion  of  the 
best  informed  Catholics  that,  if  Egmont  should  declare 
for  the  confederacy,  he  could  take  the  fleld  with  sixty 
thousand  men,  and  make  himself  master  of  the  whole 
country  at  a  blow.  In  conjunction  with  Orange,  the 
moral  and  physical  force  would  have  been  invincible. 

It  was  therefore  not  Orange  alone,  but  the  Catholics 


1666]  VALENCIENNES  219 

and  Protestants  alike,  the  whole  population  of  the  coun- 
try, and  the  Duchess  Regent  herself,  who  desired  the  con- 
vocation of  the  estates.  As  the  Duchess  grew  stronger, 
however,  and  as  the  people,  aghast  at  the  fate  of  Tournai 
and  Valenciennes,  began  to  lose  courage,  she  saw  less  reason 
for  assembling  the  estates.  Orange,  on  the  other  hand, 
completely  deserted  by  Egmont  and  Horn,  and  having 
little  confidence  in  the  characters  of  the  ex-confederates, 
remained  comparatively  quiescent  but  watchful.  At  the 
close  of  the  year  an  important  pamphlet  from  his  hand 
was  circulated,  in  which  his  views  as  to  the  necessity  of 
allowing  some  degree  of  religious  freedom  were  urged 
upon  the  royal  government  with  his  usual  sagacity  of 
thought,  moderation  of  language,  and  modesty  in  tone. 

The  eventful  year  1566  was  the  last  year  of  peace  which 
the  men  then  living,  or  their  children,  were  to  know. 
The  government,  weak  at  the  commencement,  was  strong 
at  the  close.  The  confederacy  was  broken  and  scattered. 
The  Request,  the  "beggar"  banquets,  the  public  preach- 
ing, the  image-breaking,  the  Accord  of  August,  had  been 
follo.wed  by  reaction.  Tournai  had  accepted  its  garrison. 
Egmont,  completely  obedient  to  the  crown,  was  compel- 
ling all  the  cities  of  Flanders  and  Artois  to  receive  soldiers 
sufficient  to  maintain  implicit  obedience,  and  to  extin- 
guish all  heretical  demonstrations,  so  that  the  Regent  was 
at  comparative  leisure  to  effect  the  reduction  of  Valen- 
ciennes. 

This  ancient  city,  in  the  province  of  Hainault,  and  on 
the  frontier  of  France,  had  been  founded  by  the  Emperor 
Valentinian  I.,  from  whom  it  had  derived  its  name.  Origi- 
nally established  by  him  as  a  city  of  refuge,  it  had  re- 
ceived the  privilege  of  affording  an  asylum  to  debtors,  to 
outlaws,  and  even  to  murderers.  This  ancient  right  had 
been  continued,  under  certain  modifications,  even  till  the 
period  with  which  we  are  now  occupied.  Never,  however, 
according  to  the  government,  had  the  right  of  asylum, 
even  in  the  wildest  times,  been  so  abused  by  the  city  be- 
fore. What  were  debtors,  robbers,  murderers,  compared 
to  heretics  ?  yet  these  worst  enemies  of  their  race  swarmed 
in  the  rebellious  city,  practising  even  now  the  foulest  rites 


220  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1566 

of  Calvin,  and  obeying  those  most  pestilential  of  all  preach- 
ers, Gruido  de  Bray,*  and  Peregrine  de  la  Grange.  The 
place  was  the  hot-bed  of  heresy  and  sedition,  and  it  seemed 
to  be  agreed,  as  by  common  accord,  that  the  last  struggle 
for  what  was  called  the  new  religion  should  take  place 
beneath  its  walls. 

It  was  soon  very  obvious  that  no  arrangement  could  be 
made  in  Valenciennes.  The  magistrates  could  exert  no 
authority,  the  preachers  were  all-powerful,  and  the  citi- 


*  Guido  de  Bres  (as  his  name  is  usually  written)  is  the  author  of  the  Bel- 
gic  Confession,  one  of  the  noblest  literary  monuments  of  the  Reformation. 
Its  thoughts,  phraseology,  and  form  notably  influenced  the  other  Reformed 
confessions.  Of  its  thirty-seven  articles  the  first  is  as  follows:  "We  all 
believe  with  the  heart,  and  confess  with  the  mouth,  that  there  is  one  only 
simple  and  spiritual  Being,  which  we  call  God ;  and  that  he  is  eternal,  in- 
comprehensible, invisible,  immutable,  infinite,  almighty,  perfectly  wise,  just, 
good,  and  the  overflowing  fountain  of  all  good." 

Guido  de  Bres,  born  in  Mons  in  1540,  arrived  at  the  knowledge  of  Gos- 
pel truth  by  his  study  of  the  vernacular  Scriptures,  with  which,  above  all 
countries  of  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Netherlands  were  flooded. 
Driven  by  persecution  to  London,  he  returned  to  the  Walloon  provinces  as 
evangelist  and  travelling  preacher.  In  Geneva,  under  Calvin,  he  became 
one  of  the  most  determined  of  realists  in  religion.  He  reorganized  the  Re- 
formed churches  in  Lille,  Tournai,  and  Valenciennes,  and  made  the  whole 
Walloon  region  his  field  of  ceaseless  labors.  In  1561,  when  but  twenty- 
one  years  old,  he  prepared,  with  the  assistance  and  revision  of  others,  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  basing  its  propositions  upon  the  Holy  Scriptures,  with- 
out the  traditions  of  the  fathers,  or  of  the  great  ecclesiastical  corporation 
having  its  head  in  Rome.  Printed  and  translated  into  Dutch,  German,  and 
Latin,  it  was  widely  read  and  adopted  by  local  or  national  synods  of  the  Re- 
formed churches  at  Antwerp,  Wesel,  Embden,  Dort,  Middelburg,  and  finally, 
by  the  oecumenical  Protestant  Council  which  assembled  at  Dordrecht 
April  29,  1619.  It  has  continued  to  be  one  of  the  standards  of  doctrine 
in  the  Dutch  Reformed  churches  in  the  Fatherland,  South  Africa,  the  East 
and  West  Indies,  and  the  United  States.  Probably  to  Guido  de  Bres,  more 
than  to  any  other  one  man,  the  Dutch  Reformed  church  owed  the  beginning 
of  its  own  sturdy  life,  and  that  it  did  not  become  a  mere  limb  of  either  the 
French  Calvinistic,  or  the  German  Reformed  body,  but  grew  as  a  "  shield 
and  blessing  to  both  "  with  a  distinct  and  rooted  life  of  its  own.  He  met 
his  death  as  one  going  joyfully  to  the  sacrament,  believing  that  his  blood 
would  water  richly  the  seed  of  faith  in  God  which  he  had  planted.  The 
life  of  Guido  de  Bres — a  name  still  fresh  and  honored  in  all  the  Dutch 
churches — explains  much  of  the  heroic  constancy  of  his  fellow-martyrs, 
and  their  tenacity  in  holding  to  their  convictions. 


L561]  THE   CITY   INVESTED  221 

zens,  said  a  Catholic  inhabitant,  "  allowed  themselves  to 
be  led  by  their  ministers  like  oxen.'^  Upon  the  17th  of 
December,  1566,  a  proclamation  was  accordingly  issued 
by  the  Duchess  Regent  declaring  the  city  in  a  state  of 
siege  and  all  its  inhabitants  rebels. 

The  city  was  now  invested  by  Noircarmes  with  all  the 
troops  which  could  be  spared.  The  confederates  gave 
promises  of  assistance  to  the  beleaguered  citizens  ;  Orange 
privately  encouraged  them  to  hold  out  in  their  legitimate 
refusal ;  Brederode  and  others  busied  themselves  with 
hostile  demonstrations  which  were  destined  to  remain 
barren  ;  but  in  the  mean  time  the  inhabitants  had  nothing 
to  rely  upon  save  their  own  stout  hearts  and  arms. 

At  first  the  siege  was  sustained  with  a  light  heart. 
Frequent  sallies  were  made,  smart  skirmishes  were  vent- 
ured, in  which  the  Huguenots,  on  the  testimony  of  a 
most  bitter  Catholic  contemporary,  conducted  themselves 
with  the  bravery  of  veteran  troops,  and  as  if  they  had 
done  nothing  all  their  lives  but  fight ;  forays  were  made 
upon  the  monasteries  of  the  neighborhood  for  the  purpose 
of  procuring  supplies,  and  the  broken  statues  of  the  dis- 
mantled churches  were  used  to  build  a  bridge  across  an 
arm  of  the  river,  which  was  called  in  derision  the  Bridge 
of  Idols.  It  was  hoped  that  an  imposing  array  of  allies 
would  soon  be  assembled,  and  that  the  two  bands  at  Lan- 
noy  and  Watrelots  making  a  junction,  would  then  march 
to  the  relief  of  Valenciennes.  It  was  boasted  that  in  a 
very  short  time  thirty  thousand  men  would  be  in  the 
field.  There  was  even  a  fear  of  some  such  results  felt  by 
the  Catholics. 

It  was  then  that  the  "  seven  sleepers,"  as  Noircarmes 
and  his  six  officers  had  been  called,  showed  that  they  were 
awake.  Early  in  January,  1567,  that  fierce  soldier,  among 
whose  vices  slothfulness  was  certainly  never  reckoned  be- 
fore or  afterwards,  fell  upon  the  locksmith's  army  at  Lan- 
noy,  while  the  Seigneur  de  Rassinghem  attacked  the  force 
at  Watrelots  on  the  same  day.  Noircarmes  destroyed  half 
his  enemies  at  the  very  first  charge.  The  ill-assorted  rab- 
ble fell  asunder  at  once.  The  preacher  fought  well,  but 
his  undisciplined  force  fled  at  the  first  sight  of  the  enemy. 


222  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1567 

Those  who  carried  arquebuses  threw  them  down  without 
a  single  discharge,  that  they  might  run  the  faster.  At 
least  a  thousand  were  soon  stretched  dead  upon  the  field  ; 
others  were  hunted  into  the  river.  Twenty-six  hundred, 
according  to  the  Catholic  accounts,  were  exterminated  in 
an  hour. 

Eassinghem,  on  his  part,  with  five  or  six  hundred  regu- 
lars, attacked  Teriel's  force,  numbering  at  least  twice  as 
many.  Half  of  these  were  soon  cut  to  pieces  and  put  to 
flight.  Six  hundred,  however,  who  had  seen  some  service, 
took  refuge  in  the  cemetery  of  Watrelots.  Here,  from 
behind  the  stone  wall  of  the  enclosure,  they  sustained  the 
attack  of  the  Catholics  with  some  spirit.  The  repose  of 
the  dead  in  the  quiet  country  church-yard  was  disturbed 
by  the  uproar  of  a  most  sanguinary  conflict.  The  tem- 
porary fort  was  soon  carried,  and  the  Huguenots  retreat- 
ed into  the  church.  A  rattling  arquebusade  was  poured 
in  upon  them  as  they  struggled  in  the  narrow  doorway. 
At  least  four  hundred  corpses  were  soon  strewn  among 
the  ancient  graves.  The  rest  were  hunted  into  the  church, 
and  from  the  church  into  the  belfry.  A  fire  was  then 
made  in  the  steeple,  and  kept  up  till  all  were  roasted  or 
suffocated.     Not  a  man  escaped. 

The  siege  of  Valenciennes  was  pressed  more  closely. 
Noircarmes  took  up  a  commanding  position  at  Saint-Ar- 
mand,  by  which  he  was  enabled  to  cut  off  all  communi- 
cation between  the  city  and  the  surrounding  country. 
Alb  the  villages  in  the  neighborhood  were  pillaged ;  all 
the  fields  laid  waste.  All  the  infamies  which  an  insolent' 
soldiery  can  inflict  upon  helpless  peasantry  were  daily 
enacted.  At  the  same  time,  to  the  honor  of  Valenciennes 
it  must  be  stated,  upon  the  same  incontestable  authority, 
that  not  a  Catholic  in  the  city  was  injured  or  insulted. 
The  priests  who  had  remained  there  were  not  allowed  to 
say  mass,  but  they  never  met  with  an  opprobrious  word 
or  look  from  the  people. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  city  called  upon  the  confederates 
for  assistance.  They  also  issued  an  address  to  the  Knights 
of  the  Fleece,  a  paper  which  narrated  the  story  of  their 
wrongs  in  pathetic  and  startling  language,  but  these  stir- 


1567]         THE  CITY'S  APPEAL— ORANGE  IN   HOLLAND  223 

ring  appeals  to  an  order  of  which  Philip  was  chief,  Viglius 
chancellor,  Egmont,  Mansfeld,  Aerschot,  Berlaymont, 
and  others,  chevaliers,  were  not  likely  to  produce  much 
effect.  The  city  could  rely  upon  no  assistance  in  those 
high  quarters. 

Early  in  January,  Brederode  had  stationed  himself  in 
his  city  of  Vianen.  There,  in  virtue  of  his  seigniorial  rights, 
he  had  removed  all  statues  and  other  popish  emblems  from 
the  churches,  performing  the  operation,  however,  with 
much  quietness  and  decorum.  He  had  also  collected 
many  disorderly  men  at  arms  in  this  city,  and  had  strength- 
ened its  fortifications,  to  resist,  as  he  said,  the  threatened 
attacks  of  Duke  Eric  of  Brunswick  and  his  German  mer- 
cenaries. A  printing-press  was  established  in  the  place, 
whence  satirical  pamphlets,  hymn-books,  and  other  pes- 
tiferous productions  were  constantly  issuing  to  the  annoy- 
ance of  government.  Many  lawless  and  uproarious  indi- 
viduals enjoyed  the  Count's  hospitality.  All  the  dregs 
and  filth  of  the  provinces,  according  to  Doctor  Viglius, 
were  accumulated  at  Vianen  as  in  a  cesspool.  Along  the 
placid  banks  of  the  Lek,  on  which  river  the  city  stands, 
the  'Miydra  of  rebellion"  lay  ever  coiled  and  threatening. 

Brederode  was  supposed  to  be  revolving  vast  schemes, 
both  political  and  military,  and  Margaret  of  Parma  was 
kept  in  continual  apprehension  by  the  bravado  of  this  very 
noisy  conspirator.  She  called  upon  William  of  Orange, 
as  usual,  for  assistance.  The  Prince,  however,  was  very 
ill-disposed  to  come  to  her  relief.  An  extreme  disgust 
for  the  policy  of  the  government  already  began  to  char- 
acterize his  public  language.  He  had  hastened  to  tran- 
quillize the  provinces  of  Holland,  Zeeland,  and  Utrecht. 
He  had  made  arrangements  in  the  principal  cities  there 
upon  the  same  basis  which  he  had  adopted  in  Antwerp, 
and  to  which  Margaret  had  consented  in  August.  It  was 
quite  out  of  the  question  to  establish  order  without  per- 
mitting the  Eeformers,  who  constituted  much  the  larger 
portion  of  the  population,  to  have  liberty  of  religious  ex- 
ercises at  some  places,  not  consecrated,  within  the  cities. 

At  Amsterdam,  for  instance,  as  he  informed  the  Duch- 
ess, there  were  swarms  of  unlearned,  barbarous  people. 


224  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1567 

mariners  and  the  like,  who  could  by  no  means  perceive  the 
propriety  of  doing  their  preaching  in  the  open  country, 
seeing  that  the  open  country,  at  that  season,  was  quite 
under  water.  Margaret's  gracious  suggestion  that,  per- 
haps, something  might  be  done  with  boats,  was  also  con- 
sidered inadmissible.  ^'  I  know  not,"  said  Orange,  "  who 
could  have  advised  your  Highness  to  make  such  a  propo- 
sition.'^  He  informed  her,  likewise,  that  the  barbarous 
mariners  had  a  clear  right  to  their  preaching,  for  the 
custom  had  already  been  established  previously  to  the 
August  treaty,  at  a  place  called  the  "  Lastaadje,"  among 
the  wharves.  '^In  the  name  of  God,  then,'^  wrote  Mar- 
garet, ^'\Qt  them  continue  to  preach  in  the  Lastaadje." 
This  being  all  the  barbarians  wanted,  an  Accord,  with 
the  full  consent  of  the  Regent,  was  drawn  up  at  Amster- 
dam and  the  other  northern  cities.  The  Catholics  kept 
churches  and  cathedrals,  but  in  the  winter  season  the 
greater  part  of  the  population  obtained  permission  to  wor- 
ship God  upon  dry  land,  in  warehouses  and  dock-yards. 

Within  a  very  few  weeks,  however,  the  whole  arrange- 
ment was  coolly  cancelled  by  the  Duchess,  her  permission 
revoked,  and  peremptory  prohibition  of  all  preaching 
within  or  without  the  walls  proclaimed.  The  govern- 
ment was  growing  stronger.  Had  not  Noircarmes  and 
Rassinghem  cut  to  pieces  three  or  four  thousand  of  these 
sectaries  marching  to  battle  under  parsons,  locksmiths,  and 
similar  chieftains  ?  Were  not  all  lovers  of  good  govern- 
ment '''erecting  their  heads  like  dromedaries '^  ? 

A  new  and  important  step  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment had  now  placed  the  Prince  in  an  attitude  of  almost 
avowed  rebellion.  All  functionaries,  from  governors  of 
provinces  down  to  subalterns  in  the  army,  were  required 
to  take  a  new  oath  of  allegiance,  and  solemnly  to  pledge 
himself  to  obey  the  orders  of  government,  everywhere, 
and  against  every  person,  without  limitation  or  restriction. 
Count  Mansfeld,  now  '^  factotum  at  Brussels,"  had  taken 
the  oath  with  great  fervor.  So  had  Aerschot,  Berlaymont, 
Meghem,  and,  after  a  little  wavering,  Egmont.  Orange 
spurned  the  proposition.  The  alternative  presented  he 
willingly  embraced.     He  renounced  all  his  offices,  and 


1567]  A  NEW  OATH  225 

desired  no  longer  to  serve  a  government  whose  policy  he 
did  not  approve,  a  King  by  whom  he  was  suspected. 

His  resignation  was  not  accepted  by  the  Duchess,  who 
still  made  efforts  to  retain  the  services  of  a  man  who  was 
necessary  to  her  administration.  She  begged  him,  not- 
withstanding the  purely  defensive  and  watchful  attitude 
which  he  had  now  assumed,  to  take  measures  that  Brede- 
rode  should  abandon  his  mischievous  courses.  She  also  re- 
proached the  Prince  with  having  furnished  that  personage 
with  artillery  for  his  fortifications.  Orange  answered, 
somewhat  contemptuously,  that  he  was  not  Brederode's 
keeper,  and  had  no  occasion  to  meddle  with  his  affairs. 
He  had  given  him  three  small  field-pieces,  promised  long 
ago;  not  that  he  mentioned  that  circumstance  as  an 
excuse  for  the  donation.  ^'  Thank  God,''  said  he,  "  we 
have  always  had  the  liberty  in  this  country  of  making  to 
friends  or  relatives  what  presents  we  liked,  and  methinks 
that  things  have  come  to  a  pretty  pass  when  such  trifles 
are  scrutinized.''  Certainly,  as  Suzerain  of  Vianen,  and 
threatened  with  invasion  in  his  seigniorial  rights,  the 
Count  might  think  himself  justified  in  strengthening  the 
bulwarks  of  his  little  stronghold,  and  the  Prince  could 
hardly  be  deemed  very  seriously  to  endanger  the  safety  of 
the  crown  by  the  insignificant  present  which  had  annoyed 
the  Eegent. 

It  is  not  so  agreeable  to  contemplate  the  apparent  inti- 
macy which  the  Prince  accorded  to  so  disreputable  a  char- 
acter ;  but  Orange  was  now  in  hostility  to  the  government, 
was  convinced  by  evidence,  whose  accuracy  time  was  most 
signally  to  establish,  that  his  own  head,  as  well  as  many 
others,  were  already  doomed  to  the  block,  while  the  whole 
country  was  devoted  to  abject  servitude,  and  he  was, 
therefore,  disposed  to  look  with  more  indulgence  upon 
the  follies  of  those  who  were  endeavoring,  however  weakly 
and  insanely,  to  avert  the  horrors  which  he  foresaw. 
The  time  for  reasoning  had  passed.  All  that  true  wisdom 
and  practical  statesmanship  could  suggest,  he  had  already 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  a  woman  who  stabbed  him  in 
the  back  even  while  she  leaned  upon  his  arm — of  a  King 
who  had  already  drawn  his  death-warrant,  while  reproach- 

16 


226  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1567 

ing  his  ^'^ cousin  of  Orange"  for  want  of  confidence  in 
the  royal  friendship. 

Early  in  February,  Brederode,  Hoogstraaten,  Horn,  and 
some  other  gentlemen  visited  the  Prince  at  Breda.  Here 
it  is  supposed  the  advice  of  Orange  was  asked  concerning 
the  new  movement  contemplated  by  Brederode.  He  was 
bent  upon  presenting  a  new  petition  to  the  Duchess  with 
great  solemnity.  There  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  the 
Prince  approved  the  step,  which  must  have  seemed  to  him 
superfluous,  if  not  puerile. 

By  this  new  Eequest  the  exercise  of  the  Reformed  relig- 
ion was  claimed  as  a  right,  while  the  Duchess  was  sum- 
moned to  disband  the  forces  which  she  had  been  collect- 
ing, and  to  maintain  in  good  faith  the  '^'August"  treaty. 
Brederode  came  to  Antwerp  and  forwarded  the  document 
to  Brussels  in  a  letter.  His  haughty  tone  was  at  once 
taken  down  by  Margaret  of  Parma. 

^^  As  for  you  and  your  accomplices,"  she  wrote  to  the 
Count,  ''you  will  do  well  to  go  to  your  homes  at  once 
without  meddling  with  public  aifairs,  for,  in  case  of  dis- 
obedience, I  shall  deal  with  you  as  I  shall  deem  expedient." 

Brederode,  not  easily  abashed,  disregarded  the  advice, 
and  continued  in  Antwerp.  Here,  accepting  the  answer 
of  the  Regent  as  a  formal  declaration  of  hostilities,  he 
busied  himself  in  levying  troops  in  and  about  the  city. 

Orange  had  returned  to  Antwerp  early  in  February. 
During  his  absence,  Hoogstraaten  had  acted  as  governor 
at  the  instance  of  the  Prince  and  of  the  Regent.  During 
the  winter  that  nobleman,  who  was  very  young  and  very 
fiery,  had  carried  matters  with  a  high  hand,  whenever 
there  had  been  the  least  attempt  at  sedition.  Liberal  in 
principles,  and  the  devoted  friend  of  Orange,  he  was  dis- 
posed, however,  to  prove  that  the  champions  of  religious 
liberty  were  not  the  patrons  of  sedition.  A  riot  occurring 
in  the  cathedral,  where  a  violent  mob  were  engaged  in  de- 
facing whatever  was  left  to  deface  in  that  church,  and  in 
heaping  insults  on  the  papists  at  their  worship,  the  little 
Count,  who,  says  a  Catholic  contemporary,  "  had  the  cour- 
age of  a  lion,"  dashed  in  among  them,  sword  in  hand, 
killed  three  upon  the  spot,  and,  aided  by  his  followers. 


1667]  THE   PRINCE   IN   ANTWERP  227 

succeeded  in  slaying,  wounding,  or  capturing  all  the  rest. 
He  had  also  tracked  the  ringleader  of  the  tumult  to  his 
lodging,  where  he  had  caused  him  to  be  arrested  at  mid- 
night, and  hanged  at  once  in  his  shirt  without  any  form 
of  trial.  Such  rapid  proceedings  little  resembled  the 
calm  and  Judicious  moderation  of  Orange  upon  all  occa- 
sions, but  they  certainly  might  have  sufficed  to  convince 
Philip  that  all  antagonists  of  the  inquisition  were  not 
heretics  and  outlaws.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  Prince  in 
Antwerp,  it  was  considered  advisable  that  Hoogstraaten 
should  remain  associated  with  him  in  the  temporary  gov- 
ernment of  the  city. 

During  February  there  had  been  much  alarm  in  Brussels, 
for  Brederode  had  been  enrolling  troops  in  Antwerp,  and 
several  boat-loads  of  these  rebels,  after  having  been  refused 
landing  in  Walcheren,  had  sailed  up  the  Scheldt  and  land- 
ed at  the  village  of  Austruweel,*  only  a  mile  from  Ant- 
werp. 

The  commander  of  the  expedition  was  Marnix  of  Tho- 
louse,  brother  to  Marnix  of  Sainte-Aldegonde.  This  young 
nobleman,  who  had  left  college  to  fight  for  the  cause  of 
religious  liberty,  was  possessed  of  fine  talents  and  accom- 
plishments. Like  his  illustrious  brother,  he  was  already 
a  sincere  convert  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformed  Church. 
He  had  nothing,  however,  but  courage  to  recommend  him 
as  a  leader  in  a  military  expedition.  He  was  a  mere  boy, 
utterly  without  experience  in  the  field.  His  troops  were 
raw  levies,  vagabonds,  and  outlaws. 

Such  as  it  was,  however,  his  army  was  soon  posted  at 
Austruweel,  in  a  convenient  position  and  with  considerable 
judgment.  He  had  the  Scheldt  and  its  dikes  in  his  rear, 
on  his  right  and  left  the  dikes  and  the  village.  In  front 
he  threw  up  a  breastwork  and  sunk  a  trench.  Here,  then, 
was  set  up  the  standard  of  rebellion,  and  hither  flocked 
daily  many  malcontents  from  the  country  round.  Within 
a  few  days  three  thousand  men  were  in  his  camp.     On  the 


•  Now  the  site  of  the  great  Fort  Austruweel.  Near  this  spot,  in  1831, 
Lieutenant  Van  Speyk  blew  up  his  (Dutch)  gun-boat  rather  than  surrender 
to  the  Belgians. 


228  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1567 

other  hand,  Brederode  was  busy  in  Holland,  and  boasted 
of  taking  the  field  ere  long  with  six  thousand  soldiers  at 
the  very  least.  Together  they  would  march  to  the  relief 
of  Valenciennes  and  dictate  peace  in  Brussels. 

It  was  obvious  that  this  matter  could  not  be  allowed  to 
go  on.  The  Duchess,  with  some  trepidation,  accepted  the 
offer  made  by  Philip  de  Lannoy,  Seigneur  de  Beauvoir, 
commander  of  her  body-guard  in  Brussels,  to  destroy  this 
nest  of  rebels  without  delay.  Half  the  whole  number  of 
these  soldiers  was  placed  at  his  disposition,  and  Egmont 
supplied  De  Beauvoir  with  four  hundred  of  his  veteran 
Walloons. 

With  a  force  numbering  only  eight  hundred,  but  all 
picked  men,  the  intrepid  officer  undertook  his  enterprise 
with  great  despatch  and  secrecy.  Before  daybreak  of 
March  13th  De  Beauvoir  met  his  soldiers  at  the  abbey  of 
Saint  Bernard,  within  a  league  of  Antwerp. 

The  "  young  scholar,"  as  De  Beauvoir  had  designated 
him,  was  not  only  taken  by  surprise,  but  had  no  power  to 
infuse  his  own  spirit  into  his  rabble  rout  of  followers. 
They  were  already  panic -struck  by  the  unexpected  ap- 
pearance of  the  enemy.  The  Catholics  came  on  with  the 
coolness  of  veterans,  taking  as  deliberate  aim  as  if  it  had 
been  they,  not  their  enemies,  who  were  behind  breast- 
works. The  troops  of  Tholouse  fired  wildly,  precipi- 
tately, quite  over  the  heads  of  the  assailants.  Many  of 
the  defenders  were  slain  as  fast  as  they  showed  themselves 
above  their  bulwarks.  The  ditch  was  crossed,  the  breast- 
works carried  at  a  single  determined  charge.  The  rebels 
made  little  resistance,  but  fled  as  soon  as  the  enemy  entered 
their  fort.  It  was  a  hunt,  not  a  battle.  Hundreds  were 
stretched  dead  in  the  camp;  hundreds  were  driven  into 
the  Scheldt ;  six  or  eight  hundred  took  refuge  in  a  farm- 
house ;  but  De  Beauvoir^s  men  set  fire  to  the  building, 
and  every  rebel  who  had  entered  it  was  burned  alive  or 
shot.  No  quarter  was  given.  Hardly  a  man  of  the  three 
thousand  who  had  held  the  fort  escaped.  The  body  of 
Tholouse  was  cut  into  a  hundred  pieces.  The  Seigneur 
de  Beauvoir  had  reason,  in  the  brief  letter  which  gave  an 
account  of  this  exploit,  to  assure  her  Highness  that  there 


1567]  THE  ANTWERP  TUMULT  229 

were  '^  some  very  valiant  fellows  in  his  little  troop."  Cer- 
tainly they  had  accomplished  the  enterprise  intrusted  to 
them  with  promptness,  neatness,  and  entire  success.  Of 
the  great  rebellious  gathering,  which  every  day  had  seemed 
to  grow  more  formidable,  not  a  vestige  was  left. 

This  bloody  drama  had  been  enacted  in  full  sight  of 
Antwerp.  The  fight  had  lasted  from  daybreak  till  ten 
o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  during  the  whole  of  which  period 
the  city  ramparts  looking  towards  Austruweel,  the  roofs 
of  houses,  and  the  towers  of  churches  had  been  swarming 
with  eager  spectators.  The  sound  of  drum  and  trumpet, 
the  rattle  of  musketry,  the  shouts  of  victory,  the  despair- 
ing cries  of  the  vanquished,  were  heard  by  thousands  who 
deeply  sympathized  with  the  rebels  thus  enduring  so  san- 
guinary a  chastisement.  In  Antwerp  there  were  forty 
thousand  people  opposed  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  Of 
this  number  the  greater  proportion  were  Calvinists,  and 
of  these  Calvinists  there  were  thousands  looking  down 
from  the  battlements  upon  the  disastrous  fight. 

The  excitement  soon  became  uncontrollable.  Before  ten 
o'clock  vast  numbers  of  sectaries  came  pouring  towards 
the  Red  Gate,  which  afforded  the  readiest  egress  to  the 
scene  of  action,  the  drawbridge  of  the  Austruweel  Gate 
having  been  destroyed  the  night  before  by  command  of 
Orange.  They  came  from  every  street  and  alley  of  the 
city.  Some  were  armed  with  lance,  pike,  or  arquebus ; 
some  bore  sledge  -  hammers ;  others  had  the  partisans, 
battle-axes,  and  huge  two-handed  swords  of  the  previous 
century.  All  were  determined  upon  issuing  forth  to  the 
rescue  of  their  friends  in  the  fields  outside  the  town.  The 
wife  of  Tholouse,  not  yet  aware  of  her  husband's  death, 
although  his  defeat  was  obvious,  flew  from  street  to  street, 
calling  upon  the  Calvinists  to  save  or  to  avenge  their  per- 
ishing brethren. 

A  terrible  tumult  prevailed.  Ten  thousand  men  were 
already  up  and  in  arms.  It  was  then  that  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  who  was  sometimes  described  by  his  enemies  as 
timid  and  pusillanimous  by  nature,  showed  the  mettle  he 
was  made  of.  His  sense  of  duty  no  longer  bade  him  de- 
fend the  crown  of  Philip — which  thenceforth  was  to  be 


230  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [16G7 

intrusted  to  the  hirelings  of  the  inquisition — but  the  vast 
population  of  Antwerp,  the  women,  the  children,  and  the 
enormous  wealth  of  the  richest  city  in  the  world,  had 
been  confided  to  his  care,  and  he  had  accepted  the  respon- 
sibility. Mounting  his  horse,  he  made  his  appearance 
instantly  at  the  Bed  Gate  before  as  formidable  a  mob  as 
man  has  ever  faced.  He  came  there  almost  alone,  without 
guards.  Hoogstraaten  arrived  soon  afterwards  with  the 
same  intention.  The  Prince  was  received  with  howls  of 
execration.  A  thousand  hoarse  voices  called  him  the 
Pope's  servant,  minister  of  Antichrist,  and  lavished  upon 
him  many  more  epithets  of  the  same  nature.  His  life 
was  in  imminent  danger.  A  furious  clothier  levelled  an 
arquebus  full  at  his  breast.  **Die,  treacherous  villain!" 
he  cried  ;  *^  thou  who  art  the  cause  that  our  brethren  have 
perished  thus  miserably  in  yonder  field  !"  The  loaded 
weapon  was  struck  away  by  another  hand  in  the  crowd, 
while  the  Prince,  neither  daunted  by  the  ferocious  demon- 
strations against  his  life  nor  enraged  by  the  virulent  abuse 
to  which  he  was  subjected,  continued  tranquilly,  ear- 
nestly, imperatively,  to  address  the  crowd.  William  of 
Orange  had  that  in  his  face  and  tongue  '^^  which  men 
willingly  call  master — authority.'^  Many  were  persuaded 
to  abandon  the  design.  Five  hundred  of  the  most  violent, 
however,  insisted  upon  leaving  the  gates,  and  the  govern- 
ors, distinctly  warning  these  zealots  that  their  blood  must 
be  upon  their  own  heads,  reluctantly  permitted  that  num- 
ber to  issue  from  the  city.  The  rest  of  the  mob,  not  ap- 
peased, but  uncertain,  and  disposed  to  take  vengeance 
upon  the  Catholics  within  the  walls  for  the  disaster  which 
had  been  occurring  without,  thronged  tumultuously  to 
the  long,  wide  street,  called  the  Mere,  situate  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  city. 

Meantime  the  ardor  of  those  who  had  sallied  from  the 
gate  grew  sensibly  cooler  when  they  found  themselves  in 
the  open  fields.  De  Beauvoir,  whose  men,  after  the  vic- 
tory, had  scattered  in  pursuit  of  the  fugitives,  now  heard 
the  tumult  in  the  city.  Suspecting  an  attack,  he  rallied 
his  compact  little  army  again  for  a  fresh  encounter.  The 
last  of  the  vanquished  Tholousians  who  had  been  capt- 


156Y]  A   RASH   SORTIE  231 

ured,  more  fortunate  than  their  predecessors,  had  been 
spared  for  ransom.  There  were  three  hundred  of  them — 
rather  a  dangerous  number  of  prisoners  for  a  force  of  eight 
hundred,  who  were  just  going  into  another  battle.  De 
Beauvoir  commanded  his  soldiers,  therefore,  to  shoot  them 
all.  This  order  having  been  accomplished,  the  Catholics 
marched  towards  Antwerp,  drums  beating,  colors  flying. 
The  five  hundred  Calvinists,  not  liking  their  appearance, 
and  being  in  reality  outnumbered,  retreated  within  the 
gates  as  hastily  as  they  had  just  issued  from  them.  De 
Beauvoir  advanced  close  to  the  city  moat,  on  the  margin 
of  which  he  planted  the  banners  of  the  unfortunate  Tho- 
louse,  and  sounded  a  trumpet  of  defiance.  Finding  that 
the  citizens  had  apparently  no  stomach  for  the  fight,  he 
removed  his  trophies  and  took  his  departure. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  tumult  within  the  walls  had 
again  increased.  The  Calvinists  had  been  collecting  in 
great  numbers  upon  the  Mere.  This  was  a  large  and 
splendid  thoroughfare,  rather  an  oblong  market-place 
than  a  street,  filled  with  stately  buildings,  and  commu- 
nicating by  various  cross  streets  with  the  Exchange  and 
with  many  other  public  edifices.  By  an  early  hour  in  the 
afternoon  twelve  or  fifteen  thousand  Calvinists,  all  armed 
and  fighting  men,  had  assembled  upon  the  place.  They 
had  barricaded  the  whole  precinct  with  pavements  and 
upturned  wagons.  They  had  already  broken  into  the 
arsenal  and  obtained  many  field-pieces,  which  were  planted 
at  the  entrance  of  every  street  and  by-way.  They  had 
stormed  the  city  jail  and  liberated  the  prisoners,  all  of 
whom,  grateful  and  ferocious,  came  to  swell  the  numbers 
who  defended  the  stronghold  on  the  Mere.  A  tremendous 
mischief  was  afoot.  Threats  of  pillaging  the  churches 
and  the  houses  of  the  Catholics,  of  sacking  the  whole 
opulent  city,  were  distinctly  heard  among  this  powerful 
mob,  excited  by  religious  enthusiasm,  but  containing 
within  one  great  heterogeneous  mass  the  elements  of 
every  crime  which  humanity  can  commit.  The  alarm 
throughout  the  city  was  indescribable.  The  cries  of 
women  and  children,  as  they  remained  in  trembling  ex- 
pectation of  what  the  next  hour  might  bring  forth,  were. 


232  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1567 

said  one  who  heard  them,  "  enough  to  soften  the  hardest 
hearts/' 

Nevertheless  the  diligence  and  courage  of  the  Prince 
kept  pace  with  the  insurrection.  He  had  caused  the 
eight  companies  of  guards  enrolled  in  September  to  be 
mustered  upon  the  square  in  front  of  the  city-hall  for  the 
protection  of  that  building  and  of  the  magistracy.  He 
had  summoned  the  senate  of  the  city,  the  board  of  an- 
cients, the  deans  of  guilds,  the  ward  -  masters,  to  consult 
with  him  at  the  council-room.  At  the  peril  of  his  life 
he  had  again  gone  before  the  angry  mob  in  the  Mere,  ad- 
vancing against  their  cannon  and  their  outcries,  and  com- 
pelling them  to  appoint  eight  deputies  to  treat  with  him 
and  the  magistrates  at  the  town-hall.  This  done,  quickly 
but  deliberately  he  had  drawn  up  six  articles,  to  which 
those  deputies  gave  their  assent,  and  in  which  the  city 
government  cordially  united.  These  articles  provided 
that  the  keys  of  the  city  should  remain  in  the  possession 
of  the  Prince  and  of  Hoogstraaten,  that  the  watch  should 
be  held  by  burghers  and  soldiers  together,  that  the  magis- 
trates should  permit  the  entrance  of  no  garrison,  and  that 
the  citizens  should  be  entrusted  with  the  care  of  the 
charters,  especially  with  that  of  the  ^'joyful  entry." 

These  arrangements,  when  laid  before  the  assembly  at 
the  Mere  by  their  deputies,  were  not  received  with  favor. 
The  Calvinists  demanded  the  keys  of  the  city.  They  did 
not  choose  to  be  locked  up  at  the  mercy  of  any  man. 
They  had  already  threatened  to  blow  the  city-hall  into  the 
air  if  the  keys  were  not  delivered  to  them.  They  claimed 
that  burghers,  without  distinction  of  religion,  instead  of 
mercenary  troops,  should  be  allowed  to  guard  the  market- 
place in  front  of  the  town-hall. 

It  was  now  nightfall,  and  no  definite  arrangement  had 
been  concluded.  Nevertheless,  a  temporary  truce  was 
made,  by  means  of  a  concession  as  to  the  guard.  It  was 
agreed  that  the  burghers,  Calvinists  and  Lutherans  as 
well  as  Catholics,  should  be  employed  to  protect  the  city. 
By  subtlety,  however,  the  Calvinists  detailed  for  that 
service  were  posted  not  in  the  town-house  square,  but  on 
the  ramparts  and  at  the  gates. 


1567]  A  NEW   TREATY    OF  PEACE  233 

A  night  of  dreadful  expectation  was  passed.  The  army 
of  fifteen  thousand  mutineers  remained  encamped  and 
barricaded  on  the  Mere,  with  guns  loaded  and  artillery 
pointed.  Fierce  cries  of  '^Long live  the  beggars  !"  "Down 
with  the  papists  !"  and  other  significant  watchwords,  were 
heard  all  night  long,  but  no  more  serious  outbreak  oc- 
curred. 

During  the  whole  of  the  following  day  the  Calvinists 
remained  in  their  encampment,  the  Catholics  and  the  city 
guardsmen  at  their  posts  near  the  city-hall.  The  Prince 
was  occupied  in  the  council -chamber  from  morning  till 
night  with  the  municipal  authorities,  the  deputies  of  "the 
religion,"  and  the  guild  officers,  in  framing  a  new  treaty 
of  peace.  Towards  evening  fifteen  articles  were  agreed 
upon,  which  were  to  be  proposed  forthwith  to  the  insur- 
gents, and,  in  case  of  non-acceptance,  to  be  enforced.  The 
arrangement  provided  that  there  should  be  no  garrison  ; 
that  the  September  contracts  permitting  the  Reformed 
worship  at  certain  places  within  the  city  should  be  main- 
tained ;  that  men  of  different  parties  should  refrain  from 
mutual  insults ;  that  the  two  governors,  the  Prince,  and 
Hoogstraaten,  should  keep  the  keys  ;  that  the  city  should 
be  guarded  by  both  soldiers  and  citizens^  without  dis- 
tinction of  religious  creed  ;  that  a  band  of  four  hundred 
cavalry  and  a  small  flotilla  of  vessels  of  war  should  be 
maintained  for  the  defence  of  the  place,  and  that  the 
expenses  to  be  incurred  should  be  levied  upon  all  classes, 
clerical  and  lay.  Catholic  and  Reformed,  without  any  ex- 
ception. 

It  had  been  intended  that  the  governors,  accompanied 
by  the  magistrates,  should  forthwith  proceed  to  the  Mere 
for  the  purpose  of  laying  these  terms  before  the  insurgents. 
Night  had,  however,  already  arrived,  and  it  was  understood 
that  the  ill-temper  of  the  Calvinists  had  rather  increased 
than  diminished,  so  tliat  it  was  doubtful  whether  the  ar- 
rangement would  be  accepted.  It  was,  therefore,  neces- 
sary to  await  the  issue  of  another  day,  rather  than  to 
provoke  a  night  battle  in  the  streets. 

During  the  night  the  Prince  labored  incessantly  to  pro- 
vide against  the  dangers  of  the  morrow.     The  Calvinists 


234  HISTOKY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1567 

had  fiercely  expressed  their  disinclination  to  any  reasona- 
ble arrangement.  They  had  threatened,  without  further 
pause,  to  plunder  the  religious  houses  and  the  mansions 
of  all  the  wealthy  Catholics,  and  to  drive  every  papist  out 
of  town.  They  had  summoned  the  Lutherans  to  join 
with  them  in  their  revolt,  and  menaced  them,  in  case  of 
refusal,  with  the  same  fate  which  awaited  the  Catholics. 
The  Prince,  who  was  himself  a  Lutheran,  not  entirely  free 
from  the  universal  prejudice  against  the  Calvinists,  whose 
sect  he  afterwards  embraced,  was  fully  aware  of  the  de- 
plorable fact  that  the  enmity  at  that  day  between  Cal- 
vinists and  Lutherans  was  as  fierce  as  that  between 
Reformers  and  Catholics.  He  now  made  use  of  this  feel- 
ing, and  of  his  influence  with  those  of  the  Augsburg  Con- 
fession, to  save  the  city.  During  the  night  he  had 
interviews  with  the  ministers  and  notable  members  of  the 
Lutheran  churches,  and  induced  them  to  form  an  alliance 
upon  this  occasion  with  the  Catholics,  and  with  all  friends 
of  order,  against  an  army  of  outlaws  who  were  threaten- 
ing to  burn  and  sack  the  city.  The  Lutherans,  in  the 
silence  of  night,  took  arms  and  encamped,  to  the  number 
of  three  or  four  thousand,  upon  the  river -side,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  St.  MichaeFs  cloister.  The  Prince  also 
sent  for  the  deans  of  all  the  foreign  mercantile  associa- 
tions— Italian,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  English,  Hanseatic — 
engaged  their  assistance  also  for  the  protection  of  the  city, 
and  commanded  them  to  remain  in  their  armor  at  their 
respective  factories,  ready  to  act  at  a  moment's  warning. 
It  was  agreed  that  they  should  be  informed  at  frequent 
intervals  as  to  the  progress  of  events. 

On  the  morning  of  the  15th,  the  city  of  Antwerp  pre- 
sented a  fearful  sight.  Three  distinct  armies  were  arrayed 
at  different  points  within  its  walls.  The  Calvinists,  fifteen 
thousand  strong,  lay  in  their  encampment  on  the  Mere ; 
the  Lutherans,  armed,  and  eager  for  action,  were  at  St. 
Michael's  ;  the  Catholics  and  the  regulars  of  the  city  guard 
were  posted  on  the  square.  Between  thirty-five  and  forty 
thousand  men  were  up,  according  to  the  most  moderate 
computation.  All  parties  were  excited  and  eager  for  the 
fray.     The  fires  of  religious  hatred   burned  fiercely  in 


1567]  THE    CRISIS  235 

every  breast.  Many  malefactors  and  outlaws,  who  had 
found  refuge  in  the  course  of  recent  events  at  Antwerp, 
were  in  the  ranks  of  the  Calvinists,  profaning  a  sacred 
cause,  and  inspiring  a  fanatical  party  with  bloody  reso- 
lutions. Papists,  once  and  forever,  were  to  be  hunted 
down,  even  as  they  had  been  for  years  pursuing  Re- 
formers. Let  the  men  who  had  fed  fat  on  the  spoils  of 
plundered  Christians  be  dealt  with  in  like  fashion.  Let 
their  homes  be  sacked,  their  bodies  given  to  the  dogs — 
such  were  the  cries  uttered  by  thousands  of  armed  men. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Lutherans,  as  angry  and  as  rich 
as  the  Catholics,  saw  in  every  Calvinist  a  murderer  and 
a  robber.  They  thirsted  after  their  blood ;  for  the  spirit 
of  religious  frenzy,  the  characteristic  of  the  century,  can 
with  difficulty  be  comprehended  in  our  colder  and  more 
sceptical  age.  There  was  every  probability  that  a  bloody 
battle  was  to  be  fought  that  day  in  the  streets  of  Antwerp 
— a  general  engagement,  in  the  course  of  which,  whoever 
might  be  the  victors,  the  city  was  sure  to  be  delivered 
over  to  fire,  sack,  and  outrage.  Such  would  have  been 
the  result,  according  to  the  concurrent  testimony  of  eye- 
witnesses, and  contemporary  historians  of  every  country 
and  creed,  but  for  the  courage  and  wisdom  of  one  man. 
William  of  Orange  knew  what  would  be  the  consequence 
of  a  battle,  pent  up  within  the  walls  of  Antwerp.  He 
foresaw  the  horrible  havoc  which  was  to  be  expected,  the 
desolation  which  would  be  brought  to  every  hearth  in  the 
city.  *^  Never  were  men  so  desperate  and  so  willing  to 
fight,"  said  Sir  Thomas  Gresham,  who  had  been  expecting 
every  hour  his  summons  to  share  in  the  conflict.  If  the 
Prince  were  unable  that  morning  to  avert  the  impending 
calamity,  no  other  power,  under  heaven,  could  save  Ant- 
werp from  destruction. 

The  articles  prepared  on  the  14:th  had  been  already  ap- 
proved by  those  who  represented  the  Catholic  and  Lu- 
theran interests.  They  were  read  early  in  the  morning  to 
the  troops  assembled  on  the  square  and  at  St.  Michael's, 
and  received  with  hearty  cheers.  It  was  now  necessary 
that  the  Calvinists  should  accept  them,  or  that  the 
quarrel  should  be  fought  out  at  once.     At  ten  o'clocki 


236  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1567 

William  of  Orange,  attended  by  his  colleague,  Hoog- 
straaten,  together  with  a  committee  of  the  municipal 
authorities,  and  followed  by  a  hundred  troopers,  rode  to 
the  Mere.  They  wore  red  scarfs  over  their  armor,  as  sym- 
bols by  which  all  those  who  had  united  to  put  down  the 
insurrection  were  distinguished.  The  fifteen  thousand 
Calvinists,  fierce  and  disorderly  as  ever,  maintained  a 
threatening  aspect.  Nevertheless,  the  Prince  was  allowed 
to  ride  into  the  midst  of  the  square.  The  articles  were 
then  read  aloud  by  his  command,  after  which,  with  great 
composure,  he  made  a  few  observations.  He  pointed  out 
that  the  arrangement  offered  them  was  founded  upon  the 
September  concessions,  that  the  right  of  worship  was  con- 
ceded, that  the  foreign  garrison  was  forbidden,  and  that 
nothing  further  could  be  jnstly  demanded  or  honorably 
admitted.  He  told  them  that  a  struggle  upon  their  part 
would  be  hopeless,  for  the  Catholics  and  Lutherans,  who 
were  all  agreed  as  to  the  justice  of  the  treaty,  outnum- 
bered them  by  nearly  two  to  one.  He,  therefore,  most 
earnestly  and  affectionately  adjured  them  to  testify  their 
acceptance  to  the  peace  offered  by  repeating  the  words 
with  which  he  should  conclude.  Then,  with  a  firm  voice, 
the  Prince  exclaimed  *'  God  save  the  King  \"  It  was  the 
last  time  that  those  words  were  ever  heard  from  the  lips 
of  the  man  already  proscribed  by  Philip.  The  crowd  of 
Calvinists  hesitated  an  instant,  and  then,  unable  to  resist 
the  tranquil  influence,  convinced  by  his  reasonable  lan- 
guage, they  raised  one  tremendous  shout  of  ^'  Vive  le  Roi  V' 
The  deed  was  done,  the  peace  accepted,  the  dreadful 
battle  averted,  Antwerp  saved.  The  deputies  of  the  Cal- 
vinists now  formally  accepted  and  signed  the  articles. 
Kind  words  were  exchanged  among  the  various  classes  of 
fellow-citizens  who  but  an  hour  before  had  been  thirsting 
for  each  other's  blood,  the  artillery  and  other  weapons  of 
war  were  restored  to  the  arsenals,  Calvinists,  Lutherans, 
and  Catholics,' all  laid  down  their  arms,  and  the  city,  by 
three  o'clock,  was  entirely  quiet.  Fifty  thousand  armed 
men  had  been  up,  according  to  some  estimates,  yet,  after 
three  days  of  dreadful  expectation,  not  a  single  persou 
had  l^Qeu  injured,  and  the  tumnlt  wa^  now  appeased, 


1567J  MARGARET   DISSATISFIED  237 

The  Prince  had,  in  truth,  used  the  mutual  animosity  of 
Protestant  sects  to  a  good  purpose ;  averting  bloodshed 
by  the  very  weapons  with  which  the  battle  was  to  have 
been  waged. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  Margaret  of  Parma  denounced 
the  terms  by  which  Antwerp  had  been  saved  as  a  "  novel 
and  exorbitant  capitulation,"  and  had  no  intention  of  sig- 
nifying her  approbation  either  to  Prince  or  magistrate. 


CHAPTEK  X 

VALEN^CIEJ^KES   FALLS — THE   GREAT   EXODUS 

Valen'CIEjs'N'ES,  whose  fate  depended  so  closely  upon 
the  issue  of  these  various  events,  was  now  trembling  to 
her  fall.  Noircarmes  had  been  drawing  the  lines  more 
and  more  closely  about  the  city,  and  by  a  refinement  of 
cruelty  had  compelled  many  Calvinists  from  Tournai  to 
act  as  pioneers  in  the  trenches  against  their  own  brethren 
in  Valenciennes.  After  the  defeat  of  Tholouse,  and  the 
consequent  frustration  of  all  Brederode's  arrangements  to 
relieve  the  siege,  the  Duchess  had  sent  a  fresh  summons 
to  Valenciennes,  together  with  letters  acquainting  the 
citizens  with  the  results  of  the  Austruweel  battle.  The 
intelligence  was  not  believed.  Egmont  and  Aerschot, 
however,  to  whom  Margaret  had  entrusted  this  last  mis- 
sion to  the  beleaguered  town,  roundly  rebuked  the  dep- 
uties who  came  to  treat  with  them  for  their  insolence 
in  daring  to  doubt  the  word  of  the  Regent.  The  two 
seigniors  had  established  themselves  in  the  Chateau  of 
Beusnage,  at  a  league's  distance  from  Valenciennes.  Here 
they  received  commissioners  from  the  city,  half  of  whom 
were  Catholics  appointed  by  the  magistrates,  half  Cal- 
vinists deputed  by  the  consistories.  These  envoys  were 
informed  that  the  Duchess  would  pardon  the  city  for 
its  past  offences,  provided  the  gates  should  now  be  open- 
ed, the  garrison  received,  and  a  complete  suppression  of 
all  religion  except  that  of  Eome  acquiesced  in  without 
a  murmur.  As  nearly  the  whole  population  was  of  the 
Calvinist  faith,  these  terms  could  hardly  be  thought  fa- 
vorable. It  was,  however,  added  that  fourteen  days 
should  be    allowed   to   the   Reformers   for   the   purpose 


1567]  SIEGE   OF   VALENCIENNES  239 

of  converting  their  property  and  retiring  from  the  coun- 
try. 

The  deputies,  after  conferring  with  their  constituents 
in  the  city,  returned  on  the  following  day  with  counter- 
propositions,  which  were  not  more  likely  to  find  favor  with 
the  government.  They  offered  to  accept  the  garrison, 
provided  the  soldiers  should  live  at  their  own  expense, 
without  any  tax  to  the  citizens  for  their  board,  lodging, 
or  pay.  They  claimed  that  all  property  which  had  been 
seized  should  be  restored,  all  persons  accused  of  treason 
liberated.  They  demanded  the  unconditional  revocation 
of  the  edict  by  which  the  city  had  been  declared  rebel- 
lious, together  with  a  guarantee  from  the  Knights  of  the 
Fleece  and  the  state  council  that  the  terms  of  the  pro- 
posed treaty  should  be  strictly  observed. 

These  items,  at  which  the  Duke  of  Aerschot  laughed 
immoderately  for  their  presumption,  while  Egmont  was 
furious  and  threatening,  were  peremptorily  rejected  and 
three  days  given  for  the  acceptance  of  the  government's 
proposal.  These  being  in  turn  rejected,  instant  measures 
were  taken  to  cannonade  the  city.  Egmont,  at  the  hazard 
of  his  life,  descended  into  the  fosse  to  reconnoitre  the 
works,  and  to  form  an  opinion  as  to  the  most  eligible 
quarter  at  which  to  direct  the  batteries.  Having  com- 
municated the  result  of  his  investigations  to  Noircarmes, 
he  returned  to  report  all  these  proceedings  to  the  Regent 
at  Brussels.  Certainly  the  Count  had  now  separated  him- 
self far  enough  from  William  of  Orange,  and  was  mani- 
festing an  energy  in  the  cause  of  tyranny  which  was  suf- 
ficiently unscrupulous.  Many  people  who  had  been  de- 
ceived by  his  more  generous  demonstrations  in  former 
times,  tried  to  persuade  themselves  that  he  was  acting  a 
part.  Noircarmes,  however — and  no  man  was  more  com- 
petent to  decide  the  question  —  distinctly  expressed  his 
entire  confidence  in  Egmont's  loyalty. 

Noircarmes,  meanwhile,  on  Palm  Sunday,  23d  of  March, 
had  unmasked  his  batteries,  and  opened  his  fire  exactly 
according  to  Egmont's  suggestions. 

On  the  next  day  the  city  sent  to  Noircarmes,  offering 
an  almost  unconditional  surrender.     The  only  stipulation 


240  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1567 

agreed  to  by  Noircarmes  was  that  the  city  should  not 
be  sacked,  and  that  the  lives  of  the  inhabitants  should 
be  spared. 

This  pledge  was,  however,  only  made  to  be  broken. 
Noircarmes  entered  the  city  and  closed  the  gates.  All 
the  richest  citizens,  who  of  course  were  deemed  the  most 
criminal,  were  instantly  arrested.  The  soldiers,  although 
not  permitted  formally  to  sack  the  city,  were  quartered 
upon  the  inhabitants,  whom  they  robbed  and  murdered, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  a  Catholic  citizen,  almost 
at  their  pleasure. 

Michael  Herlin,  a  very  wealthy  and  distinguished  burgh- 
er, was  arrested  upon  the  first  day.  The  two  ministers, 
Guido  de  Bres  and  Peregrine  de  la  Grange,  together  with 
the  son  of  Herlin,  effected  their  escape  by  the  water-gate, 
but  were  all  arrested  at  Saint  Armand,  and  sent  to  Noir- 
carmes. The  two  Herlins,  father  and  son,  were  imme- 
diately beheaded.  Guido  de  Bres  and  Peregrine  de  la 
Grange  were  loaded  with  chains  and  thrown  into  a  filthy 
dungeon  previously  to  their  being  hanged.  Here  they 
were  visited  by  the  Countess  de  Roeulx,  who  was  curious 
to  see  how  the  Calvinists  sustained  themselves  in  their 
martyrdom.  She  asked  them  how  they  could  sleep,  eat, 
or  drink  when  covered  with  such  heavy  fetters.  ''  The 
cause,  and  my  good  conscience,'"  answered  De  Bres, 
"make  me  eat,  drink,  and  sleep  better  than  those  who 
are  doing  me  wrong.  These  shackles  are  more  honorable 
to  me  than  golden  rings  and  chains.  They  are  more  use- 
ful to  me,  and  as  I  hear  their  clank,  methinks  I  hear  the 
music  of  sweet  voices  and  the  tinkling  of  lutes." 

This  exaltation  never  deserted  these  courageous  enthu- 
siasts. They  received  their  condemnation  to  death  "as 
if  it  had  been  an  invitation  to  a  marriage  feast."  They 
encouraged  the  friends  who  crowded  their  path  to  the 
scaffold  with  exhortations  to  remain  true  in  the  Reformed 
faith.  La  Grange,  standing  upon  the  ladder,  proclaimed 
with  a  loud  voice,  that  he  was  slain  for  liaving  preached 
the  pure  word  of  God  to  a  Christian  people  in  a  Christian 
land.  De  Bres,  under  the  same  gibbet,  testified  stoutly 
that  he,  too,   had   committed    that    offence   alone.     He 


16&1]  CHASTISEMENT  241 

warned  his  friends  to  obey  the  magistrates,  and  all  others 
in  authority,  except  in  matters  of  conscience ;  to  abstain 
from  sedition,  but  to  obey  the  will  of  God.  The  execu- 
tioner threw  him  from  the  ladder  while  he  was  yet  speak- 
ing. So  ended  the  lives  of  two  eloquent,  learned,  and 
highly  gifted  divines. 

Many  hundreds  of  victims  were  sacrificed  in  the  unfort- 
unate city.  Many  Calvinists  were  burned,  others  were 
hanged.  "  For  tivo  loliole  years,'^  says  another  Catholic, 
who  was  a  citizen  of  Valenciennes  at  the  time,  ^*  there 
was  scarcely  a  useeh  in  loliicli  several  citizens  were  not  exe- 
cuted, and  often  a  great  number  were  dispatched  at  a  time. 
All  this  gave  so  much  alarm  to  the  good  and  innocent 
that  many  quitted  the  city  as  fast  as  they  could.  If  the 
good  and  innocent  happened  to  be  rich,  they  might  be 
sure  that  Noircarmes  would  deem  that  a  crime  for  which 
no  goodness  and  innocence  could  atone. 

Upon  the  fate  of  Valenciennes  had  depended,  as  if  by 
common  agreement,  the  whole  destiny  of  the  anti-Catho- 
lic party.  No  opposition  was  offered  anywhere.  Tour- 
nai  had  been  crushed  ;  Valenciennes,  Bois-le-Duc,  and  all 
other  important  places  accepted  their  garrisons  without 
a  murmur.  Even  Antwerp  had  made  its  last  struggle, 
and  as  soon  as  the  back  of  Orange  was  turned,  knelt  down 
in  the  dust  to  receive  its  bridle.  The  Prince  had  been 
able,  by  his  courage  and  wisdom,  to  avert  a  sanguinary 
conflict  within  its  walls,  but  his  personal  presence  alone 
could  guarantee  anything  like  religious  liberty  for  the 
inhabitants,  now  that  the  rest  of  the  country  was  subdued. 
On  the  2Gth  of  April  sixteen  companies  of  infantry,  under 
Count  Mansfeld,  entered  the  gates.  On  the  28th  the 
Duchess  made  a  visit  to  the  city,  where  she  was  received 
with  respect,  but  where  her  eyes  were  shocked  by  that 
which  she  termed  the  "abominable,  sad,  and  hideous 
spectacle  of  the  desolated  churches." 

To  the  eyes  of  all  who  loved  their  fatherland  and  their 
race,  the  sight  of  a  desolate  country,  with  its  ancient 
charters  superseded  by  brute  force,  its  industrious  popu- 
lation swarming  from  the  land  in  droves,  as  if  the  pesti- 
lence were  raging,  with  gibbets  and  scaffolds  erected  in 

16 


242  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1567 

every  village,  and  with  a  sickening  and  universal  appre- 
hension of  still  darker  disasters  to  follow,  was  a  spectacle 
still  more  sad,  hideous,  and  abominable. 

For  it  was  now  decided  that  the  Duke  of  Alva,  at  the 
head  of  a  Spanish  army,  should  forthwith  take  his  depart- 
ure for  the  Netherlands.  A  land  already  subjugated  was 
to  be  crushed,  and  every  vestige  of  its  ancient  liberties 
destroyed.  The  conquered  provinces,  once  the  abode  of 
municipal  liberty,  of  science,  art,  and  literature,  and 
blessed  with  an  unexampled  mercantile  and  manufactur- 
ing prosperity,  were  to  be  placed  in  absolute  subjection 
to  the  cabinet  council  at  Madrid.  A  dull  and  malignant 
bigot,  assisted  by  a  few  Spanish  grandees,  and  residing  at 
the  other  extremity  of  Europe,  was  thenceforth  to  exer- 
cise despotic  authority  over  countries  which  for  centuries 
had  enjoyed  a  local  administration  and  a  system  nearly 
approaching  to  complete  self-government.  Such  was  the 
policy  devised  by  Granvelle  and  Spinosa,  which  the  Duke 
of  Alva,  upon  the  15th  of  April,  had  left  Madrid  to  enforce. 

Though  Margaret  of  Parma  was  indignant  at  being  thus 
superseded,  she  gained  nothing  by  her  letters  and  her  en- 
voy to  Madrid  except  a  sound  rebuke  from  Philip.  His 
purpose  was  fixed.  Absolute  submission  was  now  to  be 
rendered  by  all,  though  the  affectation  of  clement  inten- 
tions was  still  maintained,  together  with  the  empty  pre- 
tence of  a  royal  visit. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  work  of  Orange  for  the  time 
was  finished.  He  had  saved  Antwerp,  he  had  done  his 
best  to  maintain  the  liberties  of  the  country,  the  rights  of 
conscience,  and  the  royal  authority,  so  far  as  they  were 
compatible  with  one  another.  The  alternative  had  now 
been  distinctly  forced  upon  every  man  either  to  promise 
blind  obedience  or  to  accept  the  position  of  a  rebel.  Will- 
iam of  Orange  had  thus  become  a  rebel,  but  he  knew  his 
duty  better  than  the  Duchess  could  understand.  He  an- 
swered a. fresh  summons  by  reminding  her  that  he  had 
uniformly  refused  the  new  and  extraordinary  pledge  re- 
quired of  him.  He  had  been  true  to  his  old  oaths,  and 
therefore  no  fresh  pledge  was  necessary.  Moreover,  a 
pledge  without  limitation  he  would  never  take.     The  case 


1567]  THE   WILLEBROEK   INTERVIEW  243 

might  happen,  he  said,  that  he  should  be  ordered  to  do 
things  contrary  to  his  conscience,  prejudicial  to  his  Maj- 
esty's service,  and  in  violation  of  his  oaths  to  maintain 
the  laws  of  the  country.  He  therefore  once  more  resigned 
all  his  offices,  and  signified  his  intention  of  leaving  the 
provinces. 

Margaret  now  determined,  by  the  advice  of  the  state 
council,  to  send  Secretary  Berty,  provided  with  an  ample 
letter  of  instructions,  upon  a  special  mission  to  the  Prince 
at  Antwerp.  That  respectable  functionary  performed  his 
task  with  credit,  but  the  slender  stock  of  platitudes  with 
which  he  had  come  provided  was  soon  exhausted.  His 
arguments  shrivelled  at  once  in  the  scorn  with  which  the 
Prince  received  them. 

Poor  Berty,  having  conjugated  his  paradigm  conscien- 
tiously through  all  its  moods  and  tenses,  returned  to  his 
green  board  in  the  council-room  with  his  proces-verbal  of 
the  conference.  Before  he  took  his  leave,  however,  he 
prevailed  upon  Orange  to  hold  an  interview  with  the  Duke 
of  Aerschot,  Count  Mansfeld,  and  Count  Egmont. 

This  memorable  meeting  took  place  at  Willebroek,  a 
village  midway  between  Antwerp  and  Brussels,  in  the 
first  week  of  April.  The  Duke  of  Aerschot  was  prevented 
from  attending,  but  Mansfeld  and  Egmont — accompanied 
by  the  faithful  Berty,  to  make  another  proces-verbal — 
duly  made  their  appearance.  The  Prince  had  never  felt 
much  sympathy  with  Mansfeld,  but  a  tender  and  honest 
friendship  had  always  existed  between  himself  and  Eg- 
mont, notwithstanding  the  difference  of  their  characters, 
the  incessant  artifices  employed  by  the  Spanish  court  to 
separate  them,  and  the  impassable  chasm  which  now  ex- 
isted between  their  respective  positions  towards  the  gov- 
ernment. 

The  same  commonplaces  of  argument  and  rhetoric  were 
now  discussed  between  Orange  and  the  other  three  per- 
sonages, the  Prince  distinctly  stating,  in  conclusion,  that 
he  considered  himself  as  discharged  from  all  his  offices, 
and  that  he  was  about  to  leave  the  Netherlands  for  Ger- 
many. The  interview,  had  it  been  confined  to  such  formal 
conversation,  would  have  but  little  historic  interest.     Eg- 


244  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1667 

inont's  choice  had  been  made.  Nevertheless,  the  Prince 
thought  it  still  possible  to  withdraw  his  friend  from  the 
precipice  upon  which  he  stood,  and  to  save  him  from  his 
impending  fate.  His  love  for  Egmont  had,  in  his  own 
noble  and  pathetic  language,  "  struck  its  roots  too  deeply 
into  his  heart "  to  permit  him,  in  this  their  parting  inter- 
view, to  neglect  a  last  effort,  even  if  this  solemn  warning 
were  destined  to  be  disregarded. 

By  any  reasonable  construction  of  history,  Philip  was 
an  unscrupulous  usurper,  who  was  attempting  to  convert 
himself  from  a  Duke  of  Brabant  and  a  Count  of  Holland 
into  an  absolute  king.  It  was  William  who  was  maintain- 
ing, Philip  who  was  destroying ;  and  the  monarch  who 
was  thus  blasting  the  happiness  of  the  provinces,  and 
about  to  decimate  their  population,  was  by  the  same  proc- 
ess to  undermine  his  own  power  forever,  and  to  divest 
himself  of  his  richest  inheritance.  The  man  on  whom 
he  might  have  leaned  for  support,  had  he  been  capable 
of  comprehending  his  character  and  of  understanding  the 
age  in  which  he  had  himself  been  called  upon  to  reign, 
was,  through  Philip's  own  insanity,  converted  into  the 
instrument  by  which  his  most  valuable  provinces  were  to 
be  taken  from  him,  and  eventually  reorganized  into  an 
independent  commonwealth.  The  Prince  of  Orange  knew 
himself  already  proscribed,  and  he  knew  that  the  secret 
condemnation  had  extended  to  Egmont  also.  He  was 
anxious  that  his  friend  should  prefer  the  privations  of 
exile,  with  the  chance  of  becoming  the  champion  of  a 
struggling  country,  to  the  wretched  fate  towards  which 
his  blind  confidence  was  leading  him.  Even  then  it 
seemed  possible  that  the  brave  soldier  who  had  been  re- 
cently defiling  his  sword  in  the  cause  of  tyranny  might 
become  mindful  of  his  brighter  and  earlier  fame.  Had 
Egmont  been  as  true  to  his  native  land  as,  uiitil  "  the 
long  divorce  of  steel  fell  on  him,''  he  was  faithful  to 
Philip,  he  might  yet  have  earned  brighter  laurels  than 
those  gained  at  Saint-Quentin  and  Gravelines.  Was  he 
doomed  to  fall,  he  might  find  a  glorious  death  upon  free- 
dom's battle-field,  in  place  of  that  darker  departure  then 
so  near  him,  which  the  prophetic  language  of  Orange  de- 


166Y]  THE    FAREWELL  245 

picted  but  which  he  was  too  sanguine  to  fear.  He  spoke 
with  confidence  of  the  royal  clemency.  "Alas,  Egmont/' 
answered  the  Prince,  ''  the  King's  clemency,  of  which  you 
boast,  will  destroy  you.  Would  that  I  might  be  deceived, 
but  I  foresee  too  clearly  that  you  are  to  be  the  bridge 
which  the  Spaniards  will  destroy  so  soon  as  they  have 
passed  over  it  to  invade  our  country."  With  these  last 
solemn  words  he  concluded  his  appeal  to  awaken  the  Count 
from  his  fatal  security.  Then,  as  if  persuaded  that  he 
was  looking  upon  his  friend  for  the  last  time,  William  of 
Orange  threw  his  arms  around  Egmont,  and  held  him  for 
a  moment  in  a  close  embrace.  Tears  fell  from  the  eyes 
of  both  at  this  parting  moment — and  then  the  brief  scene 
of  simple  and  lofty  pathos  terminated  —  Egmont  and 
Orange  separated  from  each  other,  never  to  meet  again 
on  earth. 

A  few  days  afterwards  Orange  addressed  a  letter  to 
Philip,  once  more  resigning  all  his  offices,  and  announc- 
ing his  intention  of  departing  from  the  Netherlands  for 
Germany.  Before  he  departed  he  took  a  final  leave  of 
Horn  and  Egmont,  by  letters,  which,  as  if  aware  of  the 
monumental  character  they  were  to  assume  for  poster- 
ity, he  drew  up  in  Latin.  He  desired,  now  that  he  was 
turning  his  back  upon  the  country,  that  those  two  nobles, 
who  had  refused  to  imitate  and  had  advised  against  his 
course,  should  remember  that  he  was  acting  deliberate- 
ly, conscientiously,  and  in  pursuance  of  a  long -settled 
plan. 

The  Prince  had  left  Antwerp  upon  the  11th  of  April, 
and  had  written  these  letters  from  Breda  upon  the  13th 
of  the  same  month.  Upon  the  22d,  he  took  his  departure 
for  Dillenburg,  the  ancestral  seat  of  his  family  in  Ger- 
many, by  the  way  of  Grave  and  Cleves. 

He  did  not  move  too  soon.  Not  long  after  his  arrival 
in  Germany,  Vandenesse,  the  King's  private  secretary, 
but  Orange's  secret  agent,  wrote  him  word  that  he  had 
read  letters  from  the  King  to  Alva,  in  which  the  Duke 
was  instructed  to  '^arrest  the  Prince  as  soon  as  he  could 
lay  hands  upon  him,  and  not  to  let  Ms  trial  last  more  than 
twenty-four  hours," 


246  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1567 

Brederode  had  remained  at  Vianen,*  and  afterwards  at 
Amsterdam,  since  the  ill-starred  expedition  of  Tholoiise, 
which  he  had  organized,  but  at  which  he  had  not  assisted. 

The  Eegent,  determined  to  dislodge  him,  had  sent  Sec- 
retary La  Torre  to  him  in  March,  with  instructions  that 
if  Brederode  refused  to  leave  Amsterdam,  the  magistracy 
were  to  call  for  assistance  upon  Count  Meghem,  who  had 
a  regiment  at  Utrecht.  The  Count  insulted  and  impris- 
oned the  old  secretary  for  a  day  or  two,  but  this  was  the 
last  exploit  of  Brederode. 

He  remained  at  Amsterdam  some  weeks  longer,  but  the 
events  which  succeeded  changed  the  Hector  into  a  faith- 
ful vassal.  Before  the  12th  of  April,  he  wrote  to  Egmont, 
begging  his  intercession  with  Margaret  of  Parma,  and  of- 
fering ^^ carte  blanche"  as  to  terms,  if  he  might  only  be 
allowed  to  make  his  peace  with  the  government.  It  was, 
however,  somewhat  late  in  the  day  for  the  ^^ great  beggar" 
to  make  his  submission.  No  terms  were  accorded  him,  but 
he  was  allowed  by  the  Duchess  to  enjoy  his  revenues  pro- 
visionally, subject  to  the  King's  pleasure.  Upon  the 
25th  of  April,  he  entertained  a  select  circle  of  friends  at 
his  hotel  in  Amsterdam,  and  then  embarked  at  midnight 
for  Embden.  A  numerous  procession  of  his  adherents 
escorted  him  to  the  ship,  bearing  lighted  torches  and 
singing  bacchanalian  songs.  He  died  within  a  year  after- 
wards, of  disappointment  and  hard  drinking,  at  Castle 
Hardenberg,  in  Germany,  after  all  his  fretting  and  fury, 
and  notwithstanding  his  vehement  protestations  to  die  a 
poor  soldier  at  the  feet  of  Louis  of  Nassau. 

That  '^'good  chevalier  and  good  Christian,"  as  his  broth- 
er affectionately  called  him,  was  in  Germany,  girding  him- 
self for  the  manly  work  which  Providence  had  destined 

*  Vianen,  on  the  Rhine,  in  Gelderland,  is  believed  to  be  the  old  Forum 
Dianae  of  Ptolemy.  The  town  is  now  one  of  the  quietest  in  the  Dutch 
kingdom,  having  about  five  thousand  inhabitants.  By  a  bridge  of  boats 
it  is  connected  with  Vreeswijk,  where  is  the  terminal  of  the  new  canal  to 
Amsterdam.  The  fine  ruins  of  one  of  the  family  castles  are  to  be  seen 
near  Haarlem,  but  scarcely  a  trace  is  left  of  that  at  Vianen.  The  line  of 
the  Brederodes  (Brede,  broad ;  rode,  rood,  or  rod)  came  to  an  end  with  the 
death  of  A.  K.  B.  Brederode,  September  3,  1832. 


1567]  THE   GREAT   BEGGAR'S  EXIT  247 

him  to  perform.  The  life  of  Brederode,  who  had  engaged 
in  the  early  struggle,  perhaps  from  the  frivolous  expec- 
tation of  hearing  himself  called  Count  of  Holland,  as  his 
ancestors  had  been,  had  contributed  nothing  to  the  cause 
of  freedom,  nor  did  his  death  occasion  regret.  His  disorder- 
ly band  of  followers  dispersed  in  every  direction  upon  the 
departure  of  their  chief.  A  vessel  in  which  Batenburg, 
Galaina,  and  other  nobles,  with  their  men-at-arms,  were 
escaping  towards  a  German  port,  was  carried  into  Harlin- 
gen,  while  those  gentlemen,  overpowered  by  sleep  and 
wassail,  were  unaware  of  their  danger,  and  delivered  over 
to  Count  Meghem  by  the  treachery  of  their  pilot.  The 
soldiers  were  immediately  hanged.  The  noblemen  were 
reserved  to  grace  the  first  great  scaffold  which  Alva  was  to 
erect  upon  the  horse-market  in  Brussels. 

The  confederacy  was  entirely  broken  to  pieces.  Of  the 
chieftains  to  whom  the  people  had  been  accustomed  to 
look  for  support  and  encouragement,  some  had  rallied  to 
the  government,  some  were  in  exile,  some  were  in  prison. 
Montigny,  closely  watched  in  Spain,  was  virtually  a  cap- 
tive, pining  for  the  young  bride  to  whom  he  had  been 
wedded  amid  such  brilliant  festivities  but  a  few  months 
before  his  departure,  and  for  the  child  which  was  never  to 
look  upon  its  father's  face.  His  colleague,  Marquis  Berg- 
hen,  more  fortunate,  was  already  dead. 

With  the  departure  of  Orange,  a  total  eclipse  seemed  to 
come  over  the  Netherlands.  The  country  was  absolutely 
helpless,  the  popular  heart  cold  with  apprehension.  All 
persons  at  all  implicated  in  the  late  troubles,  or  suspected 
of  heresy,  fled  from  their  homes.  Fugitive  soldiers  were 
hunted  into  rivers,  cut  to  pieces  in  the  fields,  hanged, 
burned,  or  drowned,  like  dogs,  without  quarter  and  with- 
out remorse.  The  most  industrious  and  valuable  part  of 
the  population  left  the  land  in  droves.  The  tide  swept  out- 
wards with  such  rapidity  that  the  Netherlands  seemed  fast 
becoming  the  desolate  waste  which  they  had  been  before 
the  Christian  era.  Throughout  the  country  those  Ke- 
formers  who  were  unable  to  effect  their  escape  betook 
themselves  to  their  old  lurking-places.  The  new  religion 
was  banished  from   all  the  cities,  every  conventicle  was 


248  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1567 

broken  up  by  armed  men,  the  preachers  and  leading  mem- 
bers were  hanged,  their  disciples  beaten  with  rods,  re- 
duced to  beggary,  or  imprisoned,  even  if  they  sometimes 
escaped  the  scaffold.  An  incredible  number,  however, 
were  executed  for  religious  causes.  The  country  was  as 
completely  ''  pacified,"  to  use  the  conqueror^s  expression, 
as  Gaul  had  been  by  Caesar. 

Upon  the  24th  of  May,  the  Regent  issued  a  fresh  edict, 
which,  says  a  contemporary  historian,  increased  the  fear  of 
those  professing  the  new  religion  to  such  an  extent  that 
they  left  the  country  ''in  great  heaps."*  It  became 
necessary,  therefore,  to  issue  a  subsequent  proclamation, 
forbidding  all  persons,  whether  foreigners  or  natives,  to 
leave  the  land  or  to  send  away  their  property,  and  pro- 
hibiting all  shipmasters,  wagoners,  and  other  agents  of 
travel  from  assisting  in  the  flight  of  such  fugitives,  all 
upon  pain  of  death. 

Yet  will  it  be  credited  that  this  edict  actually  excited  the 
wrath  of  Philip  on  account  of  its  clemency  9  He  therefore 
commanded  his  sister  instantly  to  revoke  it.  One  might 
almost  imagine  from  reading  the  King's  letter  that  Philip 
was  at  last  appalled  at  the  horrors  committed  in  his  name. 
Alas,  he  was  only  indignant  that  heretics  had  been  suffered 
to  hang  who  ought  to  have  been  burned,  and  that  a  few 
narrow  and  almost  impossible  loopholes  had  been  left 
through  which  those  who  had  offended  might  effect  their 
escape. 

And  thus,  while  the  country  is  paralyzed  with  present 
and  expected  woe,  the  swiftly  advancing  trumpets  of  the 
Spanish  army  resound  from  beyond  the  Alps.  The  cur- 
tain is  falling  upon  the  prelude  to  the  great  tragedy  which 
the  prophetic  lips  of  Orange  had  foretold. 

*  Probably  a  raillion  people  left  the  southern  Netherlands  during  "  the 
Troubles."  Though  some  of  these  refugees  took  their  course  to  Germany, 
and  a  large  number,  perhaps  a  majority  of  the  whole,  went  to  Holland, 
it  is  probable  that  at  least  one  hundred  thousand  found  a  home  in  Great 
Britain.  Their  exodus  and  the  great  and  varied  influence  which  they 
exerted  upon  the  development  of  England  and  on  British  history  are  set 
forth  in  Campbell's  The  Puritan  in  Holland^  England^  and  AmericOy  New 
York,  1892. 


part  111 

ALVA 

1567-1573 


CHAPTER  I 
THE    COUNCIL    OF    BLOOD 

The  armed  invasion  of  the  Netherlands  was  the  neces- 
sary consequence  of  all  which  had  gone  before.  That  the 
inevitable  result  had  been  so  long  deferred  lay  rather  in 
the  incomprehensible  tardiness  of  Philip's  character  than 
in  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  Never  did  a  monarch 
hold  so  steadfastly  to  a  deadly  purpose,  or  proceed  so 
languidly  and  with  so  much  circumvolution  to  his  goal. 
The  mask  of  benignity,  of  possible  clemency,  was  now 
thrown  off,  but  the  delusion  of  his  intended  visit  to  the 
provinces  was  still  maintained.  He  assured  the  Regent 
that  he  should  be  governed  by  her  advice,  and  as  she  had 
made  all  needful  preparations  to  receive  him  in  Zeeland, 
that  it  would  be  in  Zeeland  he  should  arrive. 

It  was  determined  at  last  that  the  Netherland  heresy 
should  be  conquered  by  force  of  arms.  The  invasion  re- 
sembled both  a  crusade  against  the  infidel,  and  a  treasure- 
hunting  foray  into  the  auriferous  Indies,  achievements  by 
which  Spanish  chivalry  had  so  often  illustrated  itself. 
Who  so  fit  to  be  the  Tancred  and  the  Pizarro  of  this  bi- 
colored  expedition  as  the  Duke  of  Alva,  the  man  who  had 
been  devoted  from  his  earliest  childhood,  and  from  his 
father's  grave,  to  hostility  against  unbelievers,  and  who 
had  prophesied  that  treasure  would  flow  in  a  stream  a 
yard  deep  from  the  Netherlands  as  soon  as  the  heretics 
began  to  meet  with  their  deserts.  An  army  of  chosen 
troops  was  forthwith  collected  by  taking  the  four  legions, 
or  terzios,  of  Naples,  Sicily,  Sardinia,  and  Lombardy,  and 
filling  their  places  in  Italy  by  fresh  levies.  About  ten 
thousand  picked  and  veteran  soldiers  were  thus  obtained. 


252  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  '  [1667 

of  which  the  Duke   of   Alva  was   appointed  general-in- 
.  chief. 

Fernando  Alvarez  de  Toledo,  Duke  of  Alva,  was  now 
tj       in  his  sixtieth  year.     He  was  the  most  successful  and  ex- 
rX      p.erienced  general  of  Spain,  or  oi  Europe.     No  man  had 
fTjp      studied  more  deeply,  or  practised  more  constantly,  the 
^r*--;  military  science.     In  the  most  important  of  all  arts  at 
^      that  epoch,  he  was  the  most  consummate  artist.     In  the 
only  honorable  profession  of  the  age,  he  was  the  most 
thorough  and  the  most  pedantic  professor.     Conscious  of 
holding  his  armies  in  his  hand,  by  the  power  of  an  un- 
rivalled discipline,  and  the  magic  of  a  name  illustrated 
by  a  hundred  triumphs,  he  could  bear  with  patience  and 
benevolence  the  murmurs  of  his  soldiers  when  their  bat- 
tles were  denied  them. 

He  was  born  in  1508,  of  a  family  which  boasted  im- 
perial descent.  A  Palaeologus,  brother  of  a  Byzantine 
emperor,  had  conquered  the  city  of  Toledo,  and  trans- 
mitted its  appellation  as  a  family  name.  The  father  of 
Fernando,  Don  Garcia,  had  been  slain  on  the  isle  of 
Gerbes,  in  battle  with  the  Moors,  when  his  son  was  but 
four  years  of  age.  The  child  was  brought  up  by  his 
grandfather,  Don  Frederic,  and  trained  from  his  tenderest 
infancy  to  arms.  Hatred  to  the  infidel,  and  a  determina- 
tion to  avenge  his  father^s  blood,  crying  to  him  from  a 
foreign  grave,  were  the  earliest  of  his  instincts. 

In  1530  he  accompanied  the  Emperor  in  his  campaign 
against  the  Turk.  Charles,  instinctively  recognizing  the 
merit  of  the  youth  who  was  destined  to  be  the  life-long 
companion  of  his  toils  and  glories,  distinguished  him  with 
his  favor  at  the  opening  of  his  career.  Young,  bravo, 
and  enthusiastic,  Fernando  de  Toledo  at  this  period  was 
as  interesting  a  hero  as  ever  illustrated  the  pages  of 
Castilian  romance.  His  mad  ride  from  Hungary  to  Spain 
and  back  again,  accomplished  in  seventeen  days,  for  the 
sake  of  a  brief  visit  to  his  newly  married  wife,  is  not  the 
least  attractive  episode  in  the  history  of  an  existence 
which  was  destined  to  be  so  dark  and  sanguinary.  In 
1535  he  accompanied  the  Emperor  on  his  memorable 
expedition  to  Tunis.     In  1546  and  1547  he  was  generalis- 


DUKE    OK    ALVA 


1567]  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  ALVA  253 

simo  in  the  war  against  the  Smalkaldic  League.  His  most 
brilliant  feat  of  arms — perhaps  the  most  brilliant  exploit 
of  the  Emperor's  reign — was  the  passage  of  the  Elbe  and 
the  battle  of  Muhlberg,  accomplished  in  spite  of  Maximil- 
ian's bitter  and  violent  reproaches  and  the  tremendous 
possibilities  of  a  defeat.  That  battle  had  finished  the  war. 
Having  accompanied  Philip  to  England  in  1554,  on  his 
matrimonial  expedition,  he  was  destined  in  the  following 
years,  as  viceroy  and  generalissimo  of  Italy,  to  be  placed 
in  a  series  of  false  positions.  A  great  captain  engaged  in 
a  little  war,  the  champion  of  the  cross  in  arms  against  the 
successor  of  St.  Peter,  he  had  extricated  himself  at  last 
with  his  usual  adroitness  but  with  very  little  glory.  To 
him  had  been  allotted  the  mortification,  to  another  the 
triumph.  While  he  had  been  paltering  with  a  dotard, 
whom  he  was  forbidden  to  crush,  Egmont  had  struck 
down  the  chosen  troops  of  France,  and  conquered  her 
most  illustrious  commanders.  Here  was  the  unpardona- 
ble crime  which  could  only  be  expiated  by  the  blood  of 
the  victor.  Unfortunately  for  his  rival,  the  time  was  now 
approaching  when  the  long -deferred  revenge  was  to  be 
satisfied. 

On  the  whole,  the  Duke  of  Alva  was  inferior  to  no 
general  of  his  age.  As  a  disciplinarian  he  was  foremost 
in  Spain,  perhaps  in  Europe.  As  a  statesman,  he  had 
neither  experience  nor  talent.  As  a  man,  his  character 
was  simple.  He  did  not  combine  a  great  variety  of  vices, 
but  those  which  he  had  were  colossal,  and  he  possessed  no 
virtues.  He  was  neither  lustful  nor  intemperate,  but  his 
professed  eulogists  admitted  his  enormous  avarice,  while 
the  world  has  agreed  that  such  an  amount  of  stealth  and 
ferocity,  of  patient  vindictiveness  and  universal  blood- 
thirstiness,  was  never  found  in  a  savage  beast  of  the  for- 
est, and  but  rarely  in  a  human  bosom.  Personally  he  was 
stern  and  overbearing.  As  difficult  of  access  as  Philip 
himself,  he  was  even  more  haughty  to  those  who  were 
admitted  to  his  presence.  He  addressed  every  one  with 
the  deprecating  second  person  plural.  Possessing  the 
right  of  being  covered  in  the  presence  of  the  Spanish 
monarch,  he  U^d  bee»  with  difficulty  brought  to  renounce 


254  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1567 

it  before  the  German  Emperor.  He  was  of  an  illustrious 
family,  but  his  territorial  possessions  were  not  extensive. 
His  duchy  was  a  small  one,  furnishing  him  with  not  more 
than  fourteen  thousand  crowns  of  annual  income,  and 
with  four  hundred  soldiers.  He  had,  however,  been  a 
thrifty  financier  all  his  life,  never  having  been  without 
a  handsome  sum  of  ready  money  at  interest.  Ten  years 
before  his  arrival  in  the  Netherlands  he  was  supposed  to 
have  already  increased  his  income  to  forty  thousand  a 
year  by  the  proceeds  of  his  investments  at  Antwerp. 

In  person  the  Duke  of  Alva  was  tall,  thin,  erect,  with 
a  small  head,  a  long  visage,  lean  yellow  cheeks,  dark  twink- 
ling eyes,  adust  complexion,  black  bristling  hair,  and  a 
long  sable-silvered  beard,  descending  in  two  waving  streams 
upon  his  breast. 

Such  being  the  design,  the  machinery  was  well  selected. 
The  best  man  in  Europe  to  lead  the  invading  force  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  ten  thousand  picked  veterans.  The 
privates  in  this  exquisite  little  army,  said  the  enthusiastic 
connoisseur  Brantome,  who  travelled*  post  into  Lorraine 
expressly  to  see  them  on  their  march,  all  wore  engraved 
or  gilded  armor,  and  were  in  every  respect  equipped  like 
captains.  They  were  the  first  who  carried  muskets,  a 
weapon  which  very  much  astonished  the  Flemings  when 
it  first  rattled  in  their  ears.  The  musketeers,  he  observed, 
might  have  been  mistaken  for  princes,  with  such  agreeable 
and  graceful  arrogance  did  they  present  themselves.  Each 
was  attended  by  his  servant  or  esquire,  who  carried  his 
piece  for  him,  except  in  battle,  and  all  were  treated  with 
extreme  deference  by  the  rest  of  the  army,  as  if  they  had 
been  officers.  The  four  regiments  of  Lombardy,  Sardinia, 
Sicily,  and  Naples,  composed  a  total  of  not  quite  nine 
thousand  of  the  best  foot  soldiers  in  Europe.  They  were 
commanded  respectively  by  Don  Sancho  de  Lodrono,  Don 
Gonzalo  de  Bracamonte,  Julien  Romero,  and  Alfonso  de 
Ulloa,  all  distinguished  and  experienced  generals.  The 
cavalry,  amounting  to  about  twelve  hundred,  was  under 
the  command  of  the  natural  son  of  the  Duke,  Don  Fer- 
nando de  Toledo,  Prior  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John. 
Chiapin  Vitelli,  Marquis  of  Cetona,  who  had  served  the 


1567]  THE    MARCH  255 

King  in  many  a  campaign,  was  appointed  marechal  de 
camp,  and  Gabriel  Cerbelloni  was  placed  in  command  of 
the  artillery.  On  the  way  the  Duke  received,  as  a  pres- 
ent from  the  Duke  of  Savoy,  the  services  of  the  distin- 
guished engineer,  Pacheco,  or  Paciotti. 

The  Duke  embarked  upon  his  momentous  enterprise, 
on  the  10th  of  May,  at  Carthagena.  Thirty -seven  gal- 
leys, under  command  of  Prince  Andrea  Doria,  brought 
the  principal  part  of  the  force  to  Genoa.  On  the  2d  of 
June  the  army  was  mustered  at  Alexandria  de  Palla,  and 
ordered  to  rendezvous  again  at  San  Ambrosio  at  the  foot 
of  the  Alps.  It  was  then  directed  to  make  its  way  over 
Mount  Cenis  and  through  Savoy,  Burgundy,  and  Lor- 
raine, by  a  regularly  arranged  triple  movement.  The 
second  division  was  each  night  to  encamp  on  the  spot 
which  had  been  occupied  upon  the  previous  night  by  the 
vanguard,  and  the  rear  was  to  place  itself  on  the  follow- 
ing night  in  the  camp  of  the  corps  de  bataille. 

Twelve  days'  march  carried  the  army  through  Burgun- 
dy, twelve  more  through  Lorraine.  During  the  whole  of 
the  journey  they  were  closely  accompanied  by  a  force  of 
cavalry  and  infantry,  ordered  upon  this  service  by  the 
King  of  France,  who,  for  fear  of  exciting  a  fresh  Hu- 
guenot demonstration,  had  refused  the  Spaniards  a  passage 
through  his  dominions.  This  reconnoitring  army  kept 
pace  with  them  like  their  shadow,  and  watched  all  their 
movements.  A  force  of  six  thousand  Swiss,  equally 
alarmed  and  uneasy  at  the  progress  of  the  troops,  hov- 
ered likewise  about  their  flanks,  without,  however,  offer- 
ing any  impediment  to  their  advance.  Before  the  middle 
of  August  they  had  reached  Thionville,  on  the  Luxem- 
burg frontier,  having  on  the  last  day  marched  a  dis- 
tance of  two  leagues  through  a  forest  which  seemed 
expressly  arranged  to  allow  a  small  defensive  force  to 
embarrass  and  destroy  an  invading  army.  No  opposi- 
tion, however,  was  attempted,  and  the  Spanish  soldiers 
encamped  at  last  within  the  territory  of  the  Netherlands, 
having  accomplished  their  adventurous  journey  in  entire 
safety,  and  under  perfect  discipline. 

The  Duchess  had  in  her  secret  letters  to  Philip  con- 


256  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [156'; 

tinned  to  express  her  disapprobation  of  the  enterprise 
thus  committed  to  Alva.  She  also  wrote  personally  to 
the  Duke,  imploring,  commanding,  and  threatening,  but 
with  equally  ill  success.  Alva  knew  too  well  who  was 
sovereign  of  the  Netherlands  now,  his  master's  sister  or 
himself.  As  to  the  effects  of  his  armed  invasion  upon 
the  temper  of  the  provinces,  he  was  supremely  indifferent. 
He  came  as  a  conqueror,  not  as  a  mediator.  "I  have 
tamed  people  of  iron  in  my  day,  "said  he,  contemptuously; 
"  shall  I  not  easily  crush  these  men  of  butter  ?" 

At  Thionville  he  was,  however,  officially  waited  upon 
by  Berlaymont  and  Noircarmes,  on  the  part  of  the  Re- 
gent. He  at  this  point,  moreover,  began  to  receive 
deputations  from  various  cities,  bidding  him  a  hollow  and 
trembling  welcome,  and  deprecating  his  displeasure  for 
anything  in  the  past  which  might  seem  offensive.  At- 
tended by  Egmont,  who  had  met  him  at  Tirlemont  on 
the  22d  of  August,  Alva  rode  through  the  Louvain  gate 
into  Brussels,  where  they  separated  for  a  season.  Lodg- 
ings had  been  taken  for  the  Duke  at  the  house  of  a  cer- 
tain Madame  de  Jasse,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Egmont's 
palace.  Leaving  here  the  principal  portion  of  his  attend- 
ants, the  Captain  -  General,  without  alighting,  forthwith 
proceeded  to  the  palace  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  Duchess 
of  Parma. 

Presenting  himself  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  in 
the  bed-chamber  of  the  Duchess,  where  it  was  her  habit 
to  grant  confidential  audiences,  he  met,  as  might  easily  be 
supposed,  with  a  chilling  reception.  The  Duchess,  stand- 
ing motionless  in  the  centre  of  the  apartment,  attended  by 
Berlaymont,  the  Duke  of  Aerschot,  and  Count  Egmont, 
acknowledged  his  salutations  with  calm  severity.  Neither 
she  nor  any  one  of  her  attendants  advanced  a  step  to  meet 
him.  The  Duke  took  off  his  hat,  but  she,  calmly  recog- 
nizing his  right  as  a  Spanish  grandee,  insisted  upon  his 
remaining  covered.  A  stiff  and  formal  conversation  of 
half  an  hour's  duration  then  ensued,  all  parties  remaining 
upon  their  feet.  The  Duke,  although  respectful,  found 
it  difficult  to  conceal  his  indignation  and  his  haughty 
sense  of  approaching  triumph.    Margaret  was  cold,  stately. 


1567]  GENERAL   DISMAY  257 

and  forbidding,  disguising  her  rage  and  her  mortification 
under  a  veil  of  imperial  pride. 

Circular  letters  signed  by  Philip,  which  Alva  had 
brought  with  him,  were  now  despatched  to  the  different 
municipal  bodies  of  the  country.  In  these  the  cities  were 
severally  commanded  to  accept  the  garrisons,  and  to  pro- 
vide for  the  armies  whose  active  services  the  King  hoped 
would  not  be  required,  but  which  he  had  sent  beforehand 
to  prepare  a  peaceful  entrance  for  himself.  He  enjoined 
the  most  absolute  obedience  to  the  Duke  of  Alva  until  his 
own  arrival,  which  was  to  be  almost  immediate.  These 
letters  were  dated  at  Madrid  on  the  28th  of  February,  and 
were  now  accompanied  by  a  brief  official  circular,  signed 
by  Margaret  of  Parma,  in  which  she  announced  the  arrival 
of  her  dear  cousin  of  Alva,  and  demanded  unconditional 
submission  to  his  authority. 

Having  thus  complied  with  these  demands  of  external 
and  conventional  propriety,  the  indignant  Duchess  unbos- 
omed herself,  in  her  private  Italian  letters  to  her  brother, 
of  the  rage  which  had  been  hitherto  partially  suppressed. 
She  had  compromised  her  health,  perhaps  her  life,  and  now 
that  she  had  pacified  the  country,  now  that  the  King  was 
more  absolute,  more  powerful  than  ever  before,  another 
was  sent  to  enjoy  the  fruit  of  her  labors  and  her  sufferings. 

The  Duchess  made  no  secret  of  her  indignation  at  being 
thus  superseded  and,  as  she  considered  the  matter,  out- 
raged. She  openly  avowed  her  displeasure.  She  was  at 
times  almost  beside  herself  with  rage.  There  was  univer- 
sal sympathy  with  her  emotions,  for  all  hated  the  Duke, 
and  shuddered  at  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards.  The  day 
of  doom  for  all  the  crimes  which  had  ever  been  commit- 
ted in  the  course  of  ages  seemed  now  to  dawn  upon  the 
Netherlands.  The  sword  which  had  so  long  been  hanging 
over  them  seemed  now  about  to  descend.  Throughout 
the  provinces  there  was  but  one  feeling  of  cold  and  hope- 
less dismay.  Those  who  still  saw  a  possibility  of  effect- 
ing their  escape  from  the  fated  land  swarmed  across  the 
frontier.  All  foreign  merchants  deserted  the  great  marts. 
The  cities  became  as  still  as  if  the  plague-banner  had  been 
unfurled  on  every  house-top. 
17 


258  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1567 

Meantime  the  Captain-General  proceeded  methodically 
with  his  work.  He  distributed  his  troops  through  Brus- 
sels, Ghent,  Antwerp,  and  other  principal  cities.  As  a 
measure  of  necessity  and  mark  of  the  last  humiliation,  he 
required  the  municipalities  to  transfer  their  keys  to  his 
keeping.  The  magistrates  of  Ghent  humbly  remonstrated 
against  the  indignity,  and  Egmont  was  imprudent  enough 
to  make  himself  the  mouth-piece  of  their  re-nion/strance, 
which,  it  is  needless  to  add,  was  unsuccessful.  Meantime 
his  own  day  of  reckoning  had  arrived. 

It  had  been  decided  that  the  gentlemen  implicated  in 
the  confederacy,  or  Compromise,  should  at  once  be  pro- 
ceeded against  for  high  treason,  without  any  regard  to 
the  promise  of  pardon  granted  by  the  Duchess. 

It  is  difficult  to  comprehend  so  very  sanguine  a  tempera- 
ment as  that  to  which  Egmont  owed  his  destruction.  It 
was  not  the  Prince  of  Orange  alone  who  had  prophesied 
his  doom.  Warnings  had  come  to  the  Count  from  every 
quarter,  and  they  were  now  frequently  repeated.  The 
Portuguese  gentleman,  Robles,  Seigneur  de  Billy,  who 
had  returned  early  in  the  summer  from  Spain,  whither  he 
had  been  sent  upon  a  confidential  mission  by  Madame  de 
Parma,  is  said  to  have  made  repeated  communications 
to  Egmont  as  to  the  dangerous  position  in  which  he 
stood.  Immediately  after  his  arrival  in  Brussels  he  had 
visited  the  Count,  then  confined  to  his  house  by  an  injury 
caused  by  a  fall  of  his  horse.  ''  Take  care  to  get  well  very 
fast,"  said  De  Billy,  ^-for  there  are  very  bad  stories  told 
about  you  in  Spain."  Egmont  laughed  heartily  at  the  ob- 
servation, as  if  nothing  could  well  be  more  absurd  than 
such  a  warning.  His  friend — for  De  Billy  is  said  to  have 
felt  a  real  attachment  for  the  Count — persisted  in  his  pro- 
phecies, telling  him  that  "  birds  in  the  field  sang  much 
more  sweetly  than  those  in  cages,"  and  that  he  would  do 
well  to  abandon  the  country  before  the  arrival  of  Alva. 

For  a  few  days,  accordingly,  after  the  arrival  of  the  new 
Governor-General,  all  seemed  to  be  going  smoothly.  The 
grand  prior  and  Egmont  became  exceedingly  intimate, 
passing  their  time  together  in  banquets,  masquerades,  and 
play,  as  joyously  as  if  the  merry  days  which  had  succeeded 


1667]  THE  PRIOR'S  DINNER  250 

the  Treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis  were  returned.  The  Duke, 
too,  manifested  the  most  friendly  disposition,  taking  care 
to  send  him  large  presents  of  Spanish  and  Italian  fruits, 
received  frequently  by  the  government  couriers. 

Lapped  in  this  fatal  security,  Egmont  not  only  forgot  his 
fears,  but,  unfortunately,  succeeded  in  inspiring  Count 
Horn  with  a  portion  of  his  confidence.  That  gentleman 
had  still  remained  in  his  solitary  mansion  at  Weert,  not- 
withstanding the  artful  means  which  had  been  used  to 
lure  him  from  that  '^  desert." 

Alva  and  his  son  Don  Fernando  had  soon  afterwards 
addressed  letters  from  Gerverbiller  (dated  the  26th  and 
27th  of  July)  to  Count  Horn,  filled  with  expressions  of 
friendship  and  confidence.  The  Admiral,  who  had  sent 
one  of  his  gentlemen  to  greet  the  Duke,  now  responded 
from  Weert  that  he  was  very  sensible  of  the  kindness 
manifested  towards  him,  but  that  for  reasons  which  his 
secretary,  Alonzo  de  la  Loo,  would  more  fully  communi- 
cate, he  must  for  the  present  beg  to  be  excused  from  a 
personal  visit  to  Brussels.  The  secretary  was  received  by 
Alva  with  extreme  courtesy. 

Alva's  manoeuvring,  joined  to  the  urgent  representations 
of  Egmont,  at  last  produced  its  effect.  The  Admiral  left 
his  retirement  at  Weert  to  fall  into  the  pit  which  his  en- 
emies had  been  so  skilfully  preparing  at  Brussels. 

On  the  9th  day  of  September  the  grand  prior,  Don  Fer- 
nando, gave  a  magnificent  dinner,  to  which  Egmont  and 
Horn,  together  with  Noircarmes,  the  Viscount  of  Ghent, 
and  many  other  noblemen  were  invited.  The  banquet 
was  enlivened  by  the  music  of  Alva's  own  military  band, 
which  the  Duke  sent  to  entertain  the  company.  At  three 
o'clock  he  sent  a  message  begging  the  gentlemen,  after 
their  dinner  should  be  concluded,  to  favor  him  with  their 
company  at  his  house  (the  maison  de  Jasse),  as  he  wished 
to  consult  them  concerning  the  plan  of  the  citadel  which 
he  proposed  erecting  at  Antwerp. 

At  four  o'clock,  the  dinner  being  finished,  Horn  and 
Egmont,  accompanied  by  the  other  gentlemen,  proceeded 
to  the  Jasse  house,  to  take  part  in  the  deliberations  pro- 
posed.    They  were  received  by  the  Duke  with  great  cour- 


260  PIISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1567 

tesy.  The  engineer,  Pietro  Urbino,  soon  appeared  and 
laid  npon  the  table  a  large  parchment  containing  the  plan 
and  elevation  of  the  citadel  to  be  erected  at  Antwerp.  A 
warm  discussion  upon  the  subject  soon  arose,  Egmont, 
Horn,  Noircarmes,  and  others,  together  with  the  engineers 
Urbino  and  Pacheco,  all  taking  part  in  the  debate.  After 
a  short  time  the  Duke  of  Alva  left  the  apartment  on  pre- 
text of  a  sudden  indisposition,  leaving  the  company  still 
warmly  engaged  in  their  argument.  The  council  lasted 
till  near  seven  in  the  evening.  As  it  broke  up,  Don  Sancho 
d'Avila,  captain  of  the  Duke's  guard,  requested  Egmont 
to  remain  for  a  moment  after  the  rest,  as  he  had  a  com- 
munication to  make  to  him.  After  an  insignificant  re- 
mark or  two,  the  Spanish  officer,  as  soon  as  the  two  were 
alone,  requested  Egmont  to  surrender  his  sword.  The 
Count,  agitated  and,  notwithstanding  everything  which 
had  gone  before,  still  taken  by  surprise,  scarcely  knew 
what  reply  to  make.  Don  Sancho  repeated  that  he  had 
been  commissioned  to  arrest  him,  and  again  demanded  his 
sword.  At  the  same  moment  the  doors  of  the  adjacent 
apartment  were  opened,  and  Egmont  saw  himself  sur- 
rounded by  a  company  of  Spanish  musketeers  and  hal- 
berdmen.  Finding  himself  thus  entrapped,  he  gave  up 
his  sword,  saying  bitterly  as  he  did  so  that  it  had  at  least 
rendered  some  service  to  the  King  in  times  which  were 
past.  He  was  then  conducted  to  a  chamber  in  the  upper 
story  of  the  house,  where  his  temporary  prison  had  been 
arranged.  The  windows  were  barricaded,  the  daylight  ex- 
cluded, the  whole  apartment  hung  with  black.  Here  he 
remained  fourteen  days  (from  the  9th  to  the  23d  of  Sep- 
tember). During  this  period  he  was  allowed  no  communi- 
cation with  his  friends.  His  room  was  lighted  day  and 
night  with  candles,  and  he  was  served  in  strict  silence  by 
Spanish  attendants  and  guarded  by  Spanish  soldiers.  The 
captain  of  the  watch  drew  his  curtain  every  midnight, 
and  aroused  him  from  sleep  that  he  might  be  identified 
by  the  relieving  officer. 

Count  Horn  was  arrested  upon  the  same  occasion  by 
Captain  Salinas,  as  he  was  proceeding  through  the  court- 
yard of  the  house,  after  the  breaking-up  of  the  council. 


1567]  THE    TRAP   SPRUNG  261 

He  was  confined  in  another  chamber  of  the  mansion,  and 
met  with  a  precisely  similar  treatment  to  that  experienced 
by  Egmont.  Upon  the  23d  of  September  both  were  re- 
moved under  a  strong  guard  to  the  castle  of  Ghent. 

On  this  same  day  two  other  important  arrests,  included 
and  arranged  in  the  same  programme,  had  been  success- 
fully accomplished.  Bakkerzeel,  private  and  confidential 
secretary  of  Egmont,  and  Antony  van  Straalen,  the  rich 
and  influential  burgomaster  of  Antwerp,  were  taken  almost 
simultaneously.  At  the  request  of  Alva,  the  burgomaster 
had  been  invited  by  the  Duchess  of  Parma  to  repair  on 
business  to  Brussels.  He  seemed  to  fear  an  ambuscade, 
for  as  he  got  into  his  coach  to  set  forth  upon  the  jour- 
ney he  was  so  muffled  in  a  superabundance  of  clothing 
that  he  was  scarcely  to  be  recognized.  He  was  no  sooner, 
however,  in  the  open  country  and  upon  a  spot  remote 
from  human  habitations,  than  he  was  suddenly  beset  by 
a  band  of  forty  soldiers  under  command  of  Don  Alberic 
Lodron  and  Don  Sancho  de  Londono.  These  officers  had 
been  watching  his  movements  for  many  days.  The  cap- 
ture of  Bakkerzeel  was  accomplished  with  equal  adroit- 
ness at  about  the  same  hour. 

No  sooner  were  these  gentlemen  in  custody  than  the 
secretary,  Albornoz,  was  despatched  to  the  house  of  Count 
Horn  and  to  that  of  Bakkerzeel,  where  all  papers  were 
immediately  seized,  inventoried,  and  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  Duke.  Thus,  if  amid  the  most  secret  communica- 
tions of  Egmont  and  Horn  or  their  correspondents  a  single 
treasonable  thought  should  be  lurking,  it  would  go  hard 
if  it  could  not  be  twisted  into  a  cord,  strong  enough  to 
strangle  all  of  them. 

The  Duke  wrote  a  triumphant  letter  to  his  Majesty  that 
very  night.  He  apologized  that  these  important  captures 
had  been  deferred  so  long,  but  stated  that  he  had  thought 
it  desirable  to  secure  all  these  leading  personages  at  a 
single  stroke.  He  then  narrated  the  masterly  manner  in 
which  the  operations  had  been  conducted.  Certainly, 
when  it  is  remembered  that  the  Duke  had  only  reached 
Brussels  upon  the  23d  of  August,  and  that  the  two  Counts 
were  securely  lodged  in  prison  on  the  9th  of  September, 


262  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1567 

it  seemed  a  superfluous  modesty  upon  his  part  thus  to 
excuse  himself  for  an  apparent  delay.  At  any  rate,  in 
the  eyes  of  the  world  and  of  posterity  his  zeal  to  carry 
out  the  bloody  commands  of  his  master  was  sufficiently 
swift. 

The  consternation  was  universal  throughout  the  prov- 
inces when  the  arrests  became  known.  Egmont's  great 
popularity  and  distinguished  services  placed  him  so  high 
above  the  mass  of  citizens,  and  his  attachment  to  the 
Catholic  religion  was  moreover  so  well  known,  that  it  was 
obvious  that  no  man  could  now  be  safe  when  men  like 
him  were  in  the  power  of  Alva  and  his  myrmidons.  The 
animosity  to  the  Spaniards  increased  hourly.  The  Duchess 
affected  indignation  at  the  arrest  of  the  two  nobles,  al- 
though it  nowhere  appears  that  she  attempted  a  word  in 
their  defence  or  lifted  at  any  subsequent  moment  a  finger 
to  save  them.  She  was  not  anxious  to  wash  her  hands  of 
the  blood  of  two  innocent  men  ;  she  was  only  offended 
that  they  had  been  arrested  without  her  permission.  She 
seemed  to  imagine  herself  the  champion  of  their  liberties, 
and  the  Netherlanders,  for  a  moment,  seemed  to  partici- 
pate in  the  delusion.  Because  she  was  indignant  at  the 
insolence  of  the  Duke  of  Alva  to  herself,  the  honest  citi- 
zens began  to  give  her  credit  for  a  sympathy  with  their 
own  wrongs.  It  is  very  true  that  the  horrors  of  the  Duke^s 
administration  have  been  propitious  to  the  fame  of  Mar- 
garet, and  perhaps  more  so  to  that  of  Cardinal  Granvelle. 
The  faint  and  struggling  rays  of  humanity  which  occa- 
sionally illumined  the  course  of  their  government  were 
destined  to  be  extinguished  in  a  chaos  so  profound  and 
dark  that  these  last  beams  of  light  seemed  clearer  and 
more  bountiful  by  the  contrast. 

The  Count  of  Hoogstraaten,  who  was  on  his  way  to 
Brussels,  had,  by  good  fortune,  injured  his  hand  through 
the  accidental  discharge  of  a  pistol.  Detained  by  this 
casualty  at  Cologne,  he  was  informed  before  his  arrival 
at  the  capital  of  the  arrest  of  his  two  distinguished 
friends,  and  accepted  the  hint  to  betake  himself  at  once 
to  a  place  of  safety. 

The  loyalty  of  the  elder  Mansfeld  was  beyond  dispute 


1567]  ROYAL  SATISFACTION  263 

even  by  Alva.  His  son  Charles  had,  however,  been  im- 
prudent, and,  as  we  have  seen,  had  even  affixed  his  name 
to  the  earliest  copies  of  the  Compromise.  He  had  re- 
tired, it  is  true,  from  all  connection  with  the  confeder- 
ates, but  his  father  knew  well  that  the  young  Count's 
signature  upon  that  famous  document  would  prove  his 
death-warrant  were  he  found  in  the  country.  He  there- 
fore had  sent  him  into  Germany  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Duke. 

The  King's  satisfaction  was  unbounded  when  he  learned 
this  important  achievement  of  Alva,  and  he  wrote  imme- 
diately to  express  his  approbation  in  the  most  extravagant 
terms. 

The  unfortunate  envoys,  Marquis  Berghen  and  Baron 
Montigny,  had  remained  in  Spain  under  close  observa- 
tion. Their  fate,  now  that  Alva  had  at  last  been  de- 
spatched to  the  Netherlands,  seemed  to  be  sealed,  and  the 
Marquis  Berghen,  accepting  the  augury  in  its  most  evil 
sense,  immediately  afterwards  had  sickened  unto  death. 
AVhether  it  were  the  sickness  of  hope  deferred  suddenly 
changing  to  despair,  or  whether  it  were  a  still  more  po- 
tent and  unequivocal  poison  which  came  to  the  relief  of 
the  unfortunate  nobleman,  will  perhaps  never  be  ascer- 
tained with  certainty. 

Three  days  after  the  parting  interview  of  Berghen  with 
his  disinterested  friend,  the  Prince  of  Eboli,  the  Marquis 
was  a  corpse.  Before  his  limbs  were  cold  a  messenger 
was  on  his  way  to  Brussels,  instructing  the  Regent  to 
sequestrate  his  property,  and  to  arrest  upon  suspicion  of 
heresy  his  youthful  kinsman  and  his  niece,  tvho,  by  the  tvill 
of  the  Marquis,  were  to  be  united  in  marriage  and  to  share 
his  estate.  The  whole  drama,  beginning  with  the  death 
scene,  was  enacted  according  to  order.  Before  the  arrival 
of  Alva  in  the  Netherlands  the  property  of  the  Marquis 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  government  awaiting  confisca- 
tion, which  was  but  for  a  brief  season  delayed;  while,  on 
the  other  hand.  Baron  Montigny,  Berghen's  companion  in 
doom,  who  was  not,  however,  so  easily  to  be  carried  off 
by  homesickness,  was  closely  confined  in  the  alcazar  of 
Segovia,  never  to  leave  a  Spanish  prison  alive.     There  is 


264  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1567 

something  pathetic  in  the  delusion  in  which  Montigny 
and  his  brother.  Count  Horn,  both  indulged,  each  believ- 
ing that  the  other  was  out  of  harm's  way,  the  one  by  his 
absence  from  the  Netherlands,  the  other  by  his  absence 
from  Spain,  while  both,  involved  in  the  same  meshes, 
were  rapidly  and  surely  approaching  their  fate. 

In  the  same  despatch  of  the  9th  of  September  in  which 
the  Duke  communicated  to  Philip  the  capture  of  Egmont 
and  Horn,  he  announced  to  him  his  determination  to  es- 
tablish a  new  court  for  the  trial  of  crimes  committed  dur- 
ing the  recent  period  of  troubles.  This  wonderful  tri- 
bunal was  accordingly  created  with  the  least  possible 
delay.  It  was  called  the  Council  of  Troubles,  but  it  soon 
acquired  the  terrible  name,  by  which  it  will  be  forever 
known  in  history,  of  the  Council  of  Blood.  It  superseded 
all  other  institutions.  Every  court,  from  those  of  the 
municipal  magistracies  up  to  the  supreme  councils  of  the 
provinces,  was  forbidden  to  take  cognizance  in  future  of 
any  cause  growing  out  of  the  late  troubles.  The  council 
of  state,  although  it  was  not  formally  disbanded,  fell  into 
complete  desuetude,  its  members  being  occasionally  sum- 
moned into  Alva's  private  chambers  in  an  irregular  man- 
ner, while  its  principal  functions  were  usurped  by  the 
Council  of  Blood.  Not  only  citizens  of  every  province,  but 
the  municipal  bodies,  and  even  the  sovereign  provincial 
estates  themselves,  were  compelled  to  plead,  like  humble 
individuals,  before  this  new  and  extraordinary  tribunal. 
The  constitution  or  maternal  principle  of  this  suddenly 
erected  court  was  of  a  twofold  nature.  It  defined  and  it 
punished  the  crime  of  treason.  The  definitions,  couched 
in  eighteen  articles,  declared  it  to  be  treason  to  have  de- 
livered or  signed  any  petition  against  the  new  bishops, 
the  inquisition,  or  the  edicts ;  to  have  tolerated  public 
preaching  under  any  circumstances  ;  to  have  omitted  re- 
sistance to  the  image-breaking,  to  the  field-preaching,  or 
to  the  presentation  of  the  Bequest  by  the  nobles  ;  and, 
*'  either  through  sympathy  or  surprise,"  to  have  asserted 
that  the  King  did  not  possess  the  right  to  deprive  all  the 
provinces  of  their  liberties  ;  or  to  have  maintained  that 
this  present  tribunal  was  bound  to  respect  in  any  manner 


1567]      CONSTITUTION   OF   THE   COUNCIL   OF  TROUBLES        265 

any  laws  or  any  charters.  The  punishment  was  still  more 
briefly,  simply,  and  comprehensively  stated,  for  it  was  in- 
stant death  in  all  cases.  So  well,  too,  did  this  new  and 
terrible  engine  perform  its  work  that  in  less  than  three 
months  from  the  time  of  its  erection  eighteen  hundred 
human  beings  had  suffered  death  by  its  summary  proceed- 
ings— some  of  the  highest,  the  noblest,  and  the  most  virt- 
uous in  the  land  among  the  number;  nor  had  it  then 
manifested  the  slightest  indication  of  faltering  in  its  dread 
career. 

Yet,  strange  to  say,  this  tremendous  court,  thus  estab- 
lished upon  the  ruins  of  all  the  ancient  institutions  of  the 
country,  had  not  been  provided  with  even  a  nominal  au- 
thority from  any  source  whatever.  The  King  had  granted 
it  no  letters-patent  or  charter,  nor  had  even  the  Duke  of 
Alva  thought  it  worth  while  to  grant  any  commissions, 
either  in  his  own  name  or  as  Captain-General,  to  any  of 
the  members  composing  the  board.  The  Council  of  Blood 
was  merely  an  informal  club,  of  which  the  Duke  was  per- 
petual president,  while  the  other  members  were  all  ap- 
pointed by  himself. 

Of  these  subordinate  councillors,  two  had  the  right  of 
voting,  subject,  however,  in  all  cases,  to  the  Duke's  final 
decision,  while  the  rest  of  the  number  did  not  vote  at  all. 
It  had  not,  therefore,  in  any  sense  the  character  of  a  ju- 
dicial, legislative,  or  executive  tribunal,  but  was  purely  a 
board  of  advice  by  which  the  bloody  labors  of  the  Duke 
were  occasionally  lightened  as  to  detail,  while  not  a  feath- 
er's weight  of  power  or  of  responsibility  was  removed  from 
his  shoulders.  He  reserved  for  himself  the  final  decision 
upon  all  causes  which  should  come  before  the  council,  and 
stated  his  motives  for  so  doing  with  grim  simplicity. 
*'  Two  reasons,"  he  wrote  to  the  King,  "  have  determined 
me  thus  to  limit  the  power  of  the  tribunal :  the  first  that, 
not  knowing  its  members,  I  might  be  easily  deceived  by 
them  ;  the  second,  that  the  men  of  law  only  condemn  for 
crimes  tvhich  are  proved;  whereas  your  Majesty  knows 
that  affairs  of  state  are  governed  by  very  different  rules 
from  the  laws  luhich  they  have  here.'' 

With  the  assistance  of  Viglius,  the  list  of  blood-council- 


266  HISTORY  OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1567 

lors  was  quickly  completed.  No  one  who  was  offered  the 
office  refused  it.  Noircarmes  and  Berlaymont  accepted 
with  very  great  eagerness.  Several  presidents  and  coun- 
cillors of  the  different  provincial  tribunals  were  appointed  ; 
but  all  the  Netherlanders  were  men  of  straw.  Two  Span- 
iards, Del  Eio  and  Vargas,  were  the  only  members  who 
could  vote ;  while  their  decisions,  as  already  stated,  were 
subject  to  reversal  by  Alva.  Del  Rio  was  a  man  without 
character  or  talent,  a  mere  tool  in  the  hands  of  his  su- 
periors, but  Juan  de  Vargas  was  a  terrible  reality. 

No  better  man  could  have  been  found  in  Europe  for 
the  post  to  which  he  was  thus  elevated.  To  shed  human 
blood  was,  in  his  opinion,  the  only  important  business  and 
the  only  exhilarating  pastime  of  life.  His  youth  had  been 
stained  with  other  crimes.  He  had  been  obliged  to  retire 
from  Spain  because  of  his  violation  of  an  orphan  child 
of  whom  he  was  guardian  ;  and  in  his  manhood  he  found 
no  pleasure  but  in  murder.  He  executed  Alva^s  bloody 
work  with  an  energy  which  was  almost  superhuman,  and 
with  a  merriment  which  would  have  shamed  a  demon. 
His  execrable  jests  ring  through  the  blood  and  smoke  and 
death-cries  of  those  days  of  perpetual  sacrifice.  He  was 
proud  to  be  the  double  of  the  iron -hearted  Duke,  and 
acted  so  uniformly  in  accordance  with  the  latters  views 
that  the  right  of  revision  remained  but  nominal.  There 
could  be  no  possibility  of  collision  where  the  subaltern 
was  only  anxious  to  surpass  an  incomparable  superior. 
f  Among  the  ciphers  who  composed  the  rest  of  the  board, 
the  Flemish  Councillor  Hessels  was  the  one  whom  the 
Duke  most  respected.  He  was  not  without  talent  or  learn- 
ing, but  the  Duke  only  valued  him  for  his  cruelty.  Being 
allowed  to  take  but  little  share  in  the  deliberations,  Hessels 
was  accustomed  to  doze  away  his  afternoon  hours  at  the 
council-table,  and  when  awakened  from  his  nap  in  order 
that  he  might  express  an  opinion  on  the  case  then  before 
the  court  was  wont  to  rub  his  eyes  and  to  call  out  '^  Ad 
patibulmn  !  ad  patihulum  !"  (to  the  gallows  with  him  !  to 
the  gallows  with  him  !)  with  great  fervor,  but  in  entire 
ignorance  of  the  culprit's  name  or  the  merits  of  the  case. 
His  wife,  naturally  disturbed  that  her  husband's  waking 


1667]  THE   COUNCIL   OF  BLOOD  26? 

and  sleeping  hours  were  alike  absorbed  with  this  hang- 
man^ work,  more  than  once  ominously  expressed  her 
hope  to  him  that  he,  whose  head  and  heart  were  thus  en- 
grossed with  the  gibbet,  might  not  one  day  come  to  hang 
upon  it  himself ;  a  gloomy  prophecy  which  the  future 
most  terribly  fulfilled.  / 

The  Council  of  Blood,  thus  constituted,  held  its  first 
session  on  the  20th  of  September,  at  the  lodgings  of  Alva. 
Springing  completely  grown  and  armed  to  the  teeth  from 
the  head  of  its  inventor,  the  new  tribunal — at  the  very 
outset  in  possession  of  all  its  vigor — forthwith  began  to 
manifest  a  terrible  activity  in  accomplishing  the  objects 
of  its  existence.  The  councillors  having  been  sworn  to 
"eternal  secrecy  as  to  anything  which  should  be  trans- 
acted at  the  board,  and  having  likewise  made  oath  to  de- 
nounce any  one  of  their  number  who  should  violate  the 
pledge,"  the  court  was  considered  as  organized.  Alva 
worked  therein  seven  hours  daily.  The  forms  of  proceed- 
ing were  brief  and  artless.  There  was  a  rude  organiza- 
tion, by  which  a  crowd  of  commissioners,  acting  as  inferior 
officers  of  the  council,  were  spread  over  the  provinces, 
whose  business  was  to  collect  information  concerning  all 
persons  who  might  be  incriminated  for  participation  in  the 
recent  troubles.  The  greatest  crime,  however,  was  to  be 
rich,  and  one  which  could  be  expiated  by  no  virtues,  how- 
ever signal.  Alva  was  bent  upon  proving  himself  as  ac- 
complished a  financier  as  he  was  indisputably  a  consum- 
mate commander,  and  he  had  promised  his  master  an 
annual  income  of  five  hundred  thousand  ducats  from  the 
confiscations  which  were  to  accompany  the  executions. 

It  was  necessary  that  the  blood  torrent  should  flow  at 
once  through  the  Netherlands,  in  order  that  the  promised 
golden  river — a  yard  deep,  according  to  his  vaunt — should 
begin  to  irrigate  the  thirsty  soil  of  Spain.  It  is  obvious, 
from  the  fundamental  laws  which  were  made  to  define 
treason  at  the  same  moment  in  which  they  established  the 
council,  that  anv  man  might  be  at  any  instant  summoned 
to  the  court.  Every  man,  whether  innocent  or  guilty, 
whether  papist  or  Protestant,  felt  his  head  shaking  on  his 
shoulders.     If  he  were  wealthy,  there  seemed  no  remedy 


268  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1567 

but  flight,  which  was  now  almost  impossible,  from  the 
heavy  penalties  affixed  by  the  new  edict  upon  all  carriers, 
ship-masters,  and  wagoners  who  should  aid  in  the  escape 
of  heretics. 

The  councillors  were  not  allowed  to  slacken  in  their 
terrible  industry.  The  register  of  every  city,  village,  and 
hamlet  throughout  the  Netherlands  showed  the  daily  lists 
of  men,  women,  and  children  thus  sacrificed  at  the  shrine 
of  the  demon  who  had  obtained  the  mastery  over  this  un- 
happy land.  It  was  not  often  that  an  individual  was  of 
sufficient  importance  to  be  tried — if  trial  it  could  be  called 
— by  himself.  It  was  found  more  expeditious  to  send. them 
in  batches  to  the  furnace.  Thus,  for  example,  on  the  4th 
of  January,  eighty-four  inhabitants  of  Valenciennes  were 
condemned  ;  on  another  day,  ninety-five  miscellaneous  in- 
dividuals, from  different  places  in  Flanders ;  on  another, 
forty-six  inhabitants  of  Malines ;  on  another,  thirty-five 
persons  from  different  localities,  and  so  on. 

Death  even  did  not  in  all  cases  place  a  criminal  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  executioner.  Egbert  Meynartzoon,  a  man 
of  high  official  rank,  had  been  condemned,  together  with 
two  colleagues,  on  an  accusation  of  collecting  money  in  a 
Lutheran  church.  He  died  in  prison  of  dropsy.  The 
sheriff  was  indignant  with  the  physician,  because,  in  spite 
of  cordials  and  strengthening  prescriptions,  the  culprit  had 
slipped  through  his  fingers  before  he  had  felt  those  of  the 
executioner.  He  consoled  himself  by  placing  the  body  on 
a  chair  and  having  the  dead  man  beheaded  in  company 
with  his  colleagues. 

Thus  the  whole  country  became  a  charnel-house  ;  the 
death-bell  tolled  hourly  in  every  village  ;  not  a  family  but 
was  called  to  mourn  for  its  dearest  relatives,  while  the 
survivors  stalked  listlessly  about,  the  ghosts  of  their  for- 
mer selves,  among  the  wrecks  of  their  former  homes. 
The  spirit  of  the  Netherlands,  within  a  few  months  after 
the  arrival  of  Alva,  seemed  hopelessly  broken,  and  but  for 
the  stringency  of  the  tyranny  which  had  now  closed  their 
gates,  the  country  would  have  been  depopulated.  The 
grass  began  to  grow  in  the  streets  of  those  cities  which 
had  recently  nourished  so  many  artisans.   In  all  those  great 


156Y]  MARGARET'S   DEPARTURE  269 

manufacturing  and  industrial  marts,  where  the  tide  of 
human  life  had  throbbed  so  vigorously,  there  now  reigned 
the  silence  and  the  darkness  of  midnight. 

The  Duchess  of  Parma  had  been  kept  in  a  continued 
state  of  irritation.  She  had  not  ceased  for  many  months 
to  demand  her  release  from  the  odious  position  of  a  cipher 
in  a  land  where  she  had  so  lately  been  sovereign,  and  she 
had  at  last  obtained  it.  Philip  transmitted  his  acceptance 
of  her  resignation  by  the  same  courier  who  brought  Alva's 
commission  to  be  governor  -  general  in  her  place.  The 
letters  to  the  Duchess  were  full  of  conventional  compli- 
ments for  her  past  services,  accompanied,  however,  with  a 
less  barren  and  more  acceptable  acknowledgment,  in  the 
shape  of  a  life  income  of  fourteen  thousand  ducats,  instead 
of  the  eight  thousand  hitherto  enjoyed  by  her  Highness. 

In  addition  to  this  liberal  allowance,  of  which  she  was 
never  to  be  deprived,  except  upon  receiving  full  payment 
of  one  hundred  and  forty  thousand  ducats,  she  was  pre- 
sented with  twenty-five  thousand  florins  by  the  estates  of 
Brabant,  and  with  thirty  thousand  by  those  of  Flanders. 

With  these  substantial  tokens  of  the  success  of  her  nine 
years'  fatigue  and  intolerable  anxiety,  she  at  last  took  her 
departure  from  the  Netherlands,  having  communicated 
the  dissolution  of  her  connection  with  the  provinces  by  a 
farewell  letter  to  the  Estates,  dated  the  9th  of  December, 
1567. 

Within  a  few  weeks  afterwards,  escorted  by  the  Duke 
of  Alva  across  the  frontier  of  Brabant,  attended  by  a  con- 
siderable deputation  of  Flemish  nobility  into  Germany, 
and  accompanied  to  her  journey^s  end  at  Parma  by  the 
Count  and  Countess  of  Mansfeld,  she  finally  closed  her 
eventful  career  in  the  Netherlands. 

Meantime  the  second  civil  war  in  France  had  broken  out. 
The  hollow  truce  by  which  the  Guise  party  and  the  Hugue- 
nots had  partly  pretended  to  deceive  each  other  was  hast- 
ened to  its  end,  among  other  causes,  by  the  march  of 
Alva  to  the  Netherlands.  The  Huguenots  had  taken 
alarm,  for  they  recognized  the  fellowship  which  united 
their  foes  in  all  countries  against  the  Reformation,  and 
Conde  and  Coligny  knew  too  well  that  the  same  influence 


270  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1567 

which  had  brought  Alva  to  Brussels  would  soon  create  an 
exterminating  army  against  their  followers.  Hostilities 
were  resumed  with  more  bitterness  than  ever.  The  battle 
of  St.  Denis  —  fierce,  fatal,  but  indecisive  —  was  fought. 
The  military  control  of  the  Catholic  party  was  completely 
in  the  hands  of  the  Guises ;  the  Chancelier  de  FHopital 
had  abandoned  the  court  after  a  last  and  futile  effort  to 
reconcile  contending  factions,  which  no  human  power 
could  unite ;  the  Huguenots  had  possessed  themselves  of 
Kochelle  and  of  other  strong  places,  and,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  adroit  statesmen  and  accomplished  generals,  were 
pressing  the  Most  Christian  monarch  hard  in  the  very 
heart  of  his  kingdom. 

As  early  as  the  middle  of  October,  while  still  in  Antwerp, 
Alva  had  received  several  secret  agents  of  the  French 
monarch,  then  closely  beleaguered  in  his  capital.  Cardinal 
Lorraine  offered  to  place  several  strong  places  of  France 
in  the  hands  of  the  Spaniard,  and  Alva  had  written  to 
Philip  that  he  was  disposed  to  accept  the  offer,  and  to 
render  the  service.  The  places  thus  held  would  be  a 
guarantee  for  his  expenses,  he  said,  while  in  case  King 
Charles  and  his  brother  should  die,  ^*^  their  possession  would 
enable  Philip  to  assert  his  own  claim  to  the  French  crown 
in  right  of  his  wife,  the  8alic  law  being  merely  a  pleasantry  J' 

The  Queen  Dowager  wrote  to  Alva  and  requested  him 
to  furnish  two  thousand  Spanish  musbeteers.  The  Duke 
not  only  furnished  Catherine  with  advice,  but  with  the 
musketeers  which  she  had  solicited.  Two  thousand  foot 
and  fifteen  hundred  horse,  under  the  Count  of  Aremberg, 
attended  by  a  choice  band  of  the  Catholic  nobility  of  the 
Netherlands,  had  joined  the  royal  camp  at  Paris  before 
the  end  of  the  year,  to  take  their  part  in  the  brief  hostil- 
ities by  which  the  second  treacherous  peace  was  to  be  pre- 
ceded. 

Meantime  Alva  was  not  unmindful  of  the  business  which 
had  served  as  a  pretext  in  the  arrest  of  the  two  Counts. 
The  fortifications  of  the  principal  cities  were  pushed  on 
with  great  rapidity.  The  memorable  citadel  of  Antwerp 
in  particular  had  already  been  commenced  in  October,  under 
the  superintendence  of  the  celebrated  engineers  Pacheco 


1867]  ANTWERP  CITADEL  271 

and  Gabriel  de  Cerbelloni.  In  a  few  months  it  was  com- 
pleted, at  a  cost  of  one  million  four  hundred  thousand 
florins,  of  which  sum  the  citizens,  in  spite  of  their  remon- 
strances, were  compelled  to  contribute  more  than  one 
quarter.  The  sum  of  four  hundred  thousand  florins  was 
forced  from  the  burghers  by  a  tax  upon  all  hereditary- 
property  within  the  municipality.  Two  thousand  work- 
men were  employed  daily  in  the  construction  of  this  im- 
portant fortress,  which  was  erected,  as  its  position  most 
plainly  manifested,  not  to  protect,  but  to  control  the  com- 
mercial capital  of  the  provinces.  It  stood  at  the  edge  of 
the  city,  only  separated  from  its  walls  by  an  open  espla- 
nade. It  was  the  most  perfect  pentagon  in  Europe,  having 
one  of  its  sides  resting  on  the  Scheldt,  two  turned  tow- 
ards the  city,  and  two  towards  the  open  country.  Five 
bastions,  with  walls  of  hammered  stone,  connected  by  cur- 
tains of  turf  and  masonry,  surrounded  by  walls,  measuring 
a  league  in  circumference,  and  by  an  outer  moat  fed  by  the 
Scheldt,  enclosed  a  spacious  enceinte,  where  a  little  church, 
with  many  small  lodging-houses,  shaded  by  trees  and 
shrubbery,  nestled  among  the  bristling  artillery,  as  if  to 
mimic  the  appearance  of  a  peaceful  and  pastoral  village. 
Each  bastion  was  honeycombed  with  casemates  and  sub- 
terranean storehouses,  and  capable  of  containing  within 
its  bowels  a  vast  supply  of  provisions,  munitions,  and  sol- 
diers. Such  was  the  celebrated  citadel  built  to  tame  the 
turbulent  spirit  of  Antwerp  at  the  cost  of  those  whom  it 
was  to  terrify  and  to  insult. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   EXECUTIOiq^   OF   EGMOKT  AND   HORN" 

Late  in  October  the  Duke  of  Alva  made  his  trium- 
phant entry  into  the  new  fortress.  During  his  absence, 
which  was  to  continue  during  the  remainder  of  the  year, 
he  had  ordered  the  secretary  Courteville  and  the  Councillor 
Del  Eio  to  superintend  the  commission  which  was  then 
actually  engaged  in  collecting  materials  for  the  prosecu- 
tions to  be  instituted  against  the  Prince  of  Orange  and 
the  other  nobles  who  had  abandoned  the  country.  Ac- 
cordingly, soon  after  his  return,  on  the  19th  of  January, 
1568,  the  Prince,  his  brother  Louis  of  Nassau,  his  brother- 
in-law.  Count  Van  den  Berg,  the  Count  Hoogstraaten, 
the  Count  Culemburg,  and  the  Baron  Montigny  were 
summoned  in  the  name  of  Alva  to  appear  before  the 
Council  of  Blood  within  thrice  fourteen  days  from  the  date 
of  the  proclamation,  under  pain  of  perpetual  banishment 
with  confiscation  of  their  estates.  It  is  needless  to  say 
that  these  seigniors  did  not  obey  the  summons.  They 
knew  full  well  that  their  obedience  would  be  rewarded 
only  by  death. 

The  charges  against  the  Prince  of  Orange,  which  were 
drawn  up  in  ten  articles,  stated  chiefly  and  briefly  that 
he  had  been,  and  was,  the  head  and  front  of  the  rebellion. 
The  articles  against  Hoogstraaten  and  the  other  gentle- 
men were  of  similar  tenor.  It  certainly  was  not  a  slender 
proof  of  the  calm  effrontery  of  the  government  thus  to 
see  Alva's  proclamation  charging  it  as  a  crime  upon  Orange 
that  he  had  inveigled  the  lieges  into  revolt  by  a  false  as- 
sertion that  the  inquisition  was  about  to  be  established, 
when  letters  from  the  Duke  to  Philip,  and  from  Gran- 


1568]  THE   FKINCE    OF   OKANGE   REBELLIOUS  273 

velle  to  Philip,  dated  upon  nearly  the  same  day,  advised 
the  immediate  restoration  of  the  inquisition  as  soon  as 
an  adequate  number  of  executions  had  paved  the  way  for 
the  measure.  It  was  also  a  sufficient  indication  of  a  reck- 
less despotism  that,  while  the  Duchess,  who  had  made  the 
memorable  Accord  with  the  religionists,  received  a  flat- 
tering letter  of  thanks  and  a  farewell  pension  of  fourteen 
thousand  ducats  yearly,  those  who,  by  her  orders,  had 
acted  upon  that  treaty  as  the  basis  of  their  negotiations 
were  summoned  to  lay  down  their  heads  upon  the  block. 

The  Prince  replied  to  this  summons  by  a  brief  and  some- 
what contemptuous  plea  to  the  jurisdiction.  As  a  Knight 
of  the  Fleece,  as  a  member  of  the  Germanic  Empire,  as  a 
sovereign  prince  in  France,  as  a  citizen  of  the  Nether- 
lands, he  rejected  the  authority  of  Alva  and  of  his  self- 
constituted  tribunal.  His  innocence  he  was  willing  to 
establish  before  competent  courts  and  righteous  judges. 
As  a  Knight  of  the  Fleece,  he  said,  he  could  be  tried  only 
by  his  peers,  the  brethren  of  the  order,  and  for  that  pur- 
pose he  could  be  summoned  only  by  the  King  as  head 
of  the  chapter,  with  the  sanction  of  at  least  six  of  his 
fellow-knights.  In  conclusion,  he  offered  to  appear  before 
his  Imperial  Majesty,  the  Electors,  and  other  members  of 
the  Empire,  or  before  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Fleece. 
In  the  latter  case,  he  claimed  the  right,  under  the  statutes 
of  that  order,  to  be  placed  while  the  trial  was  pending, 
not  in  a  solitary  prison,  as  had  been  the  fate  of  Egmont 
and  of  Horn,  but  under  the  friendly  charge  and  protec- 
tion of  the  brethren  themselves.  The  letter  was  ad- 
dressed to  the  procurator -general,  and  a  duplicate  was 
forwarded  to  the  Duke. 

From  the  general  tenor  of  the  document  it  is  obvious 
that  the  Prince  was  not  yet  ready  to  throw  down  the 
gauntlet  to  his  sovereign,  or  to  proclaim  his  adhesion  to 
the  new  religion.  Moreover,  the  period  had  not  yet  ar- 
rived for  him  to  break  publicly  with  the  ancient  faith. 
Statesman,  rather  than  religionist,  at  this  epoch  he  was 
not  disposed  to  affect  a  more  complete  conversion  than 
the  one  which  he  had  experienced.  He  was,  in  truth,  not 
for  a  new  doctrine,  but  for  liberty  of  conscience.     His 

18 


274  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1568 

mind  was  already  expanding  beyond  any  dogmas  of  the 
age.  The  man  whom  his  enemies  stigmatized  as  atheist 
and  renegade  was  really  in  favor  of  toleration,  and,  there- 
fore, the  more  deeply  criminal  in  the  eyes  of  all  religious 
parties. 

Events,  personal  to  himself,  were  rapidly  to  place  him 
in  a  position  from  which  he  might  enter  the  combat  with 
honor.  His  character  had  already  been  attacked,  his 
property  threatened  with  confiscation.  His  closest  ties 
of  family  were  now  to  be  severed  by  the  hand  of  the  ty- 
rant. On  the  13th  of  February,  1568,  the  Duke  sent  the 
Seigneur  de  Chassy  to  Louvain,  attended  by  four  officers 
and  twelve  archers,  to  seize  the  son  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  then  a  boy  of  fifteen  years,  and  a  student  at  the 
college  of  Louvain.  He  was  furnished  with  a  letter  to 
the  Count  de  Buren,  in  which  that  young  nobleman  was 
requested  to  place  implicit  confidence  in  the  bearer  of  the 
despatch,  and  was  informed  that  the  desire  which  his  Maj- 
esty had  to  see  him  educated  for  his  service  was  the  cause 
of  the  communication  which  the  Seigneur  de  Chassy  was 
about  to  make. 

The  plan  was  carried  out  admirably,  and  in  strict  ac- 
cordance with  the  programme.  It  was  fortunate,  however, 
for  the  kidnappers  that  the  young  Prince  proved  favor- 
ably disposed  to  the  plan.  He  accepted  the  invitation  of 
his  captors  with  alacrity.  He  even  wrote  to  thank  the 
governor  for  his  friendly  offices  in  his  behalf.  He  re- 
ceived with  boyish  gratification  the  festivities  with  which 
Lodron  enlivened  his  brief  sojourn  at  Antwerp,  and  he 
set  forth  without  reluctance  for  that  gloomy  and  terrible 
land  of  Spain  whence  so  rarely  a  Flemish  traveller  had 
returned.  A  changeling,  as  it  were,  from  his  cradle,  he 
seemed  completely  transformed  by  his  Spanish  tuition ;  for 
he  was  educated,  and  not  sacrificed,  by  Philip.  When  he 
returned  to  the  Netherlands,  after  a  twenty  years'  resi- 
dence in  Spain,  it  was  difficult  to  detect  in  his  gloomy 
brow,  saturnine  character,  and  Jesuitical  habits,  a  trace 
of  the  generous  spirit  which  characterized  that  race  of 
heroes,  the  house  of  Orange-Nassau. 

Petitions  now  poured  into  the  council  from  all  quarters. 


1568]  WHOLESALE  EXECUTIONS  275 

abject  recantations  from  terror-stricken  municipalities, 
humble  intercessions  in  behalf  of  doomed  and  imprisoned 
victims.  To  a  deputation  of  the  magistracy  of  Antwerp, 
who  came  with  a  prayer  for  mercy  in  behalf  of  some  of 
their  most  distinguished  fellow-citizens  then  in  prison,  the 
Duke  gave  a  most  passionate  and  ferocious  reply. 

Upon  the  16th  of  February,  1568,  a  sentence  of  the  holy 
office  condemned  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Netherlands  to 
death  as  heretics.  From  this  universal  doom  only  a  feio 
persons,  especially  named,  were  excepted.  A  proclama- 
tion of  the  King,  dated  ten  days  later,  confirmed  this  de- 
cree of  the  inquisition,  and  ordered  it  to  be  carried  into 
instant  execution,  without  regard  to  age,  sex,  or  condi- 
tion. This  is  probably  the  most  concise  death-warrant 
that  was  ever  framed.  Three  millions  of  people — men, 
women,  and  children — were  sentenced  to  the  scaffold  in 
three  lines. 

Under  this  new  decree  the  executions  certainly  did  not 
slacken.  Men  in  the  highest  and  the  humblest  posi- 
tions were  daily  and  hourly  dragged  to  the  stake.  Alva, 
in  a  single  letter  to  Philip,  coolly  estimated  the  number 
of  executions  which  were  to  take  place  immediately  after 
the  expiration  of  holy  week  '^ at  eight  hundred  heads." 
Many  a  citizen,  convicted  of  a  hundred  thousand  florins, 
and  of  no  other  crime,  saw  himself  suddenly  tied  to  a 
horse's  tail,  with  his  hands  fastened  behind  him,  and  so 
dragged  to  the  gallows.  But  although  wealth  was  an  un- 
pardonable sin,  poverty  proved  rarely  a  protection.  Rea- 
sons sufficient  could  always  be  found  for  dooming  the 
starveling  laborer  as  well  as  the  opulent  burgher.  To 
avoid  the  disturbances  created  in  the  streets  by  the  fre- 
quent harangues  or  exhortations  addressed  to  the  by- 
standers by  the  victims  on  their  way  to  the  scaffold,  a  new 
gag  was  invented.  The  tongue  of  each  prisoner  was 
screwed  into  an  iron  ring,  and  then  seared  with  a  hot  iron. 
The  swelling  and  inflammation  which  were  the  immediate 
result  prevented  the  tongue  from  slipping  through  the 
ring,  and  of  course  effectually  precluded  all  possibility  of 
speech. 

Unfortunately,  in  the  bewilderment  and  misery  of  this 


276  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1568 

people,  the  first  development  of  a  forcible  and  organized 
resistance  was  of  a  depraved  and  malignant  character. 
Extensive  bands  of  marauders  and  highway  robbers  sprang 
into  existence,  who  called  themselves  the  ^'^wild  beggars," 
and  who,  wearing  the  mask  and  the  symbols  of  a  revolu- 
tionary faction,  committed  great  excesses  in  many  parts 
of  the  country  —  robbing,  plundering,  and  murdering. 
Their  principal  wrath  was  exercised  against  religious 
houses  and  persons.  Many  monasteries  were  robbed, 
many  clerical  persons  maimed  and  maltreated.  It  became 
a  habit  to  deprive  priests  of  their  noses  or  ears,  and  then 
to  tie  them  to  the  tails  of  horses.  This  was  the  work  of 
ruffian  gangs,  whose  very  existence  was  engendered  out 
of  the  social  and  moral  putrescence  to  which  the  country 
was  reduced,  and  who  were  willing  to  profit  by  the  deep 
and  universal  hatred  which  was  felt  against  Catholics  and 
monks.  An  edict  thundered  forth  by  Alva,  authorizing 
and  commanding  all  persons  to  slay  the  wild  beggars  at 
sight,  without  trial  or  hangman,  was  of  comparatively 
slight  avail.  An  armed  force  of  veterans  actively  scour- 
ing the  country  was  more  successful,  and  the  freebooters 
were,  for  a  time,  suppressed. 

Meantime  the  Counts  Egmont  and  Horn  had  been  kept 
in  rigorous  confinement  at  Ghent.  On  the  10th  of  Jan- 
uary each  was  furnished  with  a  copy  of  the  declarations 
or  accusations  filed  against  him  by  the  procurator-general. 
To  these  documents,  drawn  up  respectively  in  sixty-three 
and  in  ninety  articles,  they  were  required,  within  five 
days'  time,  without  the  assistance  of  an  advocate,  and 
without  consultation  with  any  human  being,  to  deliver  a 
written  answer,  on  pain,  as  before,  of  being  proceeded 
against  and  condemned  by  default. 

This  order  was  obeyed  within  nearly  the  prescribed  pe- 
riod, and  here,  it  may  be  said,  their  own  participation  in 
their  trial  ceased ;  while  the  rest  of  the  proceedings  were 
buried  in  the  deep  bosom  of  the  Council  of  Blood.  After 
their  answers  had  been  delivered,  and  not  till  then,  the 
prisoners  were,  by  an  additional  mockery,  permitted  to  em- 
ploy advocates.  These  advocates,  however,  were  allowed 
only  occasional  interviews  with  their  clients,  and  always  in 


1568]      ALVA  EMPOWERED   TO   EXECUTE   THE   NOBLES         277 

the  presence  of  certain  persons  especially  deputed  for  that 
purpose  by  the  Duke. 

As  Knights  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  both  claimed  the  privi- 
lege of  that  order  to  be  tried  by  its  statutes.  As  a  citizen 
and  noble  of  Brabant,  Egmont  claimed  the  protection  of 
the  joyeiise  entree,  a  constitution  which  had  been  sworn 
•to  by  Philip  and  his  ancestors,  and  by  Philip  more  amply 
than  by  all  his  ancestors.  As  a  member  and  Count  of  the 
Holy  Roman  Empire,  the  Admiral  claimed  to  be  tried  by 
his  peers,  the  electors  and  princes  of  the  realm. 

It  was  now  boldly  declared  that  the  statutes  of  the  Fleece 
did  not  extend  to  such  crimes  as  those  with  which  the 
prisoners  were  charged.  Alva,  moreover,  received  an  es- 
pecial patent,  ante-dated  eight  or  nine  months,  by  which 
Philip  empowered  him  to  proceed  against  all  persons  im- 
plicated in  the  troubles,  and  particularly  against  Knights 
of  the  Golden  Fleece. 

It  is  superfluous  to  observe  that  these  were  merely  the 
arbitrary  acts  of  a  despot.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  criti- 
cise such  proceedings.  The  execution  of  the  nobles  had 
been  settled  before  Alva  left  Spain.  As  they  were  inhab- 
itants of  a  constitutional  country,  it  was  necessary  to  stride 
over  the  constitution.  As  they  were  Knights  of  the  Fleece, 
it  was  necessary  to  set  aside  the  statutes  of  the  order.  The 
Netherland  constitutions  seemed  so  entirely  annihilated  al- 
ready that  they  could  hardly  be  considered  obstacles;  but 
the  Order  of  the  Fleece  was  an  august  little  republic  of 
which  Philip  was  the  hereditary  chief,  of  which  emperors, 
kings,  and  great  seigniors  were  the  citizens.  Tyranny  migh  t 
be  embarrassed  by  such  subtle  and  golden  filaments  as  these, 
even  while  it  crashed  through  municipal  charters  as  if  they 
had  been  reeds  and  bulrushes.  Nevertheless,  the  King's 
course  was  taken.  Although  the  thirteenth,  fourteenth, 
and  fifteenth  chapters  of  the  ord^r  expressly  provided  for 
the  trial  and  punishment  of  brethren  who  had  been  guilty 
of  rebellion,  heresy,  or  treason  ;  and  although  the  eleventh 
chapter,  perpetual  and  immutable,  of  additions  to  that  con- 
stitution by  the  Emperor  Charles,  conferred  on  the  order  ex- 
clusive jurisdiction  over  all  crimes  whatever  committed  by 
the  knights,  yet  it  was  coolly  proclaimed  by  Alva  that  the 


278  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1568 

crimes  for  which  the  Admiral  and  Egmont  had  been  ar- 
rested were  beyond  the  powers  of  the  tribunal. 

In  these. memorable  cases  of  what  was  called  high-trea- 
son there  was  no  real  trial.  The  tribunal  was  incompe- 
tent ;  the  prisoners  were  without  advocates ;  the  govern- 
ment evidence  was  concealed ;  the  testimony  for  the 
defence  was  excluded  ;  and  the  cause  was  finally  decided 
before  a  thousandth  part  of  its  merits  could  have  been 
placed  under  the  eyes  of  the  judge  who  gave  the  sentence. 

But  it  is  almost  puerile  to  speak  of  the  matter  in  terms 
usually  applicable  to  state  trials.  The  case  had  been  set- 
tled in  Madrid  long  before  the  arrest  of  the  prisoners  in 
Brussels.  The  sentence,  signed  by  Philip  in  blank,  had 
been  brought  in  Alva's  portfolio  from  Spain.  The  pro- 
ceedings were  a  mockery,  and,  so  far  as  any  effect  upon 
public  opinion  was  concerned,  might  as  well  have  been 
omitted.  If  the  gentlemen  had  been  shot  in  the  court- 
yard of  the  Jasse  house,  by  decree  of  a  drum-head  court- 
martial,  an  hour  after  their  arrest,  the  rights  of  the  prov- 
inces and  the  sentiments  of  humanity  would  not  have 
been  outraged  more  utterly.  Every  constitutional  and 
natural  right  was  violated  from  first  to  last.  This  cer- 
tainly was  not  a  novelty.  Thousands  of  obscure  individ- 
uals, whose  relations  and  friends  were  not  upon  thrones 
and  in  high  places,  but  in  booths  and  cellars,  and  whose 
fate  therefore  did  not  send  a  shudder  of  sympathy  through- 
out Europe,  had  already  been  sacrificed  by  the  Blood  tri- 
bunal. Still  this  great  case  presented  a  colossal  emblem 
of  the  condition  in  which  the  Netherlands  were  now  gasp- 
ing. It  was  a  monumental  exhibition  of  the  truth  which 
thousands  had  already  learned  to  their  cost — that  law  and 
justice  were  abrogated  throughout  the  land.  The  coun- 
try was  simply  under  martial  law — the  entire  population 
under  sentence  of  death.  The  whole  civil  power  was  in 
Alva's  hands ;  the  whole  responsibility  in  Alva's  breast. 
Neither  the  most  ignoble  nor  the  most  powerful  could  lift 
their  heads  in  the  sublime  desolation  which  was  sweeping 
the  country.  This  was  now  proved  beyond  peradventure. 
A  miserable  cobbler  or  weaver  might  be  hurried  from  his 
shop  to  the  scaffold,  invoking  the  jus  de  non  evocando  till 


1568]  THE   PRINCE   OF   ORAXGE   REAPPEARS  279 

he  was  gagged,  but  the  Emperor  would  not  stoop  from  his 
throne,  nor  electors  palatine  and  powerful  nobles  rush  to 
his  rescue ;  but  in  behalf  of  these  prisoners  the  most  au- 
gust hands  and  voices  of  Christendom  had  been  lifted  up 
at  the  foot  of  Philip's  throne  ;  and  their  supplications 
had  proved  as  idle  as  the  millions  of  tears  and  death-cries 
which  had  been  shed  or  uttered  in  the  lowly  places  of  the 
land.  It  was  obvious,  then,  that  all  intercession  must 
thereafter  be  useless.  Philip  was  fanatically  impressed 
with  his  mission.  His  viceroy  was  possessed  by  his  loyalty 
as  by  a  demon.  In  this  way  alone  that  conduct  which  can 
never  be  palliated  may  at  least  be  comprehended.  It  was 
Philip's  enthusiasm  to  embody  the  wrath  of  God  against 
heretics.  It  was  Alva's  enthusiasm  to  embody  the  wrath 
of  Philip. 

So  much  for  the  famous  treason  of  Counts  Egmont 
and  Horn,  so  far  as  regards  the  history  of  the  proceed- 
ings and  the  merits  of  the  case.  The  last  act  of  the 
tragedy  was  precipitated  by  occurrences  which  must  be 
*  now  narrated. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  had  at  last  thrown  down  the 
gauntlet.  Proscribed,  outlawed,  with  his  Netherland 
property  confiscated  and  his  eldest  child  kidnapped,  he 
saw  sufficient  personal  justification  for  at  last  stepping 
into  the  lists,  the  avowed  champion  of  a  nation's  wrongs. 
Whether  the  revolution  was  to  be  successful,  or  to  be  dis- 
astrously crushed;  whether  its  result  would  be  to  place 
him  upon  a  throne  or  a  scaffold,  not  even  he,  the  deep- 
revolving  and  taciturn  politician,  could  possibly  foresee. 
The  Reformation,  in  which  he  took  both  a  political  and 
a  religious  interest,  might  prove  a  sufficient  lever  in  his 
hands  for  the  overthrow  of  Spanish  power  in  the  Nether- 
lands. The  inquisition  might  roll  back  upon  his  country 
and  himself,  crushing  them  forever.  The  chances  seemed 
with  the  inquisition. 

He  replied  to  the  act  of  condemnation,  which  had  been 
pronounced  against  him  in  default  by  a  published  paper 
of  moderate  length  and  great  eloquence.  He  had  re- 
peatedly offered  to  place  himself,  he  said,  upon  trial  be- 
fore a  competent  court.     As  a  Knight  of  the  Fleece,  as  a 


280  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1568 

member  of  the  Holy  Eoman  Empire,  as  a  sovereign  Prince, 
he  could  acknowledge  no  tribunal  save  the  chapters  of  the 
knights  or  of  the  realm.  The  Emperor's  personal  inter- 
cession with  Philip  had  been  employed  in  vain  to  obtain 
the  adjudication  of  his  case  by  either.  It  would  be 
both  death  and  degradation  on  his  part  to  acknowledge 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  infamous  Council  of  Blood.  He 
scorned,  he  said,  to  plead  his  cause  ''  before  he  knew  not 
what  base  knaves,  not  fit  to  be  the  valets  of  his  compan- 
ions and  himself." 

He  appealed  therefore  to  the  judgment  of  the  world. 
He  published  not  an  elaborate  argument,  but  a  condensed 
and  scathing  statement  of  the  outrages  which  had  been 
practised  upon  him.  He  denied  that  he  had  been  a  party 
to  the  Compromise.  He  denied  that  he  had  been  con- 
cerned in  the  Eequest,  although  he  denounced  with  scorn 
the  tyranny  which  could  treat  a  petition  to  government  as 
an  act  of  open  war  against  the  sovereign.  He  spoke  of 
Granvelle  with  unmeasured  wrath.  He  maintained  that 
his  own  continuance  in  office  had  been  desired  by  the 
Cardinal,  in  order  that  his  personal  popularity  might  pro- 
tect the  odious  designs  of  the  government.  The  edicts, 
the  inquisition,  the  persecution,  the  new  bishoprics,  had 
been  the  causes  of  the  tumults.  He  concluded  with  a 
burst  of  indignation  against  Philip's  conduct  towards 
himself.  The  monarch  had  forgotten  his  services  and 
those  of  his  valiant  ancestors.  He  had  robbed  him  of 
honor,  he  had  robbed  him  of  his  son — both  dearer  to  him 
than  life.  By  thus  doing  he  had  degraded  himself  more 
than  he  had  injured  him,  for  he  had  broken  all  his  royal 
oaths  and  obligations. 

The  paper  was  published  early  in  the  summer  of  1568. 
At  about  the  same  time  the  Count  of  Hoogstraaten  pub- 
lished a  similar  reply  to  the  act  of  condemnation  with 
which  he  had  been  visited.  He  defended  himself  mainly 
upon  the  ground  that  all  the  crimes  of  which  he  stood 
arraigned  had  been  committed  in  obedience  to  the  literal 
instructions  of  the  Duchess  of  Parma,  after  her  accord 
with  the  confederates. 

The  Prince  now  made  the  greatest  possible  exertions  to 


1568]  THE  PRINCE'S  ENERGY   AND   SACRIFICES  281 

raise  funds  and  troops.  He  had  many  meetings  with  in- 
fluential individuals  in  Germany.  The  Protestant  princes, 
particularly  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  and  the  Elector  of 
Saxony,  promised  him  assistance.  He  brought  all  his 
powers  of  eloquence  and  of  diplomacy  to  make  friends  for 
the  cause  which  he  had  now  boldly  espoused.  He  ex- 
celled even  his  royal  antagonist  in  the  industrious  sub- 
tlety with  which  he  began  to  form  a  thousand  combina- 
tions. Swift,  secret,  incapable  of  fatigue,  this  powerful 
and  patient  intellect  sped  to  and  fro,  disentangling  the 
perplexed  skein  where  all  had  seemed  so  hopelessly  con- 
fused, and  gradually  unfolding  broad  schemes  of  a  sym- 
metrical and  regenerated  polity.  He  had  high  corre- 
spondents and  higher  hopes  in  England.  He  was  already 
secretly  or  openly  in  league  with  half  the  sovereigns  of 
Germany.  The  Huguenots  of  France  looked  upon  him  as 
their  friend,  and  on  Louis  of  Nassau  as  their  inevitable 
chieftain,  were  Coligny  destined  to  fall.  He  was  in  league 
with  all  the  exiled  and  outlawed  nobles  of  the  Nether- 
lands. By  his  orders  recruits  were  daily  enlisted,  without 
sound  of  drum.  He  granted  a  commission  to  his  brother 
Louis,  one  of  the  most  skilful  and  audacious  soldiers  of 
the  age,  than  whom  the  revolt  could  not  have  found  a 
more  determined  partisan  nor  the  Prince  a  more  faithful 
lieutenant. 

This  commission,  which  was  dated  Dillenburg,  the  6th 
of  April,  1568,  was  a  somewhat  startling  document.  It  au- 
thorized the  Count  to  levy  troops  and  wage  war  against 
Philip,  strictly  for  Philip's  good.  The  fiction  of  loyalty 
certainly  never  went  further.  The  Prince  of  Orange 
made  known  to  all  *'  to  whom  those  presents  should 
come  "  that  through  the  affection  which  he  bore  the  gra- 
cious King  he  purposed  to  expel  his  Majesty's  forces 
from  the  Netherlands.  ^'  To  show  our  love  for  the  mon- 
arch and  his  hereditary  provinces,"  so  ran  the  commission, 
"  to  prevent  the  desolation  hanging  over  the  country  by 
the  ferocity  of  the  Spaniards,  to  maintain  the  privileges 
sworn  to  by  his  Majesty  and  his  predecessors,  to  prevent 
the  extirpation  of  all  religion  by  the  edicts,  and  to  save 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  the^  land  from  abject  slavery,  we 


282  HISTORY   OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1568 

have  requested  our  dearly  beloved  brother  Louis  of  Nas- 
sau to  enroll  as  many  troops  as  he  shall  think  necessary." 

Van  den  Berg,  Hoogstraaten,  and  others,  provided  with 
similar  powers,  were  also  actively  engaged  in  levying 
troops  ;  but  the  right  hand  of  the  revolt  was  Count  Louis, 
as  his  illustrious  brother  was  its  head  and  heart.  Two 
hundred  thousand  crowns  was  the  sum  which  the  Prince 
considered  absolutely  necessary  for  organizing  the  army 
with  which  he  contemplated  making  an  entrance  into  the 
Netherlands.  Half  this  amount  had  been  produced  by 
the  cities  of  Antwerp,  Amsterdam,  Leyden,  Haarlem,  Mid- 
delburg,  Flushing,  and  other  towns,  as  well  as  by  refugee 
merchants  in  England.  The  other  half  was  subscribed  by 
individuals.  The  Prince  himself  contributed  fifty  thou- 
sand florins ;  Hoogstraaten,  thirty  thousand ;  Louis  of 
Nassau,  ten  thousand  ;  Culemburg,  thirty  thousand  ;  Van 
den  Berg,  thirty  thousand ;  the  Dowager-Countess  Horn, 
ten  thousand ;  and  other  persons  in  less  proportion. 
Count  John  of  Nassau  also  pledged  his  estates  to  raise  a 
large  sum  for  the  cause.  The  Prince  himself  sold  all  his 
jewels,  plate,  tapestry,  and  other  furniture,  which  were  of 
almost  regal  magnificence.  Not  an  enthusiast,  but  a  de- 
liberate, cautious  man,  he  now  staked  his  all  upon  the 
hazard,  seemingly  so  desperate.  His  luxury,  his  fortune, 
his  family,  his  life,  his  children,  his  honor,  all  were  now 
ventured,  not  with  the  recklessness  of  a  gambler,  but  with 
the  calm  conviction  of  a  statesman. 

A  private  and  most  audacious  attempt  to  secure  the 
person  of  Alva  and  the  possession  of  Brussels  had  failed. 
He  was  soon,  however,  called  upon  to  employ  all  his  ener- 
gies against  the  open  warfare  which  was  now  commenced. 

According  to  the  plan  of  the  Prince,  the  provinces  were 
to  be  attacked  simultaneously  in  three  places  by  his  lieu- 
tenants, while  he  himself  was  waiting  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Cleves,  ready  for  a  fourth  assault.  An  army  of 
Huguenots  and  refugees  was  to  enter  Artois  upon  the 
frontier  of  France  ;  a  second,  under  Hoogstraaten,  was  to 
operate  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Meuse  ;  while  Louis  of 
Nassau  was  to  raise  the  standard  of  revolt  in  Friesland. 

The  two  first  adventures  were  destined  to  be  signally 


1568]  THE   PATRIOTS   TWICE   DEFEATED  283 

unsuccessful.  A  force  under  Seigneur  de  Cocqueville, 
latest  of  all,  took  the  field  towards  the  end  of  June.  It 
entered  the  bailiwick  of  Hesdin,  in  Artois,  was  immedi- 
ately driven  across  the  frontier  by  the  Count  de  Roeulx, 
and  cut  to  pieces  at  St.  Valery  by  Marechal  de  Cosse, 
governor  of  Picardy.  This  action  was  upon  the  18th  of 
July.  Of  the  twenty-five  hundred  men  who  composed 
the  expedition,  scarce  three  hundred  escaped.  The  few 
Netherlanders  who  were  taken  prisoners  were  given  to  the 
Spanish  government,  and,  of  course,  hanged. 

The  force  under  the  Seigneur  de  Villers  was  earlier 
under  arms  and  the  sooner  defeated.  This  luckless  gen- 
tleman, who  had  replaced  the  Count  of  Hoogstraaten, 
crossed  the  frontier  of  Juliers,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Maastricht,  by  the  20th  of  April.  His  force,  infantry  and 
cavalry,  amounted  to  nearly  three  thousand  men.  The 
object  of  the  enterprise  was  to  raise  the  country,  and,  if 
possible,  to  obtain  a  foothold  by  securing  an  important 
city.  Roermond  was  the  first  point  of  attack,  but  the 
attempts,  both  by  stratagem  and  by  force,  to  secure  the 
town  were  fruitless.  The  citizens  were  not  ripe  for  re- 
volt, and  refused  the  army  admittance.  While  the  invad- 
ers were,  therefore,  endeavoring  to  fire  the  gates,  they 
were  driven  off  by  the  approach  of  a  Spanish  force. 

The  Duke,  so  soon  as  the  invasion  was  known  to  him, 
had  acted  with  great  promptness.  Don  Sancho  de  Lon- 
dono  and  Don  Sancho  de  Avila,  with  five  vanderas  of 
Spanish  infantry,  three  companies  of  cavalry,  and  about 
three  hundred  pikemen  under  Count  Eberstein — a  force 
amounting  in  all  to  about  sixteen  hundred  picked  troops 
— had  been  at  once  despatched  against  Villers.  The  rebel 
chieftain,  abandoning  his  attempt  upon  Roermond,  ad- 
vanced towards  Erkelens.  Upon  the  25th  of  April,  be- 
tween Erkelens  and  Dalem,  the  Spaniards  came  up  with 
him  and  gave  him  battle.  Villers  lost  all  his  cavalry  and 
two  vanderas  of  his  infantry  in  the  encounter.  With  the 
remainder  of  his  force,  amounting  to  thirteen  hundred 
men,  he  effected  his  retreat  in  good  order  to  Dalem. 
Here  he  rapidly  intrenched  himself.  At  four  in  the  af- 
ternoon, Sancho  de  Londono,  at  the  head  of  six  hundred 


284  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1568 

infantry,  reached  the  spot.  He  was  unable  to  restrain 
the  impetuosity  of  his  men,  although  the  cavalry  under 
Avila,  prevented  by  the  difficult  nature  of  the  narrow 
path  through  which  the  rebels  had  retreated,  had  not 
yet  arrived.  The  enemy  were  two  to  one,  and  the  town 
was  fortified  ;  nevertheless,  in  half  an  hour  the  intrench- 
ments  were  carried,  and  almost  every  man  in  the  patriot 
army  put  to  the  sword.  Villers  himself,  with  a  handful 
of  soldiers,  escaped  into  the  town,  but  was  soon  afterwards 
taken  prisoner  with  all  his  followers.  He  sullied  the  cause 
in  which  he  was  engaged  by  a  base  confession  of  the  de- 
signs formed  by  the  Prince  of  Orange — a  treachery,  how- 
ever, which  did  not  save  him  from  the  scaffold.  In  the 
course  of  this  day's  work  the  Spanish  lost  twenty  men  and 
the  rebels  nearly  two  hundred.  This  portion  of  the  liber- 
ating forces  had  been  thus  disastrously  defeated  on  the 
eve  of  the  entrance  of  Count  Louis  into  Friesland. 

As  early  as  the  22d  of  April,  Alva  had  been  informed  by 
the  lieutenant-governor  of  that  province  that  the  beggars 
were  mustering  in  great  force  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Embden.  It  was  evident  that  an  important  enterprise 
was  about  to  be  attempted.  Two  days  afterwards,  Louis 
of  Nassau  entered  the  provinces,  attended  by  a  small  body 
of  troops.  His  banners  blazed  with  patriotic  inscriptions. 
'^  Nunc  aut  nunquam,  Recuperare  aut  mori"  were  the 
watchwords  of  his  desperate  adventure.  "Freedom  for 
fatherland  and  conscience  "  was  the  device  which  was  to 
draw  thousands  to  his  standard.  On  the  western  wolds  of 
Frisia  he  surprised  the  castle  of  Wedde,  a  residence  of  the 
absent  Aremberg,  stadholder  of  the  province.  Thence  he 
advanced  to  Appingadam,  or  Dam,  on  the  tide-waters  of 
the  Dollart.  Here  he  was  met  by  his  younger  brother — 
the  gallant  Adolphus,  whose  days  were  so  nearly  num- 
bered— who  brought  with  him  a  small  troop  of  horse.  At 
Wedde,  at  Dam,  and  at  Slochteren,  the  standard  was  set 
up.  At  these  three  points  there  daily  gathered  armed 
bodies  of  troops,  voluntary  adventurers,  peasants  with  any 
rustic  weapon  which  they  could  find  to  their  hand.  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Groesbeck  wrote  urgently  to  the  Duke 
that  the  beggars  were  hourly  increasing  in  force  ;  that  the 


1568]  AREMBERG  ATTACKS  THE  BEGGARS  285 

leaders  perfectly  understood  their  game ;  that  they  kept 
their  plans  a  secret,  but  were  fast  seducing  the  heart  of 
the  country. 

On  the  4th  of  May,  Louis  issued  a  summons  to  the  mag- 
istracy of  Groningen,  ordering  them  to  send  a  deputation 
to  confer  with  him  at  Dam.  As  the  result  he  received  a 
moderate  sum  of  money,  on  condition  of  renouncing  for 
the  moment  an  attack  upon  the  city.  With  this  tempo- 
rary supply  he  was  able  to  retain  a  larger  number  of  the 
adventurers,  who  were  daily  swarming  around  him. 

In  the  mean  time  Alva  was  not  idle. 

By  the  22d  of  May,  Count  Aremberg,  having  collected 
his  forces,  consisting  of  Braccamonte's  legion,  his  own 
four  vanderas,  and  a  troop  of  Germans,  came  in  sight  of 
the  enemy  at  Dam.  Louis  of  Nassau  sent  out  a  body  of 
arquebusiers,  about  one  thousand  strong,  from  the  city. 
A  sharp  skirmish  ensued,  but  the  beggars  were  driven 
into  their  intrenchments,  with  a  loss  of  twenty  or  thirty 
men,  and  nightfall  terminated  the  contest. 

Meghem  reached  Coeverden,  some  fifty  miles  from  Dam, 
on  the  night  of  the  22d.  He  had  informed  Aremberg 
that  he  might  expect  him  with  his  infantry  and  his  light 
horse  in  the  course  of  the  next  day.  On  the  following 
morning,  the  23d,  Aremberg  wrote  his  last  letter  to  the 
Duke,  promising  to  send  a  good  account  of  the  beggars 
within  a  very  few  hours. 

Louis  of  Nassau  had  broken  up  his  camp  at  Dam  about 
midnight.  Falling  back,  in  a  southerly  direction,  along 
the  Wold-weg,  or  forest  road,  a  narrow  causeway  through 
a  swampy  district,  he  had  taken  up  a  position  some  three 
leagues  from  his  previous  encampment.  Near  the  mon- 
astery of  Heiliger  Lee  he  had  chosen  his  ground.  As- 
sured that  Meghem  had  not  yet  effected  his  junction  with 
Aremberg,  prepared  to  strike,  at  last,  a  telling  blow  for 
freedom  and  fatherland,  Louis  awaited  the  arrival  of  his 
eager  foe. 

His  position  was  one  of  commanding  strength  and  fortu- 
nate augury.  Heiliger  Lee  was  a  wooded  eminence,  arti- 
ficially reared  by  Premonstrant  monks.  It  was  the  only 
rising  ground  in  that  vast  extent  of  watery  pastures,  en- 


286  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1568 

closed  by  the  Ems  and  Lippe — the  "fallacious  fields"  de- 
scribed by  Tacitus. 

Although  the  swamps  of  that  distant  age  had  been 
transformed  into  fruitful  pastures,  yet  the  whole  district 
was  moist,  deceitful,  and  dangerous.  The  country  was 
divided  into  squares,  not  by  hedges,  but  by  impassable 
ditches.  Agricultural  intrenchments  had  long  made  the 
country  almost  impregnable,  while  its  defences  against  the 
ocean  rendered  almost  as  good  service  against  a  more  im- 
placable human  foe. 

Aremberg,  leading  his  soldiers  along  the  narrow  cause- 
way, in  hot  pursuit  of  what  they  considered  a  rabble  rout 
of  fugitive  beggars,  soon  reached  Winschoten.  Here  he 
became  aware  of  the  presence  of  his  despicable  foe.  Louis 
and  Adolphus  of  Nassau,  while  sitting  at  dinner  in  the 
convent,  had  been  warned  by  a  friendly  peasant  of  the 
approach  of  the  Spaniards.  The  opportune  intelligence 
had  given  the  patriot  general  time  to  make  his  prepa- 
rations. The  village  was  not  far  distant  from  the  abbey, 
and  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  abbey  Louis  of  Nassau 
was  now  posted.  Behind  him  was  a  wood,  on  his  left  a 
hill  of  moderate  elevation,  before  him  an  extensive  and 
swampy  field.  In  the  front  of  the  field  was  a  causeway 
leading  to  the  abbey.  This  was  the  road  which  Aremberg 
was  to  traverse.  On  the  plain  which  lay  between  the 
wood  and  the  hill  the  main  body  of  the  beggars  were 
drawn  up.  They  were  disposed  in  two  squares  or  squad- 
rons, rather  deep  than  wide,  giving  the  idea  of  a  less 
number  than  they  actually  contained.  The  lesser  square, 
in  which  were  twenty-eight  hundred  men,  was  partially 
sheltered  by  the  hill.  Both  were  flanked  by  musketeers. 
On  the  brow  of  the  hill  was  a  large  body  of  light-armed 
troops,  the  enfants  perdus  of  the  army.  The  cavalry, 
amounting  to  not  more  than  three  hundred  men,  was 
placed  in  front,  facing  the  road  along  which  Aremberg 
was  to  arrive. 

That  road  was  bordered  by  a  wood  extending  nearly  to 
the  front  of  the  hill.  As  Aremberg  reached  its  verge  he 
brought  out  his  artillery  and  opened  fire  upon  the  body 
of  light  troops.     The  hill  protected  a  large  part  of  the  en- 


1668]  AREMBERG'S  SUCCESSFUL  RUSE  287 

emy's  body  from  this  attack.  Finding  the  rebels  so  strong 
in  numbers  and  position,  Aremberg  was  disposed  only  to 
skirmish.  He  knew  better  than  did  his  soldiers  the  treach- 
erous nature  of  the  ground  in  front  of  the  enemy.  He 
saw  that  it  was  one  of  those  districts  where  peat  had  been 
taken  out  in  large  squares  for  fuel,  and  where  a  fallacious 
and  verdant  scum  upon  the  surface  of  deep  pools  simu- 
lated the  turf  that  had  been  removed.  He  saw  that  the 
battle-ground  presented  to  him  by  his  sagacious  enemy 
was  one  great  sweep  of  traps  and  pitfalls.  Before  he  could 
carry  the  position,  many  men  must  necessarily  be  ingulfed. 

He  paused  for  an  instant.  He  was  deficient  in  cavalry, 
having  only  Martinengo's  troop,  hardly  amounting  to  four 
hundred  men.  He  was  sure  of  Meghem's  arrival  within 
twenty-four  hours.  If,  then,  he  could  keep  the  rebels  in 
check,  without  allowing  them  any  opportunity  to  disperse, 
he  should  be  able,  on  the  morrow,  to  cut  them  to  pieces, 
according  to  the  plan  agreed  upon  a  fortnight  before.  But 
his  soldiers  were  very  hot,  his  enemy  very  cool.  Disre- 
garding the  dictates  of  liis  own  experience  and  the  arrange- 
ments of  his  superior,  he  yielded  to  the  braggart  humor  of 
his  soldiers,  which  he  had  not,  like  Alva,  learned  to  mod- 
erate or  to  despise. 

The  Spanish  artillery,  which  had  disordered  the  enemy's 
light  troops,  was  brought  beyond  the  cover  of  the  wood, 
and  pointed  more  fully  upon  the  two  main  squares  of  the 
enemy.  A  few  shots  told.  Soon  afterwards  the  enfants 
perdus  retreated  helter-skelter,  entirely  deserting  their 
position.  This  apparent  advantage,  which  was  only  a 
preconcerted  stratagem,  was  too  much  for  the  fiery  Span- 
iards. They  rushed  merrily  forward  to  attack  the  station- 
ary squares,  their  general  being  no  longer  able  to  restrain 
their  impetuosity.  In  a  moment  the  whole  vanguard  had 
plunged  into  the  morass.  In  a  few  minutes  more  they 
were  all  helplessly  and  hopelessly  struggling  in  the  pools, 
while  the  musketeers  of  the  enemy  poured  in  a  deadly 
fire  upon  them  without  wetting  the  soles  of  their  feet. 
The  pikemen,  too,  who  composed  the  main  body  of  the 
larger  square,  now  charged  upon  all  who  were  extricating 
themselves  from  their  entanglement,  and  drove  them  back 


288  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1568 

again  to  a  mnddy  death.  Simultaneously,  the  lesser  pa- 
triot squadron,  which  had  so  long  been  sheltered,  emerged 
from  the  cover  of  the  hill,  made  a  detour  around  its  base, 
enveloped  the  rear-guard  of  the  Spaniards  before  they  could 
advance  to  the  succor  of  their  perishing  comrades,  and 
broke  them  to  pieces  almost  instantly.  The  rout  was  sud- 
den and  absolute.  The  foolhardiness  of  the  Spaniards  had 
precipitated  them  into  the  pit  which  their  enemies  had 
dug.  The  day  was  lost.  Nothing  was  left  for  Aremberg 
but  to  perish  with  honor.  Placing  himself  at  the  head  of 
his  handful  of  cavalry,  he  dashed  into  the  melee.  The 
shock  was  sustained  by  young  Adolphus  of  Nassau,  at  the 
head  of  an  equal  number  of  riders.  Each  leader  singled 
out  the  other.  They  met  as  "  captains  of  might "  should 
do,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  fray,  and  both  were  slain. 

The  patriot  leader,  Louis  of  Nassau,  had  accomplished, 
after  all,  but  a  barren  victory.  He  had,  to  be  sure,  de- 
stroyed a  number  of  Spaniards,  amounting,  according  to 
the  diiferent  estimates,  from  five  hundred  to  sixteen  hun- 
dred men.  He  had  also  broken  up  a  small  but  veteran 
army.  More  than  all,  he  had  taught  the  Netherlanders, 
by  this  triumphant  termination  to  a  stricken  field,  that 
the  choice  troops  of  Spain  were  not  invincible.  But  the 
moral  effect  of  the  victory  was  the  only  permanent  one. 
The  Count^s  badly  paid  troops  could  with  difficulty  be 
kept  together.  He  had  not  sufficient  artillery  to  reduce 
the  city  whose  possession  would  have  proved  so  impor- 
tant to  the  cause.  Moreover,  in  common  with  the  Prince 
of  Orange  and  all  his  brethren,  he  had  been  called  to 
mourn  for  the  young  and  chivalrous  Adolphus,  whose  life- 
blood  had  stained  the  laurels  of  this  first  patriot  victory. 
Having  remained,  and  thus  wasted  the  normal  three  days 
upon  the  battle-field,  Louis  now  sat  down  before  Gronin- 
gen,  fortifying  and  intrenching  himself  in  a  camp  within 
cannon-shot  of  the  city. 

The  wrath  of  the  Duke  was  even  greater  than  his  sur- 
prise. Like  Augustus,  he  called  in  vain  on  the  dead  com- 
mander for  his  legions,  but  prepared  himself  to  inflict  a 
more  rapid  and  more  terrible  vengeance  than  the  Eoman's. 
Kecognizing  the  gravity  of  his  situation,  he  determined  to 


1568]  ALVA'S  REVENGEFUL  MEASURES  289 

take  the  field  in  person,  and  to  annihilate  this  insolent 
chieftain  who  had  dared  not  only  to  cope  with  but  to  con- 
quer his  veteran  regiments.  But  before  he  could  turn 
his  back  upon  Brussels  many  deeds  were  to  be  done.  His 
measures  now  followed  each  other  in  breathless  succession, 
fulminating  and  blasting  at  every  stroke.  On  the  28th  of 
May  he  issued  an  edict  banishing,  on  pain  of  death,  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  Louis  of  Nassau,  Hoogstraaten,  Van  den 
Berg,  and  others,  with  confiscation  of  all  their  property. 
At  the  same  time  he  razed  the  Culemburg  Palace  to  the 
ground,  and  erected  a  pillar  upon  its  ruins,  commemorat- 
ing the  accursed  conspiracy  which  had  been  engendered 
within  its  walls.  On  the  1st  of  June  eighteen  prisoners 
of  distinction  were  executed  upon  the  Horse  Market  in 
Brussels.  On  the  3d,  Counts  Egmont  and  Horn  were 
brought  in  a  carriage  from  Ghent  to  Brussels,  guarded  by 
ten  companies  of  infantry  and  one  of  cavalry.  They  were 
then  lodged  in  the  "  Broodhuis"  opposite  the  Town  Hall, 
on  the  great  square  of  Brussels.  On  the  4th,  Alva,  having, 
as  he  solemnly  declared  before  God  and  the  world,  ex- 
amined thoroughly  the  mass  of  documents  appertaining 
to  those  two  great  prosecutions  which  had  only  been  closed 
three  days  before,  pronounced  sentence  against  the  illus- 
trious prisoners.  These  documents  of  iniquity,  signed  and 
sealed  by  the  Duke,  were  sent  to  the  Council  of  Blood,  where 
they  were  read  by  Secretary  Praets.  The  signature  of 
Philip  was  not  wanting,  for  the  sentences  had  been  drawn 
upon  blanks  signed  by  the  monarch,  of  which  the  viceroy 
had  brought  a  whole  trunkful  from  Spain.  The  sen- 
tence against  Egmont  declared  very  briefiy  that  the  Duke 
of  Alva,  having  read  all  the  papers  and  evidence  in  the 
case,  had  found  the  Count  guilty  of  high-treason.  It  was 
proved  that  Egmont  had  united  with  the  confederates, 
that  he  had  been  a  party  to  the  accursed  conspiracy  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  that  he  had  taken  the  rebel  nobles 
under  his  protection,  and  that  he  had  betrayed  the  gov- 
ernment and  the  Holy  Catholic  Church  by  his  conduct  in 
Flanders.  Therefore  the  Duke  condemned  him  to  be  ex- 
ecuted by  the  sword  on  the  following  day,  and  decreed 
that  his  head  should  be  placed  on  high  in  a  public  place, 

19 


290  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1568 

there  to  remain  until  the  Duke  should  otherwise  direct. 
The  sentence  against  Count  Horn  was  similar  in  language 
and  purport. 

On  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  June  three  thousand 
Spanish  troops  were  drawn  up  in  battle-array  around  a 
scaffold  which  had  been  erected  in  the  centre  of  the  square. 
Upon  this  scaffold,  which  was  covered  with  black  cloth, 
were  placed  two  velvet  cushions,  two  iron  spikes,  and  a 
small  table.  Upon  the  table  was  a  silver  crucifix.  The 
provost-marshal,  Spelle,  sat  on  horseback  below,  with  his 
red  wand  in  his  hand,  little  dreaming  that  for  him  a  darker 
doom  was  reserved  than  that  of  which  he  was  now  the 
minister.  The  executioner  was  concealed  beneath  the  dra- 
peries of  the  scaffold. 

At  eleven  o'clock  a  company  of  Spanish  soldiers,  led 
by  Juliaan  Eomero  and  Captain  Salinas,  arrived  at  Eg- 
mont's  chamber.  The  Count  was  ready  for  them.  They 
were  about  to  bind  his  hands,  but  he  warmly  protested 
against  the  indignity,  and,  opening  the  folds  of  his  robe, 
showed  them  that  he  had  himself  shorn  off  his  collars  and 
made  preparations  for  his  death.  His  request  was  granted. 
Egmont,  with  the  Bishop  of  Ypres  at  his  side,  then  walked 
with  a  steady  step  the  short  distance  which  separated  him 
from  the  place  of  execution.  Juliaan  Eomero  and  the 
guard  followed  him.  On  his  way  he  read  aloud  the  sixty- 
first  psalm:  ''^Hear  my  cry,  0  God;  attend  unto  my 
prayer.''  He  seemed  to  have  selected  this  scriptural  pass- 
age as  a  proof  that,  notwithstanding  the  machinations 
of  his  enemies  and  the  cruel  punishment  to  which  they 
had  led  him,  loyalty  to  his  sovereign  was  as  deeply  rooted 
and  as  religious  a  sentiment  in  his  bosom  as  devotion  to 
his  God.  ''Thou  wilt  prolong  the  King's  life;  and  his 
years  as  many  generations.  He  shall  abide  before  God 
forever  !  0  prepare  mercy  and  truth,  which  may  preserve 
him."  Such  was  the  remarkable  prayer  of  the  condemned 
traitor  on  his  way  to  the  block. 

^Having  ascended  the  scaffold,  he  walked  across  it  twice 
or  thrice.  He  was  dressed  in  a  tabard  or  robe  of  red  dam- 
ask, over  which  was  thrown  a  short  black  mantle  em- 
broidered in  gold.     He  had  a  black  silk  hat  with  black 


1568]  THE  EXECUTION   OF  EGMONT  291 

and  white  plume^  on  his  head,  and  held  a  handkerchief 
in  his  hand.  As  he  strode  to  and  fro,  he  expressed  a  bit- 
ter regret  that  he  had  not  been  permitted  to  die,  sword  in 
hand,  fighting  for  his  country  and  his  king.  Sanguine  to 
the  last,  he  passionately  asked  Romero  whether  the  sentence 
was  really  irrevocable,  whether  a  pardon  was  not  even  then 
to  be  granted.  The  marshal  shrugged  his  shoulders,  mur- 
muring a  negative  reply.  Upon  this  Egmont  gnashed 
his  teeth  together,  rather  in  rage  than  despair.  Shortly 
afterwards,  commanding  himself  again,  he  threw  aside  his 
robe  and  mantle,  and  took  the  badge  of  the  Golden  Fleece 
from  his  neck.  Kneeling  then  upon  one  of  the  cushions, 
he  said  the  Lord's  Prayer  aloud,  and  requested  the  bishop, 
who  knelt  at  his  side,  to  repeat  it  thrice.  After  this  the 
prelate  gave  him  the  silver  crucifix  to  kiss,  and  then  pro- 
nounced his  blessing  upon  him.  This  done,  the  Count 
rose  again  to  his  feet,  laid  aside  his  hat  and  handkerchief, 
knelt  again  upon  the  cushion,  drew  a  little  cap  over  his 
eyes,  and,  folding  his  hands  together,  cried  with  a  loud 
voice,  *'  Lord,  into  Thy  hands  I  commit  my  spirit."  The 
executioner  then  suddenly  appeared,  and  severed  his  head 
from  his  shoulders  at  a  single  blow.  A 

A  moment  of  shuddering  silence  succeeded  the  stroke. 
The  whole  vast  assembly  seemed  to  have  felt  it  in  their 
own  hearts.  Tears  fell  from  the  eyes  even  of  the  Spanish 
soldiery,  for  they  knew  and  honored  Egmont  as  a  valiant 
general.  The  French  ambassador,  Mondoucet,  looking 
upon  the  scene  from  a  secret  place,  whispered  that  he  had 
now  seen  the  head  fall  before  which  France  had  twice 
trembled.  Tears  were  even  seen  upon  the  iron  cheek  of 
Alva,  as,  from  a  window  in  a  house  directly  opposite  the 
scaffold,  he  looked  out  upon  the  scene. 

A  dark  cloth  was  now  quickly  thrown  over  the  body 
and  the  blood,  and  within  a  few  minutes  the  Admiral  was 
seen  advancing  through  the  crowd.  His  bald  head  was 
uncovered,  his  hands  were  unbound.  He  calmly  saluted 
such  of  his  acquaintances  as  he  chanced  to  recognize  upon 
his  path.  Under  a  black  cloak,  which  he  threw  off  when 
he  had  ascended  the  scaffold,  he  wore  a  plain,  dark  doub- 
let, and  he  did  not,  like  Egmont,  wear  the  insignia  of  the 


292  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1568 

Fleece.  Casting  his  eyes  upon  the  corp^se,  which  lay  cov- 
ered with  the  dark  cloth,  he  asked  if  it  were  the  body  of 
Egmont.  Being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  he  muttered 
a  few  words  in  Spanish,  which  were  not  distinctly  audible. 
His  attention  was  next  caught  by  the  sight  of  his  own  coat 
of  arms  reversed,  and  he  expressed  anger  at  this  indignity 
to  his  escutcheon,  protesting  that  he  had  not  deserved  the 
insult.  He  then  spoke  a  few  words  to  the  crowd  below, 
wishing  them  happiness,  and  begging  them  to  pray  for  his 
soul.  He  did  not  kiss  the  crucifix,  but  he  knelt  upon  the 
scaffold  to  pray,  and  was  assisted  in  his  devotions  by  the 
Bishop  of  Ypres.  When  they  were  concluded,  he  rose 
again  to  his  feet.  Then,  drawing  a  Milan  cap  completely 
over  his  face,  and  uttering  in  Latin  the  same  invocation 
which  Egmont  had  used,  he  submitted  his  neck  to  the 
stroke. 

The  heads  of  both  sufferers  were  now  exposed  for  two 
hours  upon  the  iron  stakes.  Their  bodies,  placed  in  cof- 
fins, remained  during  the  same  interval  upon  the  scaffold. 
Meantime,  notwithstanding  the  presence  of  the  troops, 
the  populace  could  not  be  restrained  from  tears  and  from 
execrations.  Many  crowded  about  the  scaffold  and  dipped 
their  handkerchiefs  in  the  blood,  to  be  preserved  after- 
wards as  memorials  of  the  crime  and  as  ensigns  of  re- 
venge. 

The  bodies  were  afterwards  delivered  to  their  friends. 
A  stately  procession  of  the  guilds,  accompanied  by  many 
of  the  clergy,  conveyed  their  coffins  to  the  church  of  Saint 
Gudule.  Thence  the  body  of  Egmont  was  carried  to  the 
convent  of  Saint  Clara,  near  the  old  Brussels  gate,  where 
it  was  embalmed.  His  escutcheon  and  banners  were  hung 
upon  the  outward  wall  of  his  residence  by  order  of  the 
Countess.  By  command  of  Alva  they  were  immediately 
torn  down.  His  remains  were  afterwards  conveyed  to  his 
city  of  Sottegem,  in  Flanders,  where  they  were  interred. 
Count  Horn  was  entombed  at  Kempen.  The  bodies  had 
been  removed  from  the  scaffold  at  two  o^clock.  The  heads 
remained  exposed  between  burning  torches  for  two  hours 
longer.  They  were  then  taken  down,  enclosed  in  boxes, 
and,  as  it  was  generally  supposed,  desp^tcl^e^  to  Madrid. 


1568]  THE  VICTIMS  JUDGED  293 

The  King  was  thus  enabled  to  look  upon  the  dead  faces 
of  his  victims  without  the  trouble  of  a  journey  to  the 
provinces. 

Thus  died  Philip  Montmorency,  Count  of  Horn,  and 
Lamoral  of  Egmont,  Prince  of  Gaveren,  a  great  histori- 
cal figure,  but  certainly  not  a  great  man.  His  execution 
remains  an  enduring  monument,  not  only  of  Philip's 
cruelty  and  perfidy,  but  of  his  dulness.  The  King  had 
everything  to  hope  from  Egmont  and  nothing  to  fear. 
Yet  this  was  the  man  whom  Philip  chose,  through  the 
executioner's  sword,  to  convert  into  a  popular  idol,  and 
whom  Poetry  has  loved  to  contemplate  as  a  romantic 
champion  of  freedom. 

As  for  Horn,  details  enough  have  likewise  been  given 
of  his  career  to  enable  the  reader  thoroughly  to  under- 
stand the  man.  He  was  a  person  of  mediocre  abilities 
and  thoroughly  commonplace  character.  His  high  rank 
and  his  tragic  fate  are  all  which  make  him  interesting. 
He  had  little  love  for  court  or  people.  The  most  inter- 
esting features  of  his  character  are  his  generosity  tow- 
ards his  absent  brother  and  the  manliness  with  which,  as 
Montigny's  representative  at  Tournai,  he  chose  rather  to 
confront  the  anger  of  the  government,  and  to  incur  the 
deadly  revenge  of  Philip,  than  make  himself  the  execu- 
tioner of  the  harmless  Christians  in  Tournai. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    WAR    OF    Iiq-DEPEKDENCE    BEGUN 

Louis  of  Nassau,  since  his  victory,  had  accomplished 
nothing".  For  this  inactivity  there  was  one  sufficient  ex- 
cuse, the  total  want  of  funds.  His  only  revenue  was  the 
amount  of  blackmail  which  he  was  able  to  levy  upon  the 
inhabitants  of  the  province. 

"With  this  precarious  means  of  support,  his  army,  as 
may  easily  be  supposed,  was  anything  but  docile.  After 
the  victory  of  Heiliger  Lee  there  had  seemed  to  his  Ger- 
man mercenaries  a  probability  of  extensive  booty,  which 
grew  fainter  as  the  slender  fruit  of  that  battle  became 
daily  more  apparent. 

He  had,  for  a  few  weeks  immediately  succeeding  the 
battle,  distributed  his  troops  in  three  different  stations. 
On  the  approach  of  the  Duke,  however,  he  hastily  con- 
centrated his  whole  force  at  his  own  strongly  fortified 
camp,  within  half  cannon-shot  of  Groningen.  His  army, 
such  as  it  was,  numbered  from  ten  thousand  to  twelve 
thousand  men.  Alva  reached  Groningen  early  in  the 
morning  of  July  15th,  and,  without  pausing  a  moment, 
marched  his  troops  directly  through  the  city.  His  total 
force  of  choice  troops  amounted  to  about  fifteen  thou- 
sand. He  immediately  occupied  an  intrenched  and  forti- 
fied house,  from  which  it  was  easy  to  inflict  damage  upon 
the  camp.  This  done,  the  Duke,  with  a  few  attendants, 
rode  forward  to  reconnoitre  the  enemy  in  person.  He 
found  him  in  a  well -fortified  position,  having  the  river 
on  his  front,  which  served  as  a  moat  to  his  camp,  and 
with  a  deep  trench  three  hundred  yards  beyond  in  addi- 
tion.    Two  wooden  bridges  led  across  the  river ;  each  was 


1568]  THE   FIRST  SKIRMISHES  295 

commanded  by  a  fortified  house,  in  which  was  a  provision 
of  pine  torches  ready  at  a  moment's  warning  to  set  fire 
to  the  bridges.  Having  thus  satisfied  himself,  the  Duke 
rode  back  to  his  army,  which  had  received  strict  orders 
not  to  lift  a  finger  till  his  return.  He  then  despatched 
a  small  force  of  five  hundred  musketeers,  under  Robles, 
to  skirmish  with  the  enemy,  and,  if  possible,  to  draw  them 
from  their  trenches. 

The  troops  of  Louis,  however,  showed  no  greediness  to 
engage.  On  the  contrary,  it  soon  became  evident  that  their 
dispositions  were  of  an  opposite  tendency.  The  Count 
himself,  not  at  that  moment  trusting  his  soldiery,  who  were 
in  an  extremely  mutinous  condition,  was  desirous  of  fall- 
ing back  before  his  formidable  antagonist.  The  Duke, 
faithful,  however,  to  his  life-long  principles,  had  no  in- 
tention of  precipitating  the  action  in  those  difficult  and 
swampy  regions.  The  skirmishing,  therefore,  continued 
for  many  hours,  an  additional  force  of  one  thousand  men 
being  detailed  from  the  Spanish  army.  The  day  was  very 
sultry,  however,  the  enemy  reluctant,  and  the  whole  action 
languid.  At  last,  towards  evening,  a  large  body,  tempted 
beyond  their  trenches,  engaged  warmly  with  the  Span- 
iards. The  combat  lasted  but  a  few  minutes,  the  patriots 
were  soon  routed,  and  fled  precipitately  back  to  their 
camp.  The  panic  spread  with  them,  and  the  whole  army 
was  soon  in  retreat.  On  retiring  they  had,  however,  set 
fire  to  the  bridges,  and  thus  secured  an  advantage  at  the 
outset  of  the  chase.  The  Spaniards  were  no  longer  to 
be  held.  Vitelli  obtained  permission  to  follow  with  two 
thousand  additional  troops.  The  fifteen  hundred  who 
had  already  been  engaged  charged  furiously  upon  their 
retreating  foes.  Some  dashed  across  the  blazing  bridges, 
with  their  garments  and  their  very  beards  on  fire.  Others 
sprang  into  the  river.  Neither  fire  nor  water  could  check 
the  fierce  pursuit.  The  cavalry,  dismounting,  drove  their 
horses  into  the  stream,  and,  clinging  to  their  tails,  pricked 
the  horses  forward  with  their  lances.  Having  thus  been 
dragged  across,  they  joined  their  comrades  in  the  mad 
chase  along  the  narrow  dikes  and  through  the  swampy 
and   almost  impassable   country  where  the   rebels   were 


296  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1568 

seeking  shelter.  The  approach  of  night,  too  soon  advanc- 
ing, at  last  put  an  end  to  the  hunt.  The  Duke  with  diffi- 
culty recalled  his  men,  and  compelled  them  to  restrain 
their  eagerness  until  the  morrow.  Three  hundred  of  the 
patriots  were  left  dead  upon  the  field,  besides  at  least  an 
equal  number  who  perished  in  the  river  and  canals.  The 
army  of  Louis  was  entirely  routed,  and  the  Duke  con- 
sidered it  virtually  destroyed.  He  wrote  to  the  state 
council  that  he  should  pursue  them  the  next  day,  but 
doubted  whether  he  should  find  anybody  to  talk  with 
him.  In  this  the  governor-general  soon  found  himself 
delightfully  disappointed. 

Five  days  later  the  Duke  arrived  at  Eeyden,  on  the 
Ems.  Owing  to  the  unfavorable  disposition  of  the  coun- 
try people,  who  were  willing  to  protect  the  fugitives  by 
false  information  to  their  pursuers,  he  was  still  in  doubt  as 
to  the  position  then  occupied  by  the  enemy.  He  had  been 
fearful  that  they  would  be  found  at  this  very  village  of 
Eeyden.  It  was  a  fatal  error  on  the  part  of  Count  Louis 
that  they  were  not.  He  had  made  his  stand  at  Jemmingen, 
about  four  leagues  distant  from  that  place,  and  a  little 
farther  down  the  river.  Alva  discovered  this  important 
fact  soon  after  his  arrival  at  Eeyden,  and  could  not  con- 
ceal his  delight.  Already  exulting  at  the  error  made  by 
his  adversary,  in  neglecting  the  important  position  which 
he  now  occupied  himself,  he  was  doubly  delighted  at  learn- 
ing the  nature  of  the  place  which  he  had  in  preference 
selected.  He  saw  that  Louis  had  completely  entrapped 
himself. 

Jemmingen  was  a  small  town  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Ems.  The  stream,  here  very  broad  and  deep,  is  rather  a 
tide  inlet  than  a  river,  being  but  a  very  few  miles  from  the 
Dollart.  This  circular  bay,  or  ocean  chasm,  the  result 
of  the  violent  inundation  of  the  thirteenth  century,  sur- 
rounds, with  the  river,  a  narrow  peninsula.  In  the  corner 
of  this  peninsula,  as  in  the  bottom  of  a  sack,  Louis  had 
posted  his  army.  His  infantry,  as  usual,  was  drawn  up  in 
two  large  squares,  and  still  contained  ten  thousand  men. 
The  rear  rested  upon  the  village,  the  river  was  upon  his 
left,  his  meagre  force  of  cavalry  upon  the  right.     In  front 


1568]  SCIENCE  297 

were  two  very  deep  trenches.  The  narrow  road,  which 
formed  the  only  entrance  to  his  camp,  was  guarded  by  a 
ravelin  on  each  side  and  by  five  pieces  of  artillery. 

The  Duke  having  reconnoitred  the  enemy  in  person,  rode 
back,  satisfied  that  no  escape  was  possible.  The  river  was 
too  deep  and  too  wide  for  swimming  or  wading,  and  there 
were  but  very  few  boats.  Louis  was  shut  up  between  twelve 
thousand  Spanish  veterans  and  the  river  Ems.  The  rebel 
army,  although  not  insufficient  in  point  of  numbers,  was 
in  a  state  of  disorganization.  They  were  furious  for  money 
and  reluctant  to  fight.  They  broke  out  into  open  mutiny 
upon  the  very  verge  of  battle. 

Meantime  a  work  which  had  been  too  long  neglected 
was  then,  if  possible,  to  be  performed.  In  that  watery 
territory  the  sea  was  only  held  in  check  by  artificial 
means.  In  a  very  short  time,  by  the  demolition  of  a  few 
dikes  and  the  opening  of  a  few  sluices,  the  whole  coun- 
try through  which  the  Spaniards  had  to  pass  could  be  laid 
under  water.  Believing  it  yet  possible  to  enlist  the  ocean 
in  his  defence,  Louis,  having  partially  reduced  his  soldiers 
to  obedience,  ordered  a  strong  detachment  upon  this  im- 
portant service.  Seizing  a  spade,  he  commenced  the  work 
himself,  and  then  returned  to  set  his  army  in  battle  array. 
Two  or  three  tide-gates  had  been  opened,  two  or  three 
bridges  had  been  demolished,  when  Alva,  riding  in  ad- 
vance of  his  army,  appeared  within  a  mile  or  two  of  Jem- 
mingen.  It  was  then  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  July 
21st.  The  patriots  redoubled  their  efforts.  By  ten  o'clock 
the  waters  were  already  knee  high,  and  in  some  places  as 
deep  as  to  the  waist. 

At  that  hour  the  advanced  guard  of  the  Spaniards  ar- 
rived. Fifteen  hundred  musketeers  were  immediately  or- 
dered forward  by  the  Duke.  They  were  preceded  by  a 
company  of  mounted  carabineers,  attended  by  a  small  band 
of  volunteers  of  distinction.  This  little  band  threw  them- 
selves at  once  upon  the  troops  engaged  in  destroying  the 
dikes.  The  rebels  fled  at  the  first  onset,  and  the  Span- 
iards closed  the  gates.  Feeling  the  full  importance  of  the 
moment.  Count  Louis  ordered  a  large  force  of  musketeers 
to  recover  the  position  and  to  complete  the  work  of  in- 


298  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1568 

nndation.  It  was  too  late.  The  little  band  of  Spaniards 
held  the  post  with  consummate  tenacity.  Charge  after 
charge,  volley  after  volley  from  the  overwhelming  force 
brought  against  them  failed  to  loosen  the  fierce  grip  with 
which  they  held  this  key  to  the  whole  situation.  Before 
they  could  be  driven  from  the  dikes  their  comrades  ar- 
rived, when  all  their  antagonists  at  once  made  a  hurried 
retreat  to  their  camp. 

Alva  having  left  a  strong  guard  on  the  bridge  at  Eey- 
den,  and  thus  closed  carefully  every  avenue,  now  advanced 
his  fifteen  hundred  musketeers  farther  towards  the  camp. 
This  small  force,  powerfully  but  secretly  sustained,  was 
to  feel  the  enemy,  to  skirmish  with  him,  and  to  draw  him 
as  soon  as  possible  out  of  his  trenches.  The  plan  suc- 
ceeded. Gradually  the  engagements  between  them  and 
the  troops  sent  out  by  Count  Louis  grew  more  earnest. 
By  noon  the  rebels,  not  being  able  to  see  how  large  a 
portion  of  the  Spanish  army  had  arrived,  began  to  think 
the  affair  not  so  serious.  Count  Louis  sent  out  a  recon- 
noitring party  upon  the  river  in  a  few  boats.  They  re- 
turned without  having  been  able  to  discover  any  large  force. 
It  seemed  probable,  therefore,  that  the  inundation  had 
been  more  successful  in  stopping  their  advance  than  had 
been  supposed.  Louis,  always  too  rash,  inflamed  his  men 
with  temporary  enthusiasm.  Determined  to  cut  their 
way  out  by  one  vigorous  movement,  the  whole  army  at 
last  marched  forth  from  their  intrench ments,  with  drums 
beating,  colors  flying ;  but  already  the  concealed  rein- 
forcements of  their  enemies  were  on  the  spot.  The  pa- 
triots met  with  a  warmer  reception  than  they  had  expected. 
Their  courage  evaporated.  Hardly  had  they  advanced 
three  hundred  yards  when  the  whole  body  wavered  and 
then  retreated  precipitately  towards  the  encampment, 
having  scarcely  exchanged  a  shot  with  the  enemy.  Count 
Louis,  in  a  frenzy  of  rage  and  despair,  flew  from  rank  to 
rank,  in  vain  endeavoring  to  rally  his  terror-stricken 
troops.  It  was  hopeless.  The  battery  which  guarded 
the  road  was  entirely  deserted.  He  rushed  to  the  cannon 
himself,  and  fired  them  all  with  his  own  hand.  It  was 
their  first  and  last  discharge.     His  single  arm,  however 


1568]  A   TREMENDOUS   DEFEAT  299 

bold,  could  not  turn  the  tide  of  battle,  and  he  was  swept 
backward  with  his  coward  troops.  In  a  moment  after- 
wards, Don  Lope  de  Figueroa,  who  led  the  van  of  the 
Spaniards,  dashed  upon  the  battery  and  secured  it,  to- 
gether with  the  ravelins.  Their  own  artillery  was  turned 
against  the  rebels,  and  the  road  was  soon  swept. 

The  Spaniards  in  large  numbers  now  rushed  through 
the  trenches  in  pursuit  of  the  retreating  foe.  No  resist- 
ance was  offered,  no  quarter  given.  An  impossible  escape 
was  all  which  was  attempted.  It  was  not  a  battle,  but 
a  massacre.  Many  of  the  beggars  in  their  flight  threw 
down  their  arms  ;  all  had  forgotten  their  use.  Their  an- 
tagonists butchered  them  in  droves,  while  those  who  es- 
caped the  sword  were  hurled  into  the  river.  Seven  Span- 
iards were  killed,  and  seven  thousand  rebels.  The  swift 
ebb-tide  swept  the  hats  of  the  perishing  wretches  in  such 
numbers  down  the  stream  that  the  people  at  Embden 
knew  the  result  of  the  battle  in  an  incredibly  short  period 
of  time.  The  skirmishing  had  lasted  from  ten  o'clock  till 
one,  but  the  butchery  continued  much  longer.  It  took 
time  to  slaughter  even  unresisting  victims.  Large  num- 
bers obtained  refuge  for  the  night  upon  an  island  in  the 
river.  At  low  water  next  day  the  Spaniards  waded  to 
them  and  slew  every  man.  Many  found  concealment  in 
hovels,  swamps,  and  thickets,  so  that  the  whole  of  the 
following  day  was  occupied  in  ferreting  out  and  despatch- 
ing them.  Count  Louis  himself  stripped  off  his  clothes, 
and  made  his  escape,  when  all  was  over,  by  swimming 
across  the  Ems.  AVith  the  paltry  remnant  of  his  troops 
he  again  took  refuge  in  Germany. 

Thus  ended  the  campaign  of  Count  Louis  in  Friesland. 
Thus  signally  and  terribly  had  the  Duke  of  Alva  vindi- 
cated the  supremacy  of  Spanish  discipline  and  of  his  own 
military  skill. 

On  his  return  to  Groningen,  the  estates  were  summoned, 
and  received  a  severe  lecture  for  their  suspicious  demeanor 
in  regard  to  the  rebellion.  In  order  more  effectually  to 
control  both  province  and  city,  the  governor-general  or- 
dered the  construction  of  a  strong  fortress,  which  was 
soon  begun,  but  never  completed.    Having  thus  furnished 


300  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1568 

himself  with  a  key  to  this  important  and  doubtful  region, 
he  returned  by  way  of  Amsterdam  to  Utrecht.  There  he 
was  met  by  his  son  Frederic  with  strong  reinforcements. 
The  Duke  reviewed  his  whole  army,  and  found  himself  at 
the  head  of  30,000  infantry  and  7000  cavalry. 


CHAPTER  IV 
ORANGE  TAKES  THE  FIELD 

The  Duke  having  thus  crushed  the  project  of  Count 
Louis  and  quelled  the  insurrection  in  Friesland,  returned 
in  triumph  to  Brussels.  Far  from  softened  by  the  suc- 
cess of  his  arms,  he  renewed  with  fresh  energy  the  butch- 
ery which,  for  a  brief  season,  had  been  suspended  during 
his  brilliant  campaign  in  the  north.  The  altars  again 
smoked  with  victims;  the  hanging,  burning,  drowning, 
beheading  seemed  destined  to  be  the  perpetual  course  of 
his  administration  so  long  as  human  bodies  remained  on 
which  his  fanatical  vengeance  could  be  wreaked.  Four 
men  of  eminence  were  executed  soon  after  his  return  to 
the  capital.  They  had  previously  suffered  such  intense 
punishment  on  the  rack  that  it  was  necessary  to  carry 
them  to  the  scaffold  and  bind  them  upon  chairs  that 
they  might  be  beheaded.  These  four  sufferers  were  a 
Frisian  nobleman  named  Galena,  the  secretaries  of  Eg- 
mont  and  Horn — Bakkerzeel  and  La  Loo — and  the  distin- 
guished burgomaster  of  Antwerp,  Antony  van  Straalen. 

Hundreds  of  obscure  martyrs  now  followed  in  the  same 
path  to  another  world,  where  surely  they  deserved  to  find 
their  recompense,  if  steadfast  adherence  to  their  faith, 
and  a  tranquil  trust  in  God  amid  tortures  and  death  too 
horrible  to  be  related,  had  ever  found  favor  above.  The 
"  Red-Kod,"  as  the  provost  of  Brabant  was  popularly  des- 
ignated, was  never  idle.  He  flew  from  village  to  village 
throughout  the  province,  executing  the  bloody  behests 
of  his  masters  with  congenial  alacrity.  Nevertheless  his 
career  was  soon  destined  to  close  upon  the  same  scaffold 
where  he  had  so  long  ofliciated.     Partly  from  caprice. 


302  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1568 

partly  from  an  uncompromising  and  fantastic  sense  of 
justice,  his  master  now  hanged  the  executioner  whose  in- 
dustry had  been  so  untiring.  The  sentence,  which  was 
affixed  to  his  breast  as  he  suffered,  stated  that  he  had 
been  guilty  of  much  malpractice  ;  that  he  had  executed 
many  persons  without  a  warrant,  and  had  suffered  many 
guilty  persons,  for  a  bribe,  to  escape  their  doom.  The 
reader  can  judge  which  of  the  two  clauses  constituted  the 
more  sufficient  reason. 

During  all  these  triumphs  of  Alva,  the  Prince  of  Orange 
had  not  lost  his  self-possession.  One  after  another  each 
of  his  bold,  skilfully  conceived  and  carefully  prepared 
plans  had  failed.  The  friends  on  whom  William  of  Orange 
relied  in  Germany,  never  enthusiastic  in  his  cause,  al- 
though many  of  them  true-hearted  and  liberal,  now  grew 
cold  and  anxious.  For  months  long  his  most  faithful 
and  affectionate  allies,  such  men  as  the  Elector  of  Hesse 
and  the  Duke  of  Wurtemberg,  as  well  as  the  less  trust- 
worthy Augustus  of  Saxony,  had  earnestly  expressed  their 
opinion  that,  under  the  circumstances,  his  best  course 
was  to  sit  still  and  watch  the  course  of  events. 

But  the  Prince  knew  how  much  effect  his  sitting  still 
would  produce  upon  the  cause  of  liberty  and  religion. 
He  knew  that  the  more  impenetrable  the  darkness  now 
gathering  over  that  land  of  doom  which  he  had  devoted 
his  life  to  defend,  the  more  urgently  was  he  forbidden 
to  turn  his  face  away  from  it  in  its  affliction.  He  knew 
that  thousands  of  human  souls,  nigh  to  perishing,  were 
daily  turning  towards  him  as  their  only  hope  on  earth, 
and  he  was  resolved,  so  long  as  he  could  dispense  a  single 
ray  of  light,  that  his  countenance  should  never  be  averted. 
To  liberate  the  souls  and  bodies  of  millions,  to  maintain 
for  a  generous  people,  who  had  wellnigh  lost  their  all,  those 
free  institutions  which  their  ancestors  had  bequeathed,  was 
a  noble  task  for  any  man.  But  here  stood  a  Prince  of  an- 
cient race,  vast  possessions,  imperial  blood,  one  of  the  great 
ones  of  the  earth,  whose  pathway  along  the  beaten  track 
would  have  been  smooth  and  successful,  but  who  was  ready 
to  pour  out  his  wealth  like  water,  and  to  coin  his  heart's 
blood,  drop  by  drop,  in  this  virtuous  but  almost  desperate 


1568]  HIS  RELIGION  303 

cause.  He  felt  that  of  a  man  to  whom  so  much  had  been 
intrusted  much  was  to  be  asked.  God  had  endowed  him 
with  an  incisive  and  comprehensive  genius,  unfaltering 
fortitude,  and  with  the  rank  and  fortune  which  enable  a 
man  to  employ  his  faculties  to  the  injury  or  the  happiness 
of  his  fellows,  on  the  widest  scale.  The  Prince  felt  the 
responsibility,  and  the  world  was  to  learn  the  result. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  a  deep  change  came  over  his 
mind.  Hitherto,  although  nominally  attached  to  the  com- 
munion of  the  ancient  Church,  his  course  of  life  and  hab- 
its of  mind  had  not  led  him  to  deal  very  earnestly  with 
things  beyond  the  world.  The  severe  duties,  the  grave 
character  of  the  cause  to  which  his  days  were  henceforth 
to  be  devoted,  had  already  led  him  to  a  closer  inspection 
of  the  essential  attributes  of  Christianity.  The  Prince  went 
into  the  Reformed  worship  step  by  step,  and  it  was  not  until 
the  23d  of  October,  1573,  that  he  publicly  attended  com- 
munion at  a  Calvinist  meeting,  but  where  is  not  men- 
tioned. He  was  now  enrolled  for  life  as  a  soldier  of  the 
Reformation.*  The  Reformation  was  henceforth  his  fath- 
erland, the  sphere  of  his  duty  and  his  affection.  The  re- 
ligious Reformers  became  his  brethren,  whether  in  France, 
Germany,  the  Netherlands,  or  England.  Yet  his  mind 
had  taken  a  higher  flight  than  that  of  the  most  eminent 
Reformers.  His  goal  was  not  a  new  doctrine,  but  religious 
liberty.  In  an  age  when  to  think  was  a  crime,  and  when 
bigotry  and  a  persecuting  spirit  characterized  Romanists 
and  Lutherans,  Calvinists  and  Zwinglians,  he  had  dared 
to  announce  freedom  of  conscience  as  the  great  object  for 
which  noble  natures  should  strive.  In  an  age  when  tol- 
eration was  a  vice,  he  had  the  manhood  to  cultivate  it  as  a 

•  None  of  the  Prince's  own  private  letters  relating  to  his  step  from  the 
Roman  to  the  Reformed  faith  have  vet  come  to  light,  <jnd  the  judgments  of 
others  on  this  event  are  purely  subjective.  Miss  Ruth  Putnam,  in  her  Will- 
iam the  Silent,  New  York,  1895,  Vol.  II.,  pages  39,  40,  cites  a  letter  {Oroen 
Van  Prinsterer,  Archives,  IV.,  231)  from  Bartholdus  Wilhelm,  a  minister  in 
Dordrecht,  to  his  fellow  Christians  in  London.  "Brothers:  I  must  hasten 
to  inform  you  that  the  Prince  of  Orange,  our  pious  stadholder,  has  joined 
the  congregation,  broken  the  Master's  bread  with  the  people,  and  submitted 
to  discipline."     The  letter  is  dated  October  23. 


304  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1568 

virtue.  His  parting  advice  to  the  Reformers  of  the  Neth- 
erlands, when  he  left  them  for  a  season  in  the  spring  of 
1567,  was  to  sink  all  lesser  differences  in  religious  union. 
Those  of  the  Augsburg  Confession  and  those  of  the  Cal- 
vinistic  Church,  in  their  own  opinion  as  incapable  of  com- 
mingling as  oil  and  water,  were,  in  his  judgment,  capable 
of  friendly  amalgamation.  He  appealed  eloquently  to  the 
good  and  influential  of  all  parties  to  unite  in  one  common 
cause  against  oppression.  Even  while  favoring  daily  more 
and  more  the  cause  of  the  purified  Church,  and  becoming 
daily  more  alive  to  the  corruption  of  Eome,  he  was  yet 
willing  to  tolerate  all  forms  of  worship,  and  to  leave  rea- 
son to  combat  error. 

Without  a  particle  of  cant  or  fanaticism,  he  had  become 
a  deeply  religious  man.  Hitherto  he  had  been  only  a  man 
of  the  world  and  a  statesman,  but  from  this  time  forth  he 
began  calmly  to  rely  upon  God's  providence  in  all  the 
emergencies  of  his  eventful  life.  His  letters,  written  to 
his  most  confidential  friends,  to  be  read  only  by  them- 
selves, and  which  have  been  gazed  upon  by  no  other  eyes 
until  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  three  centuries,  abundantly 
prove  his  sincere  and  simple  trust.  This  sentiment  was 
not  assumed  for  effect  to  delude  others,  but  cherished  as 
a  secret  support  for  himself.  His  religion  was  not  a  cloak 
to  his  designs,  but  a  consolation  in  his  disasters.  Saevis 
tranquillus  in  undis,  he  was  never  more  placid  than  when 
the  storm  was  wildest  and  the  night  darkest.  He  drew 
his  consolations  and  refreshed  his  courage  at  the  never- 
failing  fountains  of  Divine  mercy. 

^'1  go  to-morrow,"  he  wrote  to  the  unworthy  Anne  of 
Saxony ;  "  but  when  I  shall  return,  or  when  I  shall  see 
you,  I  cannot,  on  my  honor,  tell  you  with  certainty.  I 
have  resolved  to  place  myself  in  the  hands  of  the  Almighty, 
that  He  may  guide  me  whither  it  is  His  good  pleasure  that 
I  should  go.  /  see  well  enough  that  I  am  destined  to  pass 
this  life  in  misery  and  labor,  with  which  I  am  well  content, 
since  it  thus  pleases  the  Omnipotent,  for  I  know  that  I  have 
merited  still  greater  chastisement.  I  only  implore  Him 
graciously  to  send  me  strength  to  endure  with  patience." 

In  May,  1568,  the  Emperor  Maximilian  had  formally  is- 


1668]  HIS   STATE  PAPERS  305 

sued  a  requisition  to  the  Prince  of  Orange  to  lay  down  his 
arms,  and  to  desist  from  all  levies  and  machinations  against 
the  King  of  Spain  and  the  peace  of  the  realm.  This  sum- 
mons he  was  commanded  to  obey  on  pain  of  forfeiting  all 
rights,  fiefs,  privileges,  and  endowments  bestowed  by  im- 
perial hands  on  himself  or  his  predecessors,  and  of  incur- 
ring the  heaviest  disgrace,  punishment,  and  penalties  of 
the  empire. 

To  this  document  the  Prince  replied  in  August,  having 
paid  in  the  mean  time  but  little  heed  to  its  precepts.  Now 
that  the  Emperor,  who  at  first  was  benignant,  had  begun 
to  frown  on  his  undertaking,  he  did  not  slacken  in  his  own 
endeavors  to  set  his  army  on  foot.  One  by  one,  those 
among  the  princes  of  the  empire  who  had  been  most  stanch 
in  his  cause,  and  were  still  most  friendly  to  his  person, 
grew  colder  as  tyranny  became  stronger  ;  but  the  ardor  of 
the  Prince  was  not  more  chilled  by  their  despair  than  by 
the  overthrow  at  Jemmingen,  which  had  been  its  cause. 
In  August  he  answered  the  letter  of  the  Emperor,  re- 
spectfully but  warmly,  trusting  that  after  reading  the 
"Justification"  which  the  Prince  had  recently  published 
his  Majesty  would  consider  the  resistance  just.  Christian, 
and  conformable  to  the  public  peace.  He  expressed  the 
belief  that  rather  than  interpose  any  hinderance  his  Maj- 
esty would  thenceforth  rather  render  assistance  "  to  the 
poor  and  desolate  Christians,' '  even  as  it  was  his  Majesty's 
office  and  authority  to  be  the  last  refuge  of  the  injured. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  issued  a  formal  declaration  of  war 
against  the  Duke  of  Alva,  and  also  addressed  a  solemn 
and  eloquent  '^warning"  or  proclamation  to  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Netherlands.  Without  the  Prince  and  his  ef- 
forts at  this  juncture  there  would  probably  have  never 
been  a  free  Netherland  commonwealth.  It  is  certain,  like- 
wise, that  without  an  enthusiastic  passion  for  civil  and  re- 
ligious liberty  throughout  the  masses  of  the  Netherland 
people  there  would  have  been  no  successful  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  Prince.  He  knew  his  countrymen  ;  while  they, 
from  highest  to  humblest,  recognized  in  him  their  saviour. 
There  was,  however,  no  pretence  of  a  revolutionary  move- 
ment.    The  Prince  came  to  maintain,  not  to  overthrow. 

20 


306  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1568 

The  freedom  which  had  been  enjoyed  in  the  provinces  un- 
til the  accession  of  the  Burgundian  dynasty  it  was  his 
purpose  to  restore.  The  attitude  which  he  now  assumed 
was  a  peculiar  one  in  history.  This  defender  of  a  people's 
cause  set  up  no  revolutionary  standard.  In  all  his  docu- 
ments he  paid  apparent  reverence  to  the  authority  of  the 
King.  By  a  fiction,  which  was  not  unphilosophical,  he 
assumed  that  the  monarch  was  incapable  of  the  crimes 
which  he  charged  upon  the  viceroy.  Thus  he  did  not  as- 
sume the  character  of  a  rebel  in  arms  against  his  Prince, 
but  in  his  own  capacity  of  sovereign  he  levied  troops  and 
waged  war  against  a  satrap  whom  he  chose  to  consider 
false  to  his  master's  orders.  In  the  interest  of  Philip,  as- 
sumed to  be  identical  with  the  welfare  of  his  people,  he 
took  up  arms  against  the  tyrant  who  was  sacrificing  both. 
This  mask  of  loyalty  would  never  save  his  head  from  the 
block,  as  he  well  knew,  but  some  spirits  as  lofty  as  his  own 
might  perhaps  be  influenced  by  a  noble  sophistry,  which 
sought  to  strengthen  the  cause  of  the  people  by  attribut- 
ing virtue  to  the  King. 

And  thus  did  the  sovereign  of  an  insignificant  little 
principality  stand  boldly  forth  to  do  battle  with  the  most 
powerful  monarch  in  the  world.  At  his  own  expense,  and 
by  almost  superhuman  exertions,  he  had  assembled  nearly 
thirty  thousand  men.  He  now  boldly  proclaimed  to  the 
world,  and  especially  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  provinces, 
his  motives,  his  purposes,  and  his  hopes. 

"  We,  by  God's  grace  Prince  of  Orange,"  said  his  dec- 
laration the  31st  of  August,  1568,  *'  salute  all  faithful  sub- 
jects of  his  Majesty.  *  *  *  We  summon  all  loyal  subjects 
of  the  Netherlands  to  come  and  help  us.  Let  them  take 
to  heart  the  uttermost  need  of  the  country,  the  danger  of 
perpetual  slavery  for  themselves  and  their  children,  and 
of  the  entire  overthrow  of  the  Evangelical  religion.  Only 
when  Alva's  blood-thirstiness  shall  have  been  at  last  over- 
powered can  the  provinces  hope  to  recover  their  pure  ad- 
ministration of  justice  and  a  prosperous  condition  for 
their  commonwealth.'' 

In  the  '^  warning  "  or  proclamation  to  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Netherlands,  the  Prince  expressed  similar  sen- 


1568]  ORANGE   CROSSES   THE   MEUSE  307 

timents.  He  announced  his  intention  of  expelling  the 
Spaniards  forever  from  the  country.  To  accomplish  the 
mighty  undertaking,  money  was  necessary.  He  accord- 
ingly called  on  his  countrymen  to  contribute,  the  rich  out 
of  their  abundance,  the  poor  even  out  of  their  poverty,  to 
the  furtherance  of  the  cause.  He  solemnly  warned  them 
*'  before  God,  the  fatherland,  and  the  world,"  to  do  this 
while  it  was  yet  time.  After  the  title  of  this  paper,  the 
28th,  29th,  and  30th  verses  of  the  tenth  chapter  of  Prov- 
erbs were  cited.  The  favorite  motto  of  the  Prince,  ''Pro 
lege,  rege,  grege  "  (for  the  law,  for  the  king,  for  the  com- 
monwealth), was  also  aifixed  to  the  document. 

These  appeals  had,  however,  but  little  effect.  Of  three 
hundred  thousand  crowns,  promised  on  behalf  of  leading 
nobles  and  merchants  of  the  Netherlands  by  Marcus  Perez, 
but  ten  or  twelve  thousand  came  to  hand.  The  appeals 
to  the  gentlemen  who  had  signed  the  Compromise,  and  to 
many  others  who  had  in  times  past  been  favorable  to  the 
liberal  party,  were  powerless.  A  poor  Anabaptist  preacher 
collected  a  small  sum  from  a  refugee  congregation  on  the 
outskirts  of  Holland,  and  brought  it,  at  the  peril  of  his 
life,  into  the  Prince's  camp.  It  came  from  people,  he  said, 
whose  will  was  better  than  the  gift.  They  never  wished 
to  be  repaid,  he  said,  except  by  kindness,  when  the  cause 
of  Keform  should  be  triumphant  in  the  Netherlands.  The 
Prince  signed  a  receipt  for  the  money,  expressing  himself 
touched  by  this  sympathy  from  these  poor  outcasts.  In  the 
course  of  time  other  contributions  from  similar  sources, 
principally  collected  by  Dissenting  preachers,  starving 
and  persecuted  church  communities,  were  received.  The 
poverty-stricken  exiles  contributed  far  more,  in  propor- 
tion, for  the  establishment  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
than  the  wealthy  merchants  or  the  haughty  nobles. 

Late  in  September  the  Prince  mustered  his  army  in 
the  province  of  Treves,  near  the  monastery  of  Romers- 
dorf.  His  force  amounted  to  nearly  thirty  thousand  men, 
of  whom  nine  thousand  were  cavalry.  The  Prince  crossed 
the  Rhine  at  Saint  Feit,  a  village  belonging  to  himself. 
He  descended  along  the  banks  as  far  as  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Cologne.      Then,  after  hovering  in  apparent  un- 


308  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1568 

certainty  about  the  territories  of  Jnliers  and  Limburg, 
he  suddenly,  on  a  bright  moonlight  night,  crossed  the 
Meuse  with  his  whole  army,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Stock- 
heim.  The  operation  was  brilliantly  effected.  A  compact 
body  of  cavalry,  according  to  the  plan  which  had  been 
more  than  once  adopted  by  Julius  Caesar,  was  placed  in 
the  midst  of  the  current,  under  which  shelter  the  whole 
army  successfully  forded  the  river.  The  Meuse  was  more 
shallow  than  usual,  but  the  water  was  as  high  as  the 
soldiers'  necks.  This  feat  was  accomplished  on  the  night 
and  morning  of  the  4th  and  5th  of  October.  It  was  con- 
sidered so  bold  an  achievement  that  its  fame  spread  far 
and  wide.  The  Spaniards  began  to  tremble  at  the  prowess 
of  a  Prince  whom  they  had  affected  to  despise.  The  very 
fact  of  the  passage  was  flatly  contradicted.  An  unfortu- 
nate burgher  at  Amsterdam  was  scourged  at  the  whipping- 
post because  he  mentioned  it  as  matter  of  common  re- 
port. The  Duke  of  Alva  refused  to  credit  the  tale  when 
it  was  announced  to  him.  "  Is  the  army  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange  a  flock  of  wild  geese,"  he  asked,  "  that  it  can  fly 
over  rivers  like  the  Meuse  ?"  Nevertheless  it  was  true. 
The  outlawed,  exiled  Prince  stood  once  more  on  the 
borders  of  Brabant,  with  an  army  of  disciplined  troops 
at  his  back.  His  banners  bore  patriotic  inscriptions. 
^' Pro  lege,  rege,  grege''  was  emblazoned  upon  some.  A 
pelican  tearing  her  breast  to  nourish  her  young  with 
her  life-blood  was  the  pathetic  emblem  of  others.  His 
determination  being  to  force  or  entice  the  Duke  of  Alva 
into  a  general  engagement,  he  marched  into  Brabant,  and 
took  up  a  position  within  six  thousand  paces  of  Alva's 
encampment.  His  plan  was  at  every  hazard  to  dare  or  to 
decoy  his  adversary  into  the  chances  of  a  stricken  field. 
The  governor  was  intrenched  at  a  place  called  Keiser- 
sleger,  which  Julius  Caesar  had  once  occupied.  The  city 
of  Maastricht  was  in  his  immediate  neighborhood,  which 
was  thus  completely  under  his  protection  while  it  fur- 
nished him  with  supplies.  The  Prince  sent  to  the  Duke 
a  herald,  who  was  to  propose  that  all  prisoners  who  might 
be  taken  in  the  coming  campaign  should  be  exchanged  in- 
stead of  being  executed.    The  herald,  booted  and  spurred. 


1568]  THE  PRINCE  BAFFLED  309 

even  as  he  had  dismounted  from  his  horse,  was  instantly 
hanged.  This  was  the  significant  answer  to  the  mission 
of  mercy.  Alva  held  no  parley  with  rebels  before  a  bat- 
tle, nor  gave  quarter  afterwards. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Duke  had  carefully  studied  the 
whole  position  of  affairs,  and  had  arrived  at  his  conclu- 
sion. He  was  determined  not  to  fight.  It  was  obvious 
that  the  Prince  would  offer  battle  eagerly,  ostentatiously, 
frequently,  but  the  governor  was  resolved  never  to  accept 
the  combat.  Once  taken,  his  resolution  was  unalterable, 
and  his  plan,  thus  deliberately  resolved  upon,  was  accom- 
plished with  faultless  accuracy.  As  a  work  of  art,  the 
present  campaign  of  Alva  against  Orange  was  a  more  con- 
summate masterpiece  than  the  more  brilliant  and  dashing 
expedition  into  Friesland. 

The  campaign  lasted  little  more  than  a  month.  Twenty- 
nine  times  the  Prince  changed  his  encampment,  and  at 
every  remove  the  Duke  was  still  behind  him,  as  close  and 
seemingly  as  impalpable  as  his  shadow.  Thrice  they  were 
within  cannon-shot  of  each  other,  twice  without  a  single 
trench  or  rampart  between  them.  The  country  people 
refused  the  Prince  supplies,  for  they  trembled  at  the  ven- 
geance of  the  governor.  Alva  had  caused  the  irons  to 
be  removed  from  all  the  mills,  so  that  not  a  bushel  of 
corn  could  be  ground  in  the  whole  province.  The  coun- 
try thus  afforded  but  little  forage  for  the  thirty  thousand 
soldiers  of  the  Prince.  The  troops,  already  discontented, 
were  clamorous  for  pay  and  plunder.  During  one  mutin- 
ous demonstration  the  Prince's  sword  was  shot  from  his 
side,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  a  general  outbreak 
was  suppressed.  The  soldiery  were  maddened  and  tanta- 
lized by  the  tactics  of  Alva.  They  found  themselves  con- 
stantly in  the  presence  of  an  enemy  who  seemed  to  court 
a  battle  at  one  moment  and  to  vanish  like  a  phantom  at 
the  next.  They  felt  the  winter  approaching,  and  became 
daily  more  dissatisfied  with  the  irritating  hardships  to 
which  they  were  exposed.  Upon  the  night  of  the  5th 
and  6th  of  October  the  Prince  had  crossed  the  Meuse  at 
Stockheim.  Thence  he  had  proceeded  to  Tongres,  fol- 
lowed closely  by  the  enemy's  force,  who  encamped  in  the 


310  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1568 

immediate  neighborhood.  From  Tongres  he  had  moved 
to  St.  Trond,  still  pursued  and  still  baffled  in  the  same 
cautious  manner.  The  skirmishing  at  the  outposts  was 
incessant,  but  the  main  body  was  withdrawn  as  soon  as 
there  seemed  a  chance  of  its  becoming  involved. 

From  St.  Trond,  in  the  neighborhood  of  which  he 
had  remained  several  days,  he  advanced  in  a  southerly 
direction  towards  Jodoigne.  Count  de  Genlis,  with  a  re- 
inforcement of  French  Huguenots,  for  which  the  Prince 
had  been  waiting,  had  penetrated  through  the  Ardennes, 
crossed  the  Meuse  at  Charlemont,  and  was  now  intend- 
ing a  junction  with  him  at  Waveron.  The  river  Geta 
flowed  between  them.  The  Prince  stationed  a  consider- 
able force  upon  a  hill  near  the  stream  to  protect  the 
passage,  and  then  proceeded  leisurely  to  send  his  army 
across  the  river.  Count  Hoogstraaten,  with  the  rear- 
guard, consisting  of  about  three  thousand  men,  was 
alone  left  upon  the  hither  bank,  in  order  to  provoke  or 
to  tempt  the  enemy,  who,  as  usual,  was  encamped  very 
near.  Alva  refused  to  attack  the  main  army,  but  rapidly 
detached  his  son,  Don  Frederic,  with  a  force  of  four 
thousand  foot  and  three  thousand  horse,  to  cut  off  the 
rear -guard.  The  movement  was  effected  in  a  masterly 
manner;  the  hill  was  taken,  the  three  thousand  troops 
which  had  not  passed  the  river  were  cut  to  pieces,  and 
Vitelli  hastily  despatched  a  gentleman  named  Barberini 
to  implore  the  Duke  to  advance  with  the  main  body,  cross 
the  river,  and,  once  for  all,  exterminate  the  rebels  in  a 
general  combat.  Alva,  inflamed,  not  with  ardor  for  an 
impending  triumph,  but  with  rage  that  his  sagely  con- 
ceived plans  could  not  be  comprehended  even  by  his  son 
and  by  his  favorite  officers,  answered  the  eager  messenger 
with  peremptory  violence.  Nearly  three  thousand  of  the 
patriots  were  slain  in  this  combat,  including  those  burned 
or  butchered  after  the  battle  was  over.  The  Sieur  de 
Louverwal  was  taken  prisoner  and  soon  afterwards  be- 
headed in  Brussels  ;  but  the  greatest  misfortune  sustained 
by  the  liberal  party  upon  this  occasion  was  the  death  of 
Antony  de  Lalaing,  Count  of  Hoogstraaten.  This  action 
was  fought  on  the  20th  of  October. 


1568]  THE   PRINCE    FOILED  311 

The  Prince,  frustrated  in  liis  hopes  of  a  general  battle, 
was  still  more  bitterly  disappointed  by  the  supineness  of 
the  country.  Not  a  voice  was  raised  to  welcome  the  de- 
liverer. Not  a  single  city  opened  its  gates.  All  were  crouch- 
ing, silent,  abject.  The  rising,  which  perhaps  would  have 
been  universal  had  a  brilliant  victory  been  obtained,  was, 
by  the  masterly  tactics  of  Alva,  rendered  an  almost  in- 
conceivable idea.  The  mutinous  demonstrations  in  the 
Prince's  camp  became  incessant ;  the  soldiers  were  discon- 
tented and  weary.  What  the  Duke  had  foretold  was  com- 
ing to  pass,  for  the  Prince's  army  was  already  dissolving. 
Obliged  to  countermarch  towards  the  Khine,  he  crossed 
the  Geta,  somewhat  to  Alva's  astonishment,  and  proceeded 
in  the  direction  of  the  Meuse.  The  autumn  rains,  how- 
ever, had  much  swollen  that  river  since  his  passage  at  the 
beginning  of  the  month,  so  that  it  could  no  longer  be 
forded.  He  approached  the  city  of  Liege,  and  summoned 
their  Bishop,  as  he  had  done  on  his  entrance  into  the 
country,  to  grant  a  free  passage  to  his  troops.  The  Bish- 
op, who  stood  in  awe  of  Alva  and  who  had  accepted  his 
protection,  again  refused.  The  Prince  had  no  time  to  par- 
ley. He  was  again  obliged  to  countermarch,  and  took  his 
way  along  the  high  road  to  France,  still  watched  and 
closely  pursued  by  Alva,  between  whose  troops  and  his 
own  daily  skirmishes  took  place.  At  Le  Quesnoy  the 
Prince  gained  a  trifling  advantage  over  tlxe  Spaniards  ;  at 
Cateau-Cambresis  he  also  obtained  a  slight  and  easy  vic- 
tory ;  but  by  the  17th  of  November  the  Duke  of  Alva  had 
entered  Cateau-Cambresis,  and  the  Prince  had  crossed  the 
frontier  of  France. 

The  Marechal  de  Cosse,  who  was  stationed  on  the  boun- 
dary of  France  and  Flanders,  now  harassed  the  Prince  by 
very  similar  tactics  to  those  of  Alva.  He  was,  however, 
too  weak  to  inflict  any  serious  damage,  although  strong 
enough  to  create  perpetual  annoyance.  He  also  sent  a 
secretary  to  the  Prince,  with  a  formal  prohibition,  in  the 
name  of  Charles  the  Ninth,  against  his  entering  the  French 
territory  with  his  troops. 

It  was  in  vain  that  the  Prince  endeavored  to  induce 
his  army  to  try  the  fortunes  of  the  civil  war  in  France. 


312  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1568 

They  had  enlisted  for  the  Netherlands,  the  campaign  was 
over,  and  they  insisted  upon  being  led  back  to  Germany. 
Forced  to  yield,  the  Prince  led  his  army  through  Cham- 
pagne and  Lorraine  to  Strasburg,  where  they  were  dis- 
banded. All  the  money  which  he  had  been  able  to  collect 
was  paid  them.  He  pawned  all  his  camp  equipage,  his 
plate,  his  furniture.  What  he  could  not  pay  in  money  he 
made  up  in  promises,  sacredly  to  be  fulfilled  when  he 
should  be  restored  to  his  possessions.  He  even  solemnly 
engaged,  should  be  return  from  France  alive,  and  be  still 
unable  to  pay  their  arrears  of  wages,  to  surrender  his  per- 
son to  them  as  a  hostage  for  his  debt. 

Thus  triumphantly  for  Alva,  thus  miserably  for  Orange, 
ended  the  campaign.  Thus  hopelessly  vanished  the  army 
to  which  so  many  proud  hopes  had  attached  themselves. 
Eight  thousand  men  had  been  slain  in  paltry  encounters, 
thirty  thousand  were  dispersed,  not  easily  to  be  again  col- 
lected. All  the  funds  which  the  Prince  could  command 
had  been  wasted  without  producing  a  result.  For  the 
present,  nothing  seemed  to  afford  a  ground  of  hope  for  the 
Netherlands,  but  the  war  of  freedom  had  been  renewed  in 
France.  A  band  of  twelve  hundred  mounted  men-at-arms 
were  willing  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  Prince.  The 
three  brothers  accordingly,  William,  Louis,  and  Henry — 
a  lad  of  eighteen,  who  had  abandoned  his  studies  at  the 
university  to  obey  the  chivalrous  instincts  of  his  race — set 
forth  early  in  the  following  spring  to  join  the  banner  of 
Conde. 

The  Duke  of  Alva,  having  despatched  from  Cateau-Cam- 
bresis  a  brief  account  of  the  victorious  termination  of  the 
campaign,  returned  in  triumph  to  Brussels,  and  instituted 
a  succession  of  triumphant  festivals.  The  people  were 
called  upon  to  rejoice  and  to  be  exceedingly  glad,  to  strew 
flowers  in  his  path,  to  sing  Hosannas  in  his  praise  who 
came  to  them  covered  with  the  blood  of  those  who  had 
striven  in  their  defence.  The  holiday  was  duly  culled 
forth ;  houses  where  funeral  hatchments  for  murdered 
inmates  had  been  perpetually  suspended  were  decked 
with  garlands ;  the  bells,  which  had  hardly  once  omitted 
their  daily  knell  for  the  victims  of  an  incredible  cruelty. 


1568]  ALVA'S   STATUE  313 

now  rang  their  merriest  peals  ;  and  in  the  very  square 
where  so  lately  Egmont  and  Horn,  besides  many  other 
less  distinguished  martyrs,  had  suffered  an  ignominious 
death,  a  gay  tournament  was  held  day  after  day,  with  all 
the  insolent  pomp  which  could  make  the  exhibition  most 
galling. 

But  even  these  demonstrations  of  hilarity  were  not 
sufficient.  The  conqueror  and  tamer  of  the  Netherlands 
felt  that  a  more  personal  and  palpable  deification  was 
necessary  for  his  pride.  The  Duke  of  Alva,  on  his  return 
from  the  battle-fields  of  Brabant  and  Friesland,  reared  a 
colossal  statue  of  himself,  and  upon  its  pedestal  caused 
these  lines  to  be  engraved:  **To  Fernando  Alvarez  de 
Toledo,  Duke  of  Alva,  Governor  of  the  Netherlands  un- 
der Philip  the  Second,  for  having  extinguished  sedition, 
chastised  rebellion,  restored  religion,  secured  justice,  es- 
tablished peace  ;  to  the  King's  most  faithful  minister  this 
monument  is  erected." 

The  statue  was  colossal,  and  was  placed  in  the  citadel 
of  Antwerp.  Its  bronze  was  furnished  by  the  cannon  capt- 
ured at  Jemmingen.  It  represented  the  Duke  tram- 
pling upon  a  prostrate  figure  with  two  heads,  four  arms, 
and  one  body.  The  two  heads  were  interpreted  by 
some  to  represent  Egmont  and  Horn,  by  others  the  two 
Nassaus,  William  and  Louis.  Others  saw  in  them  an 
allegorical  presentment  of  the  nobles  and  commons  of  the 
Netherlands,  or  perhaps  an  impersonation  of  the  Compro- 
mise and  the  Request.  Besides  the  chief  inscription  on 
the  pedestal  were  sculptured  various  bass-reliefs  ;  and  the 
spectator  whose  admiration  for  the  governor-general  was 
not  satiated  with  the  colossal  statue  itself  was  at  liberty 
to  find  a  fresh  personification  of  the  hero  either  in  a 
torch -bearing  angel  or  a  gentle  shepherd.  The  work, 
which  had  considerable  aesthetic  merit,  was  executed  by 
an  artist  named  Jacob  Jongeling.  It  remained  to  aston- 
ish and  disgust  the  Netherlanders  until  it  was  thrown 
down  and  demolished  by  Alva's  successor,  Requesens. 


CHAPTER  V 


It  was  very  soon  after  the  Duke^s  return  to  Brussels 
that  a  quarrel  between  himself  and  the  Queen  of  England 
took  place.  It  happened  thus  :  Certain  vessels,  bearing 
roving  commissions  from  the  Prince  of  Conde,  had  chased 
into  the  ports  of  England  some  merchantmen  coming  from 
Spain  with  supplies  in  specie  for  the  Spanish  army  in  the 
Netherlands.  The  trading-ships  remained  in  harbor,  not 
daring  to  leave  for  their  destination,  while  the  privateers 
remained  in  a  neighboring  port  ready  to  pounce  upon  them 
should  they  put  to  sea.  The  commanders  of  the  mer- 
chant fleet  complained  to  the  Spanish  ambassador  in  Lon- 
don. The  envoy  laid  the  case  before  the  Queen.  The 
Queen  promised  redress,  and,  almost  as  soon  as  the  prom- 
ise had  been  made,  seized  upon  all  the  specie  in  the  ves- 
sels, amounting  to  about  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
and  appropriated  the  whole  to  her  own  benefit.  The 
pretext  for  this  proceeding  was  twofold.  In  the  first 
place,  she  assured  the  ambassador  that  she  had  taken  the 
money  into  her  possession  in  order  that  it  might  be  kept 
safe  for  her  royal  brother  of  Spain.  In  the  second  place, 
she  affirmed  that  the  money  did  not  belong  to  the  Spanish 
government  at  all,  but  that  it  was  the  property  of  certain 
Genoese  merchants,  from  whom,  as  she  had  a  right  to  do, 
she  had  borrowed  it  for  a  short  period.  Both  these  po- 
sitions could  hardly  be  correct,  but  either  furnished  an  ex- 
cellent reason  for  appropriating  the  funds  to  her  own  use. 

The  Duke  of  Alva  being  very  much  in  want  of  money, 
was  furious  when  informed  of  the  circumstance.  He  im- 
mediately despatched  Councillor  d'Assonleville  with  other 


1568]  PERSECUTION  315 

commissioners  on  a  special  embassy  to  the  Queen  of  Eng- 
land. His  envoys  were  refused  an  audience,  and  the 
Duke  was  taxed  with  presumption  in  venturing,  as  if  he 
had  been  a  sovereign,  to  send  a  legation  to  a  crowned 
head.  No  satisfaction  was  given  to  Alva,  but  a  secret 
commissioner  was  despatched  to  Spain  to  discuss  the  sub- 
ject there.  The  wrath  of  Alva  was  not  appeased  by  this 
contemptuous  treatment.  Chagrined  at  the  loss  of  his 
funds,  and  stung  to  the  quick  by  a  rebuke  which  his  arro- 
gance had  merited,  he  resorted  to  a  high-handed  measure. 
He  issued  a  proclamation  commanding  the  personal  arrest 
of  every  Englishman  within  the  territory  of  the  Nether- 
lands, and  the  seizure  of  every  article  of  property  which 
could  be  found  belonging  to  individuals  of  that  nation. 
The  Queen  retaliated  by  measures  of  the  same  severity 
against  Netherlanders  in  England.  The  Duke  followed 
up  his  blow  by  a  proclamation  (of  March  31,  1569),  in 
which  the  grievance  was  detailed  and  strict  non- inter- 
course with  England  enjoined.  While  the  Queen  and  the 
viceroy  were  thus  exchanging  blows,  the  real  sufferers 
were,  of  course,  the  unfortunate  Netherlanders.  Between 
the  upper  and  nether  millstones  of  Elizabeth's  rapacity 
and  Alva's  arrogance,  the  poor  remains  of  Flemish  pros- 
perity were  wellnigh  crushed  out  of  existence.  Procla- 
mations and  commissions  followed  hard  upon  each  other, 
but  it  was  not  till  April,  1573,  that  the  matter  was  def- 
initely arranged.  Before  that  day  arrived  the  commerce 
of  the  Netherlands  had  suffered,  at  the  lowest  computa- 
tion, ^  dead  loss  of  two  million  florins,  not  a  stiver  of 
which  was  ever  reimbursed  to  the  sufferers  by  the  Spanish 
government. 

Meantime,  neither  in  the  complacency  of  his  triumph 
over  William  of  Orange  nor  in  the  torrent  of  his  wrath 
against  the  English  Queen  did  the  Duke  for  a  moment 
lose  sight  of  the  chief  end  of  his  existence  in  the  Nether- 
lands. The  gibbet  and  the  stake  were  loaded  with  their 
daily  victims.  The  records  of  the  period  are  foul  with 
the  perpetually  renewed  barbarities  exercised  against  the 
new  religion.  To  the  magistrates  of  the  different  cities 
were  issued  fresh  instructions,  by  which  all  municipal  of- 


316  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1568 

ficers  were  to  be  guided  in  the  discharge  of  their  great 
duty.  They  were  especially  enjoined  by  the  Duke  to  take 
heed  that  Catholic  midwives,  and  none  other,  should  be 
provided  for  every  parish,  duly  sworn  to  give  notice  with- 
in twenty-four  hours  of  every  birth  which  occurred,  in 
order  that  the  curate  might  instantly  proceed  to  baptism. 
They  were  also  ordered  to  appoint  certain  spies  who  should 
keep  watch  at  every  administration  of  the  sacraments, 
whether  public  or  private,  whether  at  the  altar  or  at  death- 
beds, and  who  should  report  for  exemplary  punishment 
(that  is  to  say,  death  by  fire)  all  persons  who  made  derisive 
or  irreverential  gestures,  or  who  did  not  pay  suitable  honor 
to  the  said  sacraments.  Furthermore,  in  order  that  not 
even  death  itself  should  cheat  the  tyrant  of  his  prey,  the 
same  spies  were  to  keep  watch  at  the  couch  of  the  dying, 
and  to  give  immediate  notice  to  government  of  all  persons 
who  should  dare  to  depart  this  life  without  previously  re- 
ceiving extreme  unction  and  the  holy  wafer.  The  estates 
of  such  culprits,  it  was  ordained,  should  be  confiscated, 
and  their  bodies  dragged  to  the  public  place  of  execu- 
tion. 

While  the  agents  of  the  Duke's  government  were  zeal- 
ously enforcing  his  decrees,  a  special  messenger  arrived 
from  the  Pope,  bringing  as  a  present  to  Alva  a  jewelled 
hat  and  sword.  It  was  a  gift  rarely  conferred  by  the 
Church,  and  never  save  upon  the  highest  dignitaries,  or 
upon  those  who  had  merited  her  most  signal  rewards  by 
the  most  shining  exploits  in  her  defence.  The  Duke  was 
requested,  in  the  autograph  letter  from  his  Holiness, which 
accompanied  the  presents,  ''  to  remember,  when  he  put 
the  hat  upon  his  head,  that  he  was  guarded  with  it  as 
with  a  helmet  of  righteousness  and  with  the  shield  of 
God^s  help,  indicating  the  heavenly  crown  which  was  ready 
for  all  princes  who  support  the  Holy  Church  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  faith. ^'  The  motto  on  the  sword  ran  as 
follows  :  ^'  Accipe  sanctum  gladium,  mwius  a  Deo,  in  quo 
dejicies  adversarios  populi  mei  Israel''  (Receive  this  holy 
sword,  a  gift  from  God,  by  which  thou  shalt  overthrow 
the  enemies  of  My  people,  Israel). 

The  man  of  the  jewelled  hat  and  sword  was  now  about 


1569]  TAXATION  317 

to  show  by  an  original  scheme  of  his  own  how  easily  a 
great  soldier  may  become  a  very  paltry  financier. 

He  had  already  informed  his  royal  master  that,  after  a 
very  short  time,  remittances  would  no  longer  be  necessary 
from  Spain  to  support  the  expenses  of  the  army  and  gov- 
ernment in  the  Netherlands.  He  promised,  on  the  con- 
trary, that,  through  his  new  scheme,  at  least  two  millions 
yearly  should  be  furnished  by  the  provinces,  over  and 
above  the  cost  of  their  administration,  to  enrich  the  treas- 
ury at  home. 

This  scheme  was  nothing  more  than  the  substitution  of 
an  arbitrary  system  of  taxation  by  the  crown  for  the  le- 
gal and  constitutional  right  of  the  provinces  to  tax  them- 
selves. In  the  wreck  of  their  social  happiness,  in  the 
utter  overthrow  of  their  political  freedom,  the  Nether- 
landers  had  still  preserved  the  shadow,  at  least,  of  one 
great  bulwark  against  despotism.  The  King  could  impose 
no  tax. 

The  '' joyeuse  entr6e"  of  Brabant,  as  well  as  the  con- 
stitutions of  Flanders,  Holland,  Utrecht,  and  all  the  other 
provinces,  expressly  prescribed  the  manner  in  which  the 
requisite  funds  for  government  should  be  raised.  The  sov- 
ereign or  his  stadholder  was  to  appear  before  the  estates 
in  person  and  make  his  request  for  money.  It  was  for 
the  estates,  after  consultation  with  their  constituents,  to 
decide  whether  or  not  this  petition  (Bede)  should  be 
granted,  and  should  a  single  branch  decline  compliance, 
the  monarch  was  to  wait  with  patience  for  a  more  favor- 
able moment.  Such  had  been  the  regular  practice  in  the 
Netherlands,  nor  had  the  reigning  houses  often  had  oc- 
casion to  accuse  the  estates  of  parsimony.  It  was,  how- 
ever, not  wonderful  that  the  Duke  of  Alva  should  be  im- 
patient at  the  continued  existence  of  this  provincial  privi- 
lege. A  country  of  condemned  criminals,  a  nation  whose 
universal  neck  might  at  any  moment  be  laid  upon  the 
block  without  ceremony,  seemed  hardly  fit  to  hold  the 
purse-strings,  and  to  dispense  alms  to  its  monarch.  The 
viceroy  was  impatient  at  this  arrogant  vestige  of  consti- 
tutional liberty.  Moreover,  although  he  had  taken  from 
the  Netherlanders  nearly  all  the  attributes  of  freemen,  he 


318  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1569 

was  unwilling  that  they  should  enjoy  the  principal  privi- 
lege of  slaves,  that  of  being  fed  and  guarded  at  their  mas- 
ter's expense.  He  had  therefore  summoned  a  general  as- 
sembly of  the  provincial  estates  in  Brussels,  and  on  the 
20th  of  March,  1569,  had  caused  the  following  decrees  to 
be  laid  before  them : 

A  tax  of  the  hundredth  penny,  or  one  per  cent.,  was  laid 
upon  all  property,  real  and  personal,  to  be  collected  in- 
stantly. This  impost,  however,  was  not  perpetual,  but 
only  to  be  paid  once,  unless,  of  course,  it  should  suit  the 
same  arbitrary  power  by  which  it  was  assessed  to  require 
it  a  second  time. 

A  tax  of  the  twentieth  penny,  or  five  per  cent.,  was  laid 
upon  every  transfer  of  real  estate.  This  imposition  was 
perpetual. 

Thirdly,  a  tax  of  the  tenth  penny,  or  ten  per  cent.,  was 
assessed  upo7i  every  article  of  mercliandise  or  personal 
property y  to  le  paid  as  often  as  it  sliould  le  sold.  This 
tax  was  likewise  to  be  perpetual. 

The  consternation  in  the  assembly  when  these  enormous 
propositions  were  heard  can  be  easily  imagined.  People 
may  differ  about  religious  dogmas.  In  the  most  bigoted 
persecutions  there  will  always  be  many  who,  from  con- 
scientious although  misguided  motives,  heartily  espouse 
the  cause  of  the  bigot.  Moreover,  although  resistance  to 
tyranny  in  matters  of  faith  is  always  the  most  ardent  of 
struggles,  and  is  supported  by  the  most  sublime  principle 
in  our  nature,  yet  all  men  are  not  of  the  sterner  stuff  of 
which  martyrs  are  fashioned.  In  questions  relating  to 
the  world  above,  many  may  be  seduced  from  their  con- 
victions by  interest  or  forced  into  apostasy  by  violence. 
Human  nature  is  often  malleable  or  fusible  where  relig- 
ious interests  are  concerned,  but  in  affairs  material  and 
financial  opposition  to  tyranny  is  apt  to  be  unanimous. 

It  was  most  unanswerably  maintained  in  the  assembly 
that  this  tenth  and  twentieth  penny  would  utterly  destroy 
the  trade  and  tlie  manufactures  of  the  country.  The 
hundredth  penny,  or  the  one  per  cent,  assessment  on  all 
property  throughout  the  land,  although  a  severe  subsidy, 
might  be  borne  with  for  once.     To  pay,  however,  a  twen- 


1669]  ARGUMENTS  WASTED  319 

tieth  part  of  the  full  value  of  a  house  to  the  government 
as  often  as  the  house  was  sold  was  a  most  intolerable 
imposition.  A  house  might  be  sold  twenty  times  in  a 
year,  and  in  the  course  of  the  year,  therefore,  be  confis- 
cated in  its  whole  value.  It  amounted  either  to  a  prohi- 
bition of  all  transfers  of  real  estate,  or  to  an  eventual  sur- 
render of  its  price. 

As  to  the  tenth  penny  upon  articles  of  merchandise,  to 
be  paid  by  the  vender  at  every  sale,  the  scheme  was  mon- 
strous. AH  trade  and  manufactures  must  of  necessity 
expire  at  the  very  first  attempt  to  put  it  in  execution. 
The  same  article  might  be  sold  ten  times  in  a  week,  and 
might,  therefore,  pay  one  hundred  per  cent,  weekly.  An 
article,  moreover,  was  frequently  compounded  of  ten  dif- 
ferent articles,  each  of  which  might  pay  one  hundred  per 
cent.,  and  therefore  the  manufactured  article,  if  ten 
times  transferred,  one  thousand  per  cent,  weekly.  Quick 
transfers  and  unfettered  movements  being  the  nerves  and 
muscles  of  commerce,  it  was  impossible  for  it  long  to  sur- 
vive the  paralysis  of  such  a  tax.  The  impost  could  never 
be  collected,  and  would  only  produce  an  entire  prostra- 
tion of  industry.  It  could  by  no  possibility  enrich  the 
government. 

The  King  could  not  derive  wealth  from  the  ruin  of  his 
subjects ;  yet  to  establish  such  a  system  was  the  stern 
and  absurd  determination  of  the  governor-general.  The 
infantine  simplicity  of  the  effort  seemed  incredible.  The 
ignorance  was  as  sublime  as  the  tyranny.  The  most  lucid 
arguments  and  the  most  earnest  remonstrances  were  all  in 
vain.  Too  opaque  to  be  illumined  by  a  flood  of  light, 
too  hard  to  be  melted  by  a  nation's  tears,  the  viceroy 
held  calmly  to  his  purpose.  To  the  keen  and  vivid  repre- 
sentations of  Viglius,  who  repeatedly  exhibited  all  that 
was  oppressive  and  all  that  was  impossible  in  the  tax,  he 
answered  simply  that  it  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
the  Spanish  alcabala,  and  that  he  derived  fifty  thousand 
ducats  yearly  from  its  imposition  in  his  own  city  of  Alva. 

The  report  of  the  deputies  to  the  assembly  on  their 
return  to  their  constituents  had  created  the  most  intense 
excitement  and  alarm.     Petition   after  petition,   report 


320  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDg  [1569 

after  report,  poured  in  npon  the  government.  There  was 
a  cry  of  despair,  and  almost  of  defiance,  which  had  not 
been  elicited  by  former  agonies.  To  induce,  however,  a 
more  favorable  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  Duke,  the 
hundredth  penny,  once  for  all,  was  conceded  by  the  estates. 
The  tenth  and  twentieth  occasioned  severe  and  protracted 
struggles,  until  the  various  assemblies  of  the  patrimonial 
provinces,  one  after  another,  exhausted,  frightened,  and 
hoping  that  no  serious  effort  would  be  made  to  collect 
the  tax,  consented,  under  certain  restrictions,  to  its  im- 
position. The  principal  conditions  were  a  protest  against 
the  legality  of  the  proceeding,  and  the  provision  that  the 
consent  of  no  province  should  be  valid  until  that  of  all 
had  been  obtained.  Holland,  too,  was  induced  to  give  in 
its  adhesion,  although  the  city  of  Amsterdam  long  with- 
held its  consent ;  but  the  city  and  province  of  Utrecht 
were  inexorable.  They  offered  a  handsome  sum  in  com- 
mutation, increasing  the  sum  first  proposed  from  seventy 
thousand  to  two  hundred  thousand  florins,  but  they  reso- 
lutely refused  to  be  saddled  with  this  permanent  tax. 
Their  stout  resistance  was  destined  to  cost  them  dear. 
In  the  course  of  a  few  months  Alva,  finding  them  still 
resolute  in  their  refusal,  quartered  the  regiment  of  Lom- 
bardy  upon  them,  and  employed  other  coercive  measures 
to  bring  them  to  reason.  Many  thousand  citizens  were 
ruined,  many  millions  of  property  confiscated,  and  Utrecht 
deprived  of  all  its  ancient  liberties,  as  a  punishment  for 
having  dared  to  maintain  them. 

The  estates  of  the  province  and  the  magistracy  of  the 
city  appealed  to  his  Majesty  from  the  decision  of  the  Duke. 
The  case  did  not  directly  concern  the  interests  of  religion, 
for  although  the  heretical  troubles  of  1566  furnished  the 
nominal  motives  of  the  condemnation,  the  resistance  to 
the  tenth  and  twentieth  penny  was  the  real  crime  for 
which  they  were  suffering.  The  King,  therefore,  al- 
though far  from  clement,  was  not  extremely  rigorous. 
He  refused  the  object  of  the  appeal,  but  he  did  not  put 
the  envoys  to  death  by  whom  it  was  brought  to  Madrid. 
This  would  have  certainly  been  the  case  in  matters  strictly 
religious,  or  even  had  the  commissioners  arrived  two  years 


1569]  ALVA'S   PREMATURE    TRIUMPH  321 

before,  but  even  Philip  believed,  perhaps,  that  for  the  mo- 
ment almost  enough  innocent  blood  had  been  shed.  At 
any  rate,  he  suffered  the  legates  from  Utrecht  to  return, 
not  with  their  petition  granted,  but  at  least  with  their 
heads  upon  their  shoulders.  Early  in  the  following  year, 
the  provinces  still  remaining  under  martial  law,  all  the 
Utrecht  charters  were  taken  into  the  possession  of  the  gov- 
ernment and  deposited  in  the  castle  of  Vredenberg.  It 
was  not  till  after  the  departure  of  Alva  that  they  were 
restored,  according  to  royal  command,  by  the  new  gov- 
ernor, Requesens. 

By  the  middle  of  the  year  1569  Alva  wrote  to  the  King, 
with  great  cheerfulness  of  tone,  announcing  that  the  es- 
tates of  the  provinces  had  all  consented  to  the  tax.  He 
congratulated  his  Majesty  upon  the  fact  that  this  income 
might  thenceforth  be  enjoyed  in  perpetuity,  and  that  it 
would  bring  at  least  two  millions  yearly  into  his  coffers, 
over  and  above  the  expenses  of  government.  The  hun- 
dredth penny,  as  he  calculated,  would  amount  to  at  least 
five  millions. 

He  was,  however,  very  premature  in  his  triumph,  for 
the  estates  were  not  long  in  withdrawing  a  concession 
which  had  either  been  wrung  from  them  by  violence  or 
filched  from  them  by  misrepresentation.  Taking  the 
ground  that  the  assent  of  all  had  been  stipulated  be- 
fore that  of  any  one  should  be  esteemed  valid,  every 
province  now  refused  to  enforce  or  to  permit  the  col- 
lection of  the  tenth  or  the  twentieth  penny  within  their 
limits.  Dire  were  the  threatenings  and  the  wrath  of 
the  viceroy,  painfully  protracted  the  renewed  negotia- 
tions with  the  estates.  At  last  a  compromise  was  ef- 
fected and  the  final  struggle  postponed.  Late  in  the 
summer  it  was  agreed  that  the  provinces  should  pay  two 
millions  yearly  for  the  two  following  years,  the  term  to 
expire  in  the  month  of  August,  1571.  Till  that  period, 
therefore,  there  was  comparative  repose  upon  the  subject. 

The  question  of  a  general  pardon  had  been  agitated  for 

more  than  a  year,  both  in  Brussels  and  Madrid.     Viglius, 

who  knew  his  countrymen  better  than  the  viceroy  knew 

them,  had  written  frequently  to  his  friend  Hopper,  on  the 

21 


322  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1569 

propriety  of  at  once  proclaiming  an  amnesty.  The  presi- 
dent knew  full  well  that  the  point  had  been  reached  be- 
yond, which  the  force  of  tyranny  could  go  no  further.  All 
additional  pressure,  he  felt  sure,  could  only  produce  re- 
action. Moreover,  there  were  symptoms  that  Alva's  favor 
was  on  the  wane.  The  King  had  not  been  remarkably 
struck  with  the  merits  of  the  new  financial  measures,  and 
had  expressed  much  anxiety  lest  the  trade  of  the  country 
should  suffer.  The  Duke  was  known  to  be  desirous  of  his 
recall.  His  health  was  broken,  he  felt  that  he  was  bitterly 
detested  throughout  the  country,  and  he  was  certain  that 
his  enemies  at  Madrid  were  fast  undermining  his  credit. 
He  seemed  also  to  have  a  dim  suspicion  that  his  mission 
was  accomplished  in  the  Netherlands  ;  that  as  much  blood 
had  been  shed  at  present  as  the  land  could  easily  absorb. 
He  wrote  urgently  and  even  piteously  to  Philip  on  the 
subject  of  his  return.  He  also  assured  his  Majasty  as  to 
the  prosperous  condition  of  financial  affairs.  His  tax  was 
to  work  wonders.  He  had  conversed  with  capitalists  who 
had  offered  him  four  millions  yearly  for  the  tenth  penny, 
but  he  had  refused,  because  he  estimated  the  product  at  a 
much  higher  figure.  The  hundredth  penny  could  not  be 
rated  lower  than  five  millions.  It  was  obvious,  therefore, 
that  instead  of  remitting  funds  to  the  provinces,  his  Maj- 
esty would,  for  the  future,  derive  from  them  a  steady  and 
enormous  income.  Moreover,  he  assured  the  King  that 
there  was  at  present  no  one  to  inspire  anxiety  from  within 
or  without.  The  only  great  noble  of  note  in  the  country 
was  the  Duke  of  Aerschot,  who  was  devoted  to  his  Majes- 
ty, and  who,  moreover,  "amounted  to  very  little,"  as  the 
King  well  knew.  As  for  the  Prince  of  Orange,  he  would 
have  business  enough  in  keeping  out  of  the  clutches 
of  his  creditors.  They  had  nothing  to  fear  from  Ger- 
many. England  would  do  nothing  as  long  as  Germany 
was  quiet ;  and  France  was  sunk  too  low  to  be  feared 
at  all. 

Such  being  the  sentiments  of  the  Duke,  the  King  was 
already  considering  the  propriety  of  appointing  his  suc- 
cessor. All  this  was  known  to  the  president,  who  was 
not  only  growing  weary  of  his  own  sycophancy,  but  who 


1569]  AMNESTY  323 

was  obliged  in  his  old  age  to  exclaim,  with  whiiiisical 
petulance,  that  "  the  faithful  servant  is  a  perpetual  ass." 

It  was  now  certain  that  an  apt  of  amnesty  was  in  con- 
templation by  the  King.  Viglius  had  furnished  several 
plans,  which,  however,  had  been  so  much  disfigured  by  the 
numerous  exceptions  suggested  by  Alva  that  the  presi- 
dent could  scarcely  recognize  his  work.  Granvelle,  too,  had 
frequently  urged  the  pardon  on  the  attention  of  Philip. 
Four  different  forms  of  pardon  had  been  sent  from  Madrid 
towards  the  close  of  1569.  From  these  four  the  Duke  was 
to  select  one  and  carefully  to  destroy  the  other  three.  It 
was  not,  however,  till  July  of  the  following  year  that  the 
choice  was  made  and  the  viceroy  in  readiness  to  announce 
the  pardon.  On  the  14th  of  that  month  a  great  festival 
was  held  at  Antwerp  for  the  purpose  of  solemnly  pro- 
claiming the  long-expected  amnesty.  In  the  morning 
the  Duke,  accompanied  by  a  brilliant  staff  and  by  a  long 
procession  of  clergy  in  their  gorgeous  robes,  paraded 
through  the  streets  of  the  commercial  capital,  to  offer  up 
prayers  and  hear  mass  in  the  cathedral.  The  Bishop  of 
Arras  then  began  a  sermon  upon  the  blessings  of  mercy, 
with  a  running  commentary  upon  the  royal  clemency 
about  to  be  exhibited.  At  the  very  outset,  however,  of 
his  discourse  he  was  seized  with  convulsions,  which  neces- 
sitated his  removal  from  the  pulpit  —  an  incident  which 
was  not  considered  of  felicitous  augury.  In  the  after- 
noon the  Duke  with  his  suite  appeared  upon  the  square 
in  front  of  the  Town-house.  Here  a  large  scaffolding  or 
theatre  had  been  erected.  The  platform,  and  the  steps 
which  led  to  it,  were  covered  with  scarlet  cloth.  A  throne, 
covered  with  cloth  of  gold,  was  arranged  in  the  most  ele- 
vated position  for  the  Duke.  On  the  steps  immediately 
below  him  were  placed  two  of  the  most  beautiful  women 
in  Antwerp,  clad  in  allegorical  garments  to  represent 
righteousness  and  peace.  The  staircase  and  platform  were 
lined  with  officers,  the  square  was  beset  with  troops  and 
filled  to  its  utmost  verge  with  an  expectant  crowd  of 
citizens.  Towards  the  close  of  a  summer  afternoon  the 
Duke,  wearing  the  famous  hat  and  sword  bestowed  by 
the  Pope,  took  his  seat  on  the  throne  with  all  the  airs  of 


324  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1569 

royalty.  After  a  few  preliminary  ceremonies,  a  civil  func- 
tionary, standing  between  two  heralds,  then  recited  the 
long-expected  act  of  gracje.  His  reading,  however,  was  so 
indistinct  that  few  save  the  soldiers  in  the  immediate  vi- 
cinity of  the  platform  could  hear  a  word  of  the  document. 
This  effect  was,  perhaps,  intentional.  Certainly  but 
little  enthusiasm  could  be  expected  from  the  crowd  had 
the  text  of  the  amnesty  been  heard.  It  consisted  of  three 
parts — a  recitation  of  the  wrongs  committed,  a  statement 
of  the  terms  of  pardon,  and  a  long  list  of  exceptions.  All 
the  sins  of  omission  and  commission,  the  heresy,  the  pub- 
lic preaching,  the  image-breaking,  the  Compromise,  the 
confederacy,  the  rebellion,  were  painted  in  lively  colors. 
Pardon,  however,  was  offered  to  all  those  who  had  not 
rendered  themselves  liable  to  positive  impeachment,  in 
case  they  should  make  their  peace  with  the  Church  before 
the  expiration  of  two  months,  and  by  confession  and  re- 
pentance obtain  absolution.  The  exceptions,  however, 
occupied  the  greater  part  of  the  document.  When  the 
general  act  of  condemnation  by  which  all  Netherlanders 
were  sentenced  to  death  had  been  fulminated,  the  ex- 
ceptions were  very  few,  and  all  the  individuals  were  men- 
tioned by  name.  In  the  act  of  pardon  the  exceptions 
comprehended  so  many  classes  of  inhabitants  that  it  was 
impossible  for  any  individual  to  escape  a  place  in  some  one 
of  the  categories  whenever  it  should  please  the  govern- 
ment to  take  his  life.  Expressly  excluded  from  the  bene- 
fit of  the  act  were  all  ministers,  teachers,  dogmatizers,  and 
all  who  had  favored  and  harbored  such  dogmatizers  and 
preachers;  all  those  in  the  least  degree  implicated  in  the 
image-breaking ;  all  who  had  ever  been  iyidividually  sus- 
pected of  heresy  or  schism;  all  who  had  ever  sighted  or 
favored  the  Compromise  or  the  Petition  to  the  Eegent;  all 
those  who  had  taken  up  arms,  contributed  money,  distrib- 
uted tracts  ;  all  those  in  any  manner  chargeable  with  mis- 
prision, or  who  had  failed  to  denounce  those  guilty  of 
heresy.  All  persons,  however,  who  were  included  in  any  of 
these  classes  of  exceptions  might  report  themselves  within 
six  months,  when,  upon  confession  of  their  crime,  they 
might  hope  for  a  favorable  consideration  of  their  case. 


1670]  MEAGRE  EFFECTS  325 

Such,  in  brief,  and  stripped  of  its  verbiage,  was  this 
amnesty  for  which  the  Netherlands  had  so  long  been  hop- 
ing. By  its  provisions  not  a  man  or  woman  was  pardoned 
who  had  ever  committed  a  fault.  The  innocent  alone 
were  forgiven.  The  murmur  and  discontent  were  univer- 
sal, therefore,  as  soon  as  the  terms  of  the  act  became 
known.  Alva  wrote  to  the  King,  to  be  sure,  "that  the 
people  were  entirely  satisfied,  save  only  the  demagogues, 
who  could  tolerate  no  single  exception  from  the  amnesty"; 
but  he  could  neither  deceive  his  sovereign  nor  himself  by 
such  statements.  Certainly,  Philip  was  totally  disappointed 
in  the  effect  which  he  had  anticipated  from  the  measure. 
He  had  thought  **  it  would  stop  the  mouths  of  many  peo- 
ple." On  the  contrary,  every  mouth  in  the  Netherlands 
became  vociferous  to  denounce  the  hypocrisy  by  which  a 
new  act  of  condemnation  had  been  promulgated  under  the 
name  of  a  pardon.  In  short,  viewed  as  a  measure  by  which 
government,  without  disarming  itself  of  its  terrible  powers, 
was  to  pacify  the  popular  mind,  the  amnesty  was  a  failure. 
Viewed  as  a  net  by  which  fresh  victims  should  be  enticed 
to  entangle  themselves,  who  had  already  made  their  way 
into  the  distant  atmosphere  of  liberty,  it  was  equally  un- 
successful. A  few  very  obscure  individuals  made  their 
appearance  to  claim  the  benefit  of  the  act  before  the  six 
months  had  expired.  With  these  it  was  thought  expedi- 
ent to  deal  gently,  but  no  one  was  deceived  by  such  clem- 
ency. As  the  common  people  expressed  themselves,  the 
net  was  not  spread  on  that  occasion  for  finches. 

The  wits  of  the  Netherlands,  seeking  relief  from  their 
wretched  condition,  named  the  new  measure  Pardona, 
and  then  by  a  still  more  wretched  quibble  rebaptized  it 
Pandora.  The  conceit  was  not  without  meaning.  The 
amnesty,  descending  from  supernal  regions,  had  been 
ushered  into  the  presence  of  mortals  as  a  messenger  laden 
with  heavenly  gifts.  The  casket,  when  opened,  had  dif- 
fused curses  instead  of  blessings.  There,  however,  the 
classical  analogy  ended,  for  it  would  have  puzzled  all  the 
pedants  of  Louvain  to  discover  Hope  lurking  under  any 
disguise  within  the  clauses  of  the  pardon. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1570  a  tremendous  inun- 


326  HISTORY   OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1670 

dation  swept  the  whole  coast  from  Flanders  to  Friesland. 
Not  the  memorable  deluge  of  the  thirteenth  century,  out 
of  which  the  Zuyder  Zee  was  born  ;  not  that  in  which  the 
waters  of  the  Dollart  had  closed  forever  over  the  villages 
and  churches  of  Groningen  ;  not  one  of  those  perpetually 
recurring  floods  by  which  the  inhabitants  of  the  Nether- 
lands year  after  year  were  recalled  to  an  anxious  remem- 
brance of  the  watery  chaos  out  of  which  their  fatherland 
had  been  created,  and  into  which  it  was  in  daily  danger 
of  resolving  itself  again,  had  excited  so  much  terror  and 
caused  so  much  destruction.  A  continued  and  violent 
gale  from  the  northwest  had  long  been  sweeping  the  At- 
lantic waters  into  the  North  Sea,  and  had  now  piled  them 
upon  the  fragile  coacsts  of  the  provinces.  The  dikes,  tasked 
beyond  their  strength,  burst  in  every  direction.  The  cities 
of  Flanders  to  a  considerable  distance  inland  were  sud- 
denly invaded  by  the  waters  of  the  ocean.  The  whole  nar- 
row peninsula  of  North  Holland  was  in  imminent  danger  of 
being  swept  away  forever.  Between  Amsterdam  and  Mui- 
den  the  great  Diemer  dike  was  broken  through  in  twelve 
places.  The  Honsbosch,  a  bulwark  formed  of  oaken  piles, 
fastened  with  metal  clamps,  moored  with  iron  anchors,  and 
secured  by  gravel  and  granite,  was  snapped  to  pieces  like 
packthread.  The  '^  Sleeper,"  a  dike  thus  called  because  it 
was  usually  left  in  repose  by  the  elements,  except  in  great 
emergencies,  alone  held  firai,  and  prevented  the  consum- 
mation of  the  catastrophe.  Still  the  ocean  poured  in  upon 
the  land  with  terrible  fury.  Dort,  Eotterdam,  and  many 
other  cities,  were,  for  a  time,  almost  submerged.  Along 
the  coast,  fishing-vessels,  and  even  ships  of  larger  size,  were 
floated  up  into  the  country,  where  they  entangled  them- 
selves in  groves  and  orchards,  or  beat  to  pieces  the  roofs 
and  walls  of  houses.  The  destruction  of  life  and  of  prop- 
erty was  enormous  throughout  the  maritime  provinces,  but 
in  Friesland  the  desolation  was  complete.  There  nearly  all 
the  dikes  and  sluices  were  dashed  to  fragments,  the  coun- 
try, far  and  wide,  converted  into  an  angry  sea.  The  steeples 
and  towers  of  inland  cities  became  islands  of  the  ocean. 
Thousands  of  human  beings  were  swept  out  of  existence 
in  a  few  hours.     Whole  districts  of  territory,  with  all  their 


1670]  THE   DELUGE  327 

villages,  farms,  and  churches,  were  rent  from  their  places, 
borne  along  by  the  force  of  the  waves,  sometimes  to  be 
lodged  in  another  part  of  the  country,  sometimes  to  be  en- 
tirely ingulfed.  Multitudes  of  men,  women,  children,  of 
horses,  oxen,  sheep,  and  every  domestic  animal,  were  strug- 
gling in  the  waves  in  every  direction.  Every  boat  and  ev- 
ery article  which  could  serve  as  a  boat  were  eagerly  seized 
upon.  Every  house  was  inundated  ;  even  the  graveyards 
gave  up  their  dead.  The  living  infant  in  his  cradle  and 
the  long-buried  corpse  in  his  coffin  floated  side  by  side. 
The  ancient  Flood  seemed  about  to  be  renewed.  Every- 
where, upon  the  tops  of  trees,  upon  the  steeples  of  churches, 
human  beings  were  clustered,  praying  to  God  for  mercy 
and  to  their  fellow-men  for  assistance.  As  the  storm  at 
last  was  subsiding,  boats  began  to  ply  in  every  direction, 
saving  those  who  were  still  struggling  in  the  water,  pick- 
ing fugitives  from  roofs  and  tree-tops,  and  collecting  the 
bodies  of  those  already  drowned.  Colonel  Robles,  Seign- 
eur de  Billy,  formerly  much  hated  for  his  Spanish  or  Portu- 
guese blood,  made  himself  very  active  in  this  humane  work. 
By  his  exertions,  and  those  of  the  troops  belonging  to  Gron- 
ingen,  many  lives  were  rescued,  and  gratitude  replaced  the 
ancient  animosity.  It  was  estimated  that  at  least  twenty 
thousand  persons  were  destroyed  in  the  province  of  Fries- 
land  alone.  Throughout  the  Netherlands  one  hundred 
thousand  persons  perished.  The  damage  alone  to  prop- 
erty and  the  number  of  animals  ingulfed  in  the  sea  were 
almost  incalculable. 

These  events  took  place  on  the  1st  and  2d  of  Novem- 
ber, 1570,  the  former  date  being  the  day  of  All  Saints, 
and  the  Spaniards  maintained  loudly  that  the  vengeance 
of  Heaven  had  descended  upon  the  abode  of  heretics.  The 
Netherlanders  looked  upon  the  catastrophe  as  ominous  of 
still  more  terrible  misfortunes  in  store  for  them.  They 
seemed  doomed  to  destruction  by  God  and  man.  An 
overwhelming  tyranny  had  long  been  chafing  against  their 
constitutional  bulwarks,  only  to  sweep  over  them* at  last; 
and  now  the  resistless  ocean,  impatient  of  man's  feeble 
barriers,  had  at  last  risen  to  reclaim  his  prey.  Nature,  as 
if  disposed  to  put  to  the  blush  the  feeble  cruelty  of  man. 


328  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1570 

had  thus  wrought  more  havoc  in  a  few  hours  than  big- 
otry, however  active,  could  effect  in  many  years. 

Nearly  at  the  close  of  this  year  (1570)  an  incident  oc- 
curred illustrating  the  ferocious  courage  so  often  engen- 
dered in  civil  contests.  On  the  western  verge  of  the  Isle 
of  Bommel  stood  the  castle  of  Loevenstein,  placed  in  a 
slender  hook  at  the  Junction  of  the  two  rivers,  and  com- 
manding the  two  cities  of  Gorcum  and  Dorcum,  and  the 
whole  navigation  of  the  waters.  One  evening  towards 
the  end  of  December  four  monks  wearing  the  cowls  and 
robes  of  Mendicant  Gray  Friars  demanded  hospitality  at 
the  castle  gate.  They  were  at  once  ushered  into  the  pres- 
ence of  the  commandant,  a  brother  of  President  Tisnacq. 
He  was  standing  by  the  fire  conversing  with  his  wife.  The 
foremost  monk  approaching  him,  asked  whether  the  castle 
held  for  the  Duke  of  Alva  or  the  Prince  of  Orange.  The 
castellan  replied  that  he  recognized  no  prince  save  Philip, 
King  of  Spain.  Thereupon  the  monk,  who  was  no  other 
than  Herman  de  Ruyter,  a  drover  by  trade  and  a  warm 
partisan  of  Orange,  plucked  a  pistol  from  beneath  his  robe 
and  shot  the  commandant  through  the  head.  The  others 
soon  made  themselves  masters  of  the  place,  and  introduced 
into  the  castle  four  or  five  and  twenty  men,  with  which 
force  they  diligently  set  themselves  to  fortify  the  place  and 
secure  themselves  in  its  possession.  A  larger  reinforce- 
ment which  they  had  reckoned  upon  was  detained  by  the 
floods  and  frosts,  which,  for  the  moment,  had  made  the 
roads  and  rivers  alike  impracticable. 

Don  Roderigo  de  Toledo,  governor  of  Bois-le-Duc,  im- 
mediately despatched  a  certain  Captain  Perea,  at  the  head 
of  two  hundred  soldiers,  who  were  joined  on  the  way  by  a 
miscellaneous  force  of  volunteers,  to  recover  the  fortress 
as  soon  as  possible.  The  Spaniards,  by  battering  a  breach 
in  the  wall  with  their  cannon  on  the  first  day,  and  then 
escalading  the  inner  works  with  remarkable  gallantry  upon 
the  second,  found  themselves  masters  of  the  place  within 
eight  and  forty  hours  of  their  first  appearance  before  its 
gates.  Most  of  the  defenders  were  either  slain  or  captured 
alive.  De  Ruyter  alone  had  betaken  himself  to  an  inner 
hall  of  the  castle,  where  he  stood  at  bay  upon  the  thresh- 


1670]  DE   RUYTER'S   TRAGEDY  329 

old.  Many  Spaniards,  one  after  another,  as  they  attempt- 
ed to  kill  or  to  secure  him,  fell  before  his  sword,  which  he 
wielded  with  the  strength  of  a  giant.  At  last,  overpowered 
by  numbers  and  weakened  by  the  loss  of  blood,  he  re- 
treated slowly  into  the  hall,  followed  by  many  of  his  an- 
tagonists. Here,  by  an  unexpected  movement,  he  applied 
a  match  to  a  train  of  powder  which  he  had  previously  laid 
along  the  floor  of  the  apartment.  The  explosion  was  in- 
stantaneous. The  tower  where  the  contest  was  taking 
place  sprang  into  the  air,  and  De  Ruyter  with  his  en- 
emies shared  a  common  doom.  A  part  of  the  mangled  re- 
mains of  this  heroic  but  ferocious  patriot  was  afterwards 
dug  from  the  ruins  of  the  tower,  and,  with  impotent  malice, 
nailed  upon  the  gallows  at  Bois-le-Duc.  Of  his  surviving 
companions,  some  were  beheaded,  some  were  broken  on 
the  wheel,  some  were  hanged  and  quartered — all  were 
executed. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE   BEGGARS   OF   THE   SEA   CAPTURE   BRILL 

The  Prince  of  Orange,  althongh  again  a  wanderer,  had 
never  allowed  himself  to  despair.  During  this  whole  pe- 
riod, the  darkest  hour  for  himself  and  for  his  country,  he 
was  ever  watchful.  After  disbanding  his  troops  at  Stras- 
burg,  and  after  making  the  best  arrangements  possible 
under  the  circumstances  for  the  eventual  payment  of  their 
wages,  he  had  joined  the  army  which  the  Duke  of  Deux 
Ponts  had  been  raising  in  Germany  to  assist  the  cause  of 
the  Huguenots  in  France. 

At  the  battle  of  Moncontour,  Count  Peter  Mansfeld, 
with  five  thousand  troops  sent  by  Alva,  fought  on  the 
side  of  the  royalists>  and  Louis  of  Nassau  on  that  of  the 
Huguenots  ;  atoning,  by  the  steadiness  and  skill  with  which 
he  covered  the  retreat,  for  his  intemperate  courage,  which 
had  precipitated  the  action,  and  perhaps  been  the  main 
cause  of  Coligny's  overthrow.  The  Prince  of  Orange, 
who  had  been  peremptorily  called  to  the  Netherlands  in 
the  beginning  of  the  autumn,  was  not  present  at  the 
battle.  Disguised  as  a  peasant,  with  but  five  attendants, 
and  at  great  peril,  he  had  crossed  the  enemy's  lines,  trav- 
ersed France,  and  arrived  in  Germany  before  the  winter. 
Count  Louis  remained  with  the  Huguenots.*  So  neces- 
sary did  he  seem  to  their  cause,  and  so  dear  had  he 
become  to  their  armies,  that,  during  the  severe  illness  of 
Coligny  in  the  course  of  the  following  summer,  all  eyes 
were  turned  upon  him  as  the  inevitable  successor  of  that 
great  man,  the  only  remaining  pillar  of  freedom  in  France. 

Coligny  recovered.  The  deadly  peace  between  the  Hu- 
guenots and  the  court  succeeded.     The  Admiral,  despite 


1670]  BEGGARS   OF  THE   SEA  331 

his  sagacity  and  his  suspicions,  embarked  with  his  whole 
party  upon  that  smooth  and  treacherous  current  which 
led  to  the  horrible  catastrophe  of  St.  Bartholomew. 

Equally  deceived,  and  more  sanguine  than  ever,  Louis  of 
Nassau  was  indefatigable  in  his  attempts  to  gain  friends 
for  his  cause.  He  had  repeated  audiences  of  the  King  of 
France,  to  whose  court  he  had  come  in  disguise.  He  made 
a  strong  and  warm  impression  upon  Elizabeth's  envoy  at 
the  French  court,  Walsingham.  It  is  probable  that  in 
the  Count's  impetuosity  to  carry  his  point  he  allowed 
more  plausibility  to  be  given  to  certain  projects  for  sub- 
dividing the  Netherlands  than  his  brother  would  ever 
have  sanctioned.  The  Prince  was  a  total  stranger  to 
these  inchoate  schemes.  His  work  was  to  set  his  coun- 
try free  and  to  destroy  the  tyranny  which  had  grown 
colossal.  That  employment  was  sufficient  for  a  lifetime, 
and  there  is  no  proof  to  be  found  that  a  paltry  and  per- 
sonal self-interest  had  even  the  lowest  place  among  his 
motives. 

Meantime,  in  the  autumn  of  1569,  Orange  had  again 
reached  Germany.  Paul  Buys,  Pensionary  of  Leyden, 
had  kept  him  constantly  informed  of  the  state  of  affairs 
in  the  provinces.  Through  his  means  an  extensive  cor- 
respondence was  organized  and  maintained  with  leading 
persons  in  every  part  of  the  Netherlands.  Before  his 
visit  to  France  Orange  had,  moreover,  issued  commis- 
sions, in  his  capacity  of  sovereign,  to  various  seafaring 
persons,  who  were  empowered  to  cruise  against  Spanish 
commerce. 

The  *'  beggars  of  the  sea,"  as  these  privateersmen  desig- 
nated themselves,  soon  acquired  as  terrible  a  name  as  the 
wild  beggars  or  the  forest  beggars,  but  the  Prince,  having 
had  many  conversations  with  Admiral  Coligny  on  the 
important  benefits  to  be  derived  from  the  system,  had 
faithfully  set  himself  to  effect  a  reformation  of  its  abuses 
after  his  return  from  France.  Strict  orders  were  issued 
by  Orange,  forbidding  all  hostile  measures  against  the 
Emperor  or  any  of  the  Princes  of  the  empire,  against 
Sweden,  Denmark,  England,  or  against  any  potentates 
who  were  protectors  of  the  true  Christian  religion.     The 


332  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1570 

Duke  of  Alva  and  his  adherents  were  designated  as  the  only 
lawful  antagonists.  The  Prince,  moreover,  gave  minute 
instructions  as  to  the  discipline  to  be  observed  in  his  fleet. 
The  articles  of  war  were  to  be  strictly  enforced.  Each 
commander  was  to  maintain  a  minister  on  board  his  ship, 
who  was  to  preach  God's  word,  and  to  preserve  Christian 
piety  among  the  crew.  No  one  was  to  exercise  any  com- 
mand in  the  fleet  save  native  Netherlanders,  unless  there- 
to expressly  commissioned  by  the  Prince  of  Orange.  All 
prizes  were  to  be  divided  and  distributed  by  a  prescribed 
rule.  No  persons  were  to  be  received  on  board,  either  as 
sailors  or  soldiers,  save  '*folk  of  good  name  and  fame." 
No  man  who  had  ever  been  punished  of  justice  was  to  be 
admitted. 

The  Prince,  however,  on  his  return  from  France,  had 
never  been  in  so  forlorn  a  condition.  '^Orange  is  plainly 
perishing,"  said  one  of  the  friends  of  the  cause.  Not 
only  had  he  no  funds  to  organize  new  levies,  but  he  was 
daily  exposed  to  the  most  clamorously  urged  claims,  grow- 
ing out  of  the  army  which  he  had  been  recently  obliged 
to  disband.  The  obscure  and  the  oppressed  throughout 
the  provinces  and  Germany  still  freely  contributed  out  ^f 
their  weakness  and  their  poverty,  and  taxed  themselves 
beyond  their  means  to  assist  enterprises  for  the  relief  of 
the  Netherlands.  The  great  ones  of  the  earth,  however, 
those  on  whom  the  Prince  had  relied,  those  to  whom  he 
had  given  his  heart — dukes,  princes,  and  electors — in  this 
fatal  change  of  his  fortunes  "fell  away  like  water." 

Still  his  spirit  was  unbroken.  His  letters  showed  a 
perfect  appreciation  of  his  situation,  and  of  that  to  which 
his  country  was  reduced ;  but  they  never  exhibited  a  trace 
of  weakness  or  despair.  A  modest  but  lofty  courage,  a 
pious  but  unaffected  resignation  breathed  through  every 
document,  public  or  private,  which  fell  from  his  pen  dur- 
ing this  epoch. 

He  was  now  obliged  to  attend  personally  to  the  most 
minute  matters  of  domestic  economy.  The  man  who  had 
been  the  mate  of  emperors,  who  was  himself  a  sovereign, 
who  had  lived  his  life  long  in  pomp  and  luxury,  sur- 
rounded by  countless  nobles,  pages,  men-at-arms,  and 


1571]  CONFERENCES  ON  THE   TENTH   PENNY  333 

menials,  now  calmly  accepted  the  position  of  an  outlaw 
and  an  exile.  He  cheerfully  fulfilled  tasks  which  had  for- 
merly devolved  upon  his  grooms  and  valets. 

He  was  always  mindful,  however,  not  only  of  the  great 
cause  to  which  he  had  devoted  himself,  but  of  the  wants  ex- 
perienced by  individuals  who  had  done  him  service.  He 
never  forgot  his  friends.  In  the  depth  of  his  own  misery 
he  remembered  favors  received  from  humble  persons. 

The  contest  between  the  Duke  and  the  estates,  on  the 
subject  of  the  tenth  and  twentieth  penny,  had  been  for  a 
season  adjusted.  The  two  years'  term,  however,  during 
which  it  had  been  arranged  that  the  tax  should  be  com- 
muted was  to  expire  in  the  autumn  of  1571.  Early,  there- 
fore, in  this  year  the  disputes  were  renewed  with  greater 
acrimony  than  ever.  The  estates  felt  satisfied  that  the 
King  was  less  eager  than  the  viceroy.  Viglius  was  satis- 
fied that  the  power  of  Alva  was  upon  the  wane.  While  the 
King  was  not  likely  openly  to  rebuke  his  recent  measures, 
it  seemed  not  improbable  that  the  governor's  reiterated 
requests  to  be  recalled  might  be  granted. 

The  daily  meetings  of  the  board  were  almost  entirely 
occupied  by  this  single  subject  of  the  tax.  Although  since 
the  arrival  of  Alva  the  Council  of  Blood  had  usurped 
nearly  all  the  functions  of  the  state  and  finance  councils, 
yet  there  now  seemed  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  Alva  to 
seek  the  countenance,  even  while  he  spurned  the  author- 
ity, of  other  functionaries.  He  found,  however,  neither 
sympathy  nor  obedience.  The  president  stoutly  told  him 
that  he  was  endeavoring  to  swim  against  the  stream,  that 
the  tax  was  offensive  to  the  people,  and  that  the  voice 
of  the  people  was  the  voice  of  God.  On  the  last  day  of 
July,  however,  the  Duke  issued  an  edict,  by  which  sum- 
mary collection  of  the  tenth  and  twentieth  penny  was 
ordered.  The  whole  country  was  immediately  in  uproar. 
The  estates  of  every  province,  the  assemblies  of  every  city, 
met  and  remonstrated.  The  merchants  suspended  all  busi- 
ness, the  petty  dealers  shut  up  their  shops.  The  people 
congregated  together  in  masses,  vowing  resistance  to  the 
illegal  and  cruel  impost.     Not  a  farthing  was  collected. 

No  man  saluted  the  governor  as  he  passed  through  the 


334  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1571 

streets.  Hardly  an  attempt  was  made  by  the  people  to 
disguise  their  abhorrence  of  his  person.  Alva,  on  his  side, 
gave  daily  exhibitions  of  ungovernable  fury.  The  firm 
attitude  of  the  president  increased  the  irritation  of  the 
viceroy,  but  shortly  afterwards  the  Duke  gave  orders 
that  the  tenth  penny  should  be  remitted  upon  four  great 
articles — corn,  meat,  wine,  and  beer.  It  was  also  not  to 
be  levied  upon  raw  materials  used  in  manufactures. 

Certainly  these  were  very  important  concessions.  Still 
the  constitutional  objections  remained.  Alva  could  not 
be  made  to  understand  why  the  alcabdla,  which  was  raised 
without  difficulty  in  the  little  town  of  Alva,  should  en- 
counter such  fierce  opposition  in  the  Netherlands.  The 
estates,  he  informed  the  King,  made  a  great  deal  of 
trouble.  They  withheld  their  consent  at  command  of 
their  satrap.  The  motive  which  influenced  the  leading 
men  was  not  the  interest  of  factories  or  fisheries,  but  the 
fear  that  for  the  future  they  might  not  le  aile  to  dictate  the 
law  to  their  sovereign.  The  people  of  that  country,  he  ob- 
served, had  still  the  same  character  which  had  been  de- 
scribed by  Julius  Caesar. 

The  Duke,  however,  did  not  find  much  sympathy  at 
Madrid.  Courtiers  and  councillors  had  long  derided  his 
schemes.  As  for  the  King,  his  mind  was  occupied  with 
more  interesting  matters.  Philip  lived  but  to  enforce 
what  he  chose  to  consider  the  will  of  God.  While  the 
Duke  was  fighting  this  battle  with  the  Netherlands  con- 
stitutionalists, his  master  had  engaged  at  home  in  a  secret 
but  most  comprehensive  scheme.  This  was  a  plot  to  as- 
sassinate Queen  Elizabeth  of  England,  and  to  liberate 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  who  was  to  be  placed  on  the  throne 
in  her  stead. 

One  Kidolfi,  a  Florentine  long  resident  in  England,  had 
been  sent  to  the  Netherlands  as  secret  agent  of  the  Duke 
of  Norfolk.  Alva  read  his  character  immediately,  and 
denounced  him  to  Philip  as  a  loose,  prating  creature, 
utterly  unfit  to  be  intrusted  with  affairs  of  importance. 
Philip,  however,  welcomed  the  agent  of  the  conspiracy  to 
Madrid,  listened  to  his  disclosures  attentively,  and,  with- 
out absolutely  committing  himself  by  direct  promises. 


1571]  PHILIP'S  PLOT  AGAINST   ELIZABETH  335 

dismissed  him  with  many  expressions  of  encouragement. 
Long  despatches  were  then  exchanged  between  the  Duke 
and  the  King  concerning  this  iniquitous  scheme. 

Alva  never  positively  refused  to  accept  his  share  in  the 
scheme  to  murder  the  Queen  of  England  through  assas- 
sination at  the  hands  of  Eoberto  Ridolfi.  The  enterprise 
came  to  naught.  Alva's  objections  from  the  first  were 
military,  not  moral.  He  took  care  not  to  lift  his  finger 
till  the  catastrophe  in  England  had  made  all  attempts 
futile.  Philip,  on  the  other  hand,  never  positively  with- 
drew from  the  conspiracy,  but,  after  an  infinite  deal  of 
writing  and  intriguing,  concluded  by  leaving  the  whole 
affair  in  the  hands  of  Alva.  The  only  sufferer  for  Philip's 
participation  in  the  plot  was  the  Spanish  envoy  at  London, 
Don  Gueran  de  Espes.  This  gentleman  was  formally  dis- 
missed by  Queen  Elizabeth  for  having  given  treacherous 
and  hostile  advice  to  the  Duke  of  Alva  and  to  Philip,  but 
her  Majesty  at  the  same  time  expressed  the  most  profound 
consideration  for  her  brother  of  Spain. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  same  year,  however  (December, 
1571),  Alva  sent  two  other  Italian  assassins  to  England, 
bribed  by  the  promise  of  vast  rewards,  to  attempt  the  life 
of  Elizabeth  quietly,  by  poison  or  otherwise.  These  ruff- 
ians were  not  destined  to  success.  Eighteen  months  later 
(August,  1573),  two  Scotchmen,  pensioners  of  Philip,  came 
from  Spain,  with  secret  orders  to  consult  with  Alva.  They 
had  accordingly  much  negotiation  with  the  Duke  and  his 
secretary,  Albornoz.  They  boasted  that  they  could  easily 
capture  Elizabeth,  but  said  that  the  King's  purpose  was  to 
kill  her. 

On  the  25th  of  September,  1571,  a  commission  of  govern- 
or-general of  the  Netherlands  was  at  last  issued  to  John 
de  la  Oerda,  Duke  of  Medina  Coeli.  Philip,  in  compliance 
with  the  Duke's  repeated  requests,  and  perhaps  not  en- 
tirely satisfied  with  the  recent  course  of  events  in  the 
provinces,  had  at  last,  after  great  hesitation,  consented  to 
Alva's  resignation.  His  successor,  however,  was  not  im- 
mediately to  take  his  departure,  and  in  the  mean  time  the 
Duke  was  instructed  to  persevere  in  his  faithful  services. 
These  services  had,  for  the  present,  reduced  themselves 


336  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1571 

to  a  perpetual  and  not  very  triumphant  altercation  with 
his  council,  with  the  estates,  and  with  the  people,  on  the 
subject  of  his  abominable  tax.  He  was  entirely  alone. 
They  who  had  stood  unflinchingly  at  his  side  when  the 
only  business  of  the  administration  was  to  burn  heretics, 
turned  their  backs  upon  him  now  that  he  had  engaged  in 
this  desperate  conflict  with  the  whole  money  power  of  the 
country.  The  King  was  far  from  cordial  in  his  support, 
the  councillors  much  too  crafty  to  retain  their  hold  upon 
the  wheel  to  which  they  had  only  attached  themselves  in 
its  ascent.  Viglius  and  Berlaymont,  Noircarmes  and  Aer- 
schot,  opposed  and  almost  defied  the  man  they  now  thought 
sinking,  and  kept  the  King  constantly  informed  of  the 
vast  distress  which  the  financial  measures  of  the  Duke 
were  causing. 

During  the  course  of  this  same  year  the  Prince  of  Or- 
ange had  been  continuing  his  preparations.  He  had  sent 
his  agents  to  every  place  where  a  hope  was  held  out  to  him 
of  obtaining  support.  Money  was  what  he  was  naturally 
most  anxious  to  obtain  from  individuals ;  open  and  war- 
like assistance  what  he  demanded  from  governments.  His 
funds,  little  by  little,  were  increasing,  owing  to  the  gen- 
erosity of  many  obscure  persons,  and  to  the  daring  ex- 
ploits of  the  beggars  of  the  sea.  His  mission,  however, 
to  the  northern  courts  had  failed.  His  envoys  had  been 
received  in  Sweden  and  Denmark  with  barren  courtesy. 

Granvelle  had  already  recommended  that  the  young 
Count  de  Buren  should  be  endowed  with  certain  lands  in 
Spain,  in  exchange  for  his  hereditary  estates,  in  order 
that  the  name  and  fame  of  the  rebel  William  should  be 
forever  extinguished  in  the  Netherlands.  With  the  same 
view,  a  new  sentence  against  the  Prince  of  Orange  was 
now  proposed  by  the  viceroy.  This  was  to  execute  him 
solemnly  in  effigy,  to  drag  his  escutcheon  through  the 
streets  at  the  tails  of  horses,  and  after  having  broken 
it  in  pieces,  and  thus  cancelled  his  armorial  bearings,  to 
declare  him  and  his  descendants  ignoble,  infamous,  and 
incapable  of  holding  property  or  estates. 

Not  discouraged,  the  Prince  continued  to  send  his  emis- 
saries in  every  direction.    Diedrich  Sonoy,  his  most  trust- 


16V2]  ALAVA  AND   ALVA  337 

worthy  agent,  who  had  been  chief  of  the  legation  to  the 
northern  courts,  was  now  actively  canvassing  the  govern- 
ments and  peoples  of  Germany  with  the  same  object. 
Several  remarkable  papers  from  the  hand  of  Orange  were 
used  upon  this  service.  A  letter,  drawn  up  and  signed 
by  his  own  hand,  recited  in  brief  and  striking  language 
the  history  of  his  campaign  in  1568,  and  of  his  subsequent 
efforts  in  the  sacred  cause.  It  was  now  necessary,  he  said, 
that  others  besides  himself  should  partake  of  his  sacri- 
fices. This  he  stated  plainly  and  eloquently.  The  docu- 
ment was  in  truth  a  letter  asking  arms  for  liberty. 

These  urgent  appeals  did  not  remain  fruitless.  The 
strength  of  the  Prince  was  slowly  but  steadily  increasing. 
Meantime  the  abhorrence  with  which  Alva  was  universally 
regarded  had  nearly  reached  to  frenzy.  In  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1572,  Don  Francis  de  Alava,  Philip's  ambassador 
in  France,  visited  Brussels.  He  had  already  been  enlight- 
ened as  to  the  consequences  of  the  Duke's  course  by  the 
immense  immigration  of  Netherlands  refugees  to  France, 
which  he  had  witnessed  with  his  own  eyes. 

The  ambassador  did  not  wait  till  he  could  communicate 
with  his  sovereign  by  word  of  mouth.  He  forwarded  to 
Spain  an  ample  account  of  his  observations  and  deductions. 
He  painted  to  Philip  in  lively  colors  the  hatred  entertained 
by  all  men  for  the  Duke.  The  whole  nation,  he  assured 
his  Majesty,  united  in  one  cry,  *'  Let  him  begone,  let  him 
begone,  let  him  begone  !"  As  for  the  imposition  of  the 
tenth  penny,  that,  in  the  opinion  of  Don  Francis,  was  ut- 
terly impossible.  He  moreover  warned  his  Majesty  that 
Alva  was  busy  in  forming  secret  alliances  with  the  Catholic 
princes  of  Europe,  which  would  necessarily  lead  to  defen- 
sive leagues  among  the  Protestants. 

While  thus,  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  year  1572, 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  discouraged  by  no  defeats,  was  in- 
defatigable in  his  exertions  to  maintain  the  cause  of  liber- 
ty, and  while  at  the  same  time  the  most  stanch  supporters 
of  arbitrary  power  were  unanimous  in  denouncing  to  Philip 
the  insane  conduct  of  the  viceroy,  the  letters  of  Alva  him- 
self were  naturally  full  of  complaints  and  expostulations. 

The  deputations  appointed  by  the  different  provinces  to 

22 


338  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [15Y2 

confer  personally  with  the  King  received  a  reprimand 
upon  their  arrival  for  having  dared  to  come  to  Spain 
without  permission.  Further  punishment,  however,  than 
this  rebuke  was  not  inflicted.  They  were  assured  that  the 
King  was  highly  displeased  with  their  venturing  to  bring 
remonstrances  against  the  tax,  but  they  were  comforted 
with  the  assurance  that  his  Majesty  would  take  the  sub- 
ject of  their  petition  into  consideration.  Thus,  the  ex- 
pectations of  Alva  were  disappointed,  for  the  tenth  penny 
was  not  formally  confirmed,  and  the  hopes  of  the  prov- 
inces frustrated,  because  it  was  not  distinctly  disavowed. 

Matters  had  reached  another  crisis  in  the  provinces. 
^'Had  we  money  now,^^  wrote  the  Prince  of  Orange,  "we 
should,  with  the  help  of  God,  hope  to  effect  something. 
This  is  a  time  when,  with  even  small  sums,  more  can  be 
effected  than  at  other  seasons  with  ampler  funds."  The 
citizens  were  in  open  revolt  against  the  tax.  In  order  that 
the  tenth  penny  should  not  be  levied  upon  every  sale  of 
goods,  the  natural  but  desperate  remedy  was  adopted — no 
goods  were  sold  at  all.  Not  only  the  wholesale  commerce 
of  the  provinces  was  suspended,  but  the  minute  and  in- 
dispensable traffic  of  daily  life  was  entirely  at  a  stand.  The 
shops  were  all  shut.  **  The  brewers,"  says  a  contemporary, 
'^ refused  to  brew,  the  bakers  to  bake,  the  tapsters  to  tap." 
Multitudes,  thrown  entirely  out  of  employment,  and  wholly 
dependent  upon  charity,  swarmed  in  every  city.  The 
soldiery,  furious  for  their  pay,  which  Alva  had  for  many 
months  neglected  to  furnish,  grew  daily  more  insolent ; 
the  citizens,  maddened  by  outrage  and  hardened  by  de- 
spair, became  more  and  more  obstinate  in  their  resistance; 
while  the  Duke,  rendered  inflexible  by  opposition  and  in- 
sane by  wrath,  regarded  the  ruin  which  he  had  caused 
with  a  malignant  spirit  which  had  long  ceased  to  be 
human. 

The  aspect  of  the  capital  was  that  of  a  city  stricken  with 
the  plague.  Articles  of  the  most  absolute  necessity  could 
not  be  obtained.  It  was  impossible  to  buy  bread  or  meat 
or  beer.  The  tyrant,  beside  himself  with  rage  at  being 
thus  braved  in  his  very  lair,  privately  sent  for  Master  Oarl, 
the  executioner.     In  order  to  exhibit  an  unexpected  and 


1672]         THE  REFUGEES  EXPELLED  FROM  ENGLAND  339 

salutary  example,  he  had  determined  to  hang  eighteen  of 
the  leading  tradesmen  of  the  city  in  the  doors  of  their  own 
shops,  with  the  least  possible  delay,  and  without  the  slight- 
est form  of  trial.  Master  Carl  was  ordered,  on  the  very 
night  of  his  interview  with  the  Duke,  to  prepare  eighteen 
strong  cords,  and  eighteen  ladders,  twelve  feet  in  length. 
By  this  simple  arrangement  Alva  was  disposed  to  make 
manifest  on  the  morrow,  to  the  burghers  of  Brussels,  that 
justice  was  thenceforth  to  be  carried  to  every  man's  door. 
He  supposed  that  the  spectacle  of  a  dozen  and  a  half  of 
butchers  and  bakers  suspended  in  front  of  the  shops  which 
they  had  refused  to  open  would  give  a  more  effective 
stimulus  to  trade  than  any  to  be  expected  from  argument 
or  proclamation.  The  hangman  was  making  ready  his 
cords  and  ladders  ;  Don  Frederic  of  Toledo  was  closeted 
with  President  Viglius,  who,  somewhat  against  his  will, 
was  aroused  at  midnight  to  draw  the  warrants  for  these 
impromptu  executions  ;  Alva  was  waiting  with  grim  im- 
patience for  the  dawn  upon  which  the  show  was  to  be  ex- 
hibited, when  an  unforeseen  event  suddenly  arrested  the 
homely  tragedy.  In  the  night  arrived  the  intelligence 
that  the  town  of  Brill  had  been  captured  by  the  beggars 
of  the  sea. 

Driven  by  Elizabeth  from  the  ports  of  England,  twenty- 
four  vessels  of  various  sizes,  commanded  by  Van  der  Marck, 
Treslong,  Adam  van  Haren,  Brand,  and  other  distinguished 
seamen,  set  sail  from  Dover  in  the  very  last  days  of  March. 
Being  almost  in  a  state  of  starvation,  these  adventurers 
were  naturally  anxious  to  supply  themselves  with  food. 
They  determined  to  make  a  sudden  foray  upon  the  coasts 
of  North  Holland,  and  accordingly  steered  for  Enkhuizen, 
both  because  it  was  a  rich  seaport  and  because  it  contained 
many  secret  partisans  of  the  Prince.  On  Palm  Sunday 
they  captured  two  Spanish  merchantmen.  Soon  after- 
wards, however,  the  wind  becoming  contrary,  they  were 
unable  to  double  The  Helder  or  Texel,  and  on  Tuesday, 
the  1st  of  April,  having  abandoned  their  original  inten- 
tion, they  dropped  down  towards  Zeeland,  and  entered 
the  broad  mouth  of  the  river  Maas.  Between  the  town 
of  Brill,  upon  the  southern  lip  of  this  estuary,  and  Maas- 


340  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1572 

landsluis,  about  half  a  league  distant,  upon  the  opposite 
side,  the  squadron  suddenly  appeared  at  about  two  o^'clock 
of  an  April  afternoon,  to  the  great  astonishment  of  the  in- 
habitants of  both  places.  It  seemed  too  large  a  fleet  to  be 
a  mere  collection  of  trading-vessels,  nor  did  they  appear 
to  be  Spanish  ships.  Peter  Koppelstok,  a  sagacious  ferry- 
man, informed  the  passengers  whom  he  happened  to  be 
conveying  across  the  river  that  the  strangers  were  evident- 
ly the  water  beggars.  The  stout  ferryman,  who  was  se- 
cretly favorable  to  the  cause  of  liberty,  rowed  boldly  out 
to  inquire  the  destination  and  purposes  of  the  fleet. 

The  vessel  which  he  first  hailed  was  that  commanded  by 
William  de  Blois,  Seigneur  of  Treslong,  who  at  once  recog- 
nized Koppelstok,  and  hastened  with  him  on  board  the 
Admiral's  ship,  assuring  Van  der  Marck  that  the  ferryman 
was  exactly  the  man  for  their  purpose.  It  was  absolutely 
necessary  that  a  landing  should  be  effected,  for  the  people 
were  without  the  necessaries  of  life.  Treslong,  therefore, 
who  was  really  the  hero  of  this  memorable  adventure,  per- 
suaded Van  der  Marck  to  send  a  message  to  the  city  of  Brill, 
demanding  its  surrender.  This  was  a  bold  summons  to 
be  made  by  a  handful  of  men,  three  or  four  hundred  at 
most,  who  were,  both  metaphorically  and  literally,  beggars. 
The  city  of  Brill  was  not  populous,  but  it  was  well  walled 
and  fortified.  It  was,  moreover,  a  most  commodious  port. 
Treslong  gave  his  signet  ring  to  the  fisherman,  Koppel- 
stok, and  ordered  him,  thus  accredited  as  an  envoy,  to 
carry  their  summons  to  the  magistracy. 

With  some  difficulty  two  deputies  were  found  suffi- 
ciently valiant  to  go  forth  to  negotiate  with  the  beggars. 
Two  hours  were  given  to  the  magistrates  for  decision,  at 
the  end  of  which  the  whole  rebel  force  was  divided  into 
two  parties,  one  of  which,  under  Treslong,  made  an  attack 
upon  the  southern  gate,  while  the  other,  commanded  by 
the  Admiral,  advanced  upon  the  northern.  Treslong  after 
a  short  struggle  succeeded  in  forcing  his  entrance,  and 
arrested,  in  doing  so,  the  governor  of  the  city,  just  taking 
his  departure.  Van  der  Marck  and  his  men  made  a  bonfire 
at  the  northern  gate,  and  then  battered  down  the  half- 
burned  portal  with  the  end  of  an  old  mast.     Thus  rudely 


3  ^ 


5'  O 


1572]  THE   FOUNDATION-STONE  341 

and  rapidly  did  the  Netherland  patriots  conduct  their  first 
successful  siege.  The  two  parties,  not  more  perhaps  than 
two  hundred  and  fifty  men  in  all,  met  before  sunset  in 
the  centre  of  the  city,  and  the  foundation  of  the  Dutch 
Kepublic  was  laid.  The  weary  spirit  of  freedom,  so  long 
a  fugitive  over  earth  and  sea,  had  at  last  found  a  rest- 
ing-place, which  rude  and  even  ribald  hands  had  pre- 
pared. 

The  panic  created  by  the  first  appearance  of  the  fleet 
had  been  so  extensive  that  hardly  fifty  citizens  had  re- 
mained in  the  town.  The  rest  had  all  escaped,  with  as 
much  property  as  they  could  carry  away.  The  Admiral, 
in  the  name  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  as  lawful  stad- 
holder  of  Philip,  took  formal  possession  of  an  almost  de- 
serted city.  No  indignity  was  offered  to  the  inhabitants 
of  either  sex,  but  as  soon  as  the  conquerors  were  fairly 
established  in  the  best  houses  of  the  place,  the  inclina- 
tion to  plunder  the  churches  could  no  longer  be  restrained. 
The  altars  and  images  were  all  destroyed,  the  rich  furni- 
ture and  gorgeous  vestments  appropriated  to  private  use. 
Thirteen  unfortunate  monks  and  priests,  who  had  been 
unable  to  effect  their  escape,  were  arrested  and  thrown 
into  prison,  whence  they  were  taken  a  few  days  later,  by 
order  of  the  ferocious  Admiral,  and  executed  under  cir- 
cumstances of  great  barbarity. 

The  news  of  this  important  exploit  spread  with  great 
rapidity.  Alva,  surprised  at  the  very  moment  of  venting 
his  rage  on  the  butchers  and  grocers  of  Brussels,  deferred 
this  savage  design  in  order  to  deal  with  the  new  diffi- 
culty. He  had  certainly  not  expected  such  a  result  from 
the  ready  compliance  of  Queen  Elizabeth  with  his  request. 
His  rage  was  excessive ;  the  triumph  of  the  people,  by 
whom  he  was  cordially  detested,  proportionably  great. 
The  punsters  of  Brussels  were  sure  not  to  let  such  an  op- 
portunity escape  them,  for  the  name  of  the  captured  town 
was  susceptible  of  a  quibble,  and  the  event  had  taken 
place  upon  All-Fools'  Day. 

"On  April-Fool's  Day, 
Duke  Alva's  spectacles  were  stolen  away," 


342  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1572 

became  a  popular  couplet.  The  word  spectacles,  in  Flem- 
ish, as  well  as  the  name  of  the  suddenly  surprised  city, 
being  Brill,  this  allusion  to  the  Duke's  loss  and  implied 
purblindness  was  not  destitute  of  ingenuity.  A  carica- 
ture, too,  was  extensively  circulated,  representing  Van  der 
Marck  stealing  the  Duke's  spectacles  from  his  nose,  while 
the  governor  was  supposed  to  be  uttering  his  habitual  ex- 
pression whenever  any  intelligence  of  importance  was 
brought  to  him — ^' No  es  nada,  no  es  nada  "('Tis  nothing, 
'tis  nothing). 

The  Duke,  however,  lost  not  an  instant  in  attempting 
to  repair  the  disaster.  Count  Bossu,  gathering  a  force  of 
some  ten  companies  from  the  garrison  of  Utrecht,  some  of 
which  very  troops  had  recently,  and  unluckily  for  the  gov- 
ernment, been  removed  from  Brill  to  that  city,  the  Count 
crossed  the  Sluis  to  the  island  of  Voorn  upon  Easter  Day, 
and  sent  a  summons  to  the  rebel  force  to  surrender  Brill. 
The  patriots  being  very  few  in  number,  were  at  first  afraid 
to  venture  outside  the  gates  to  attack  the  much  superior 
force  of  their  invaders.  A  carpenter,  however,  who  be- 
longed to  the  city,  but  had  long  been  a  partisan  of  Orange, 
dashed  into  the  water  with  his  axe  in  his  hand,  and,  swim- 
ming to  the  Nieuwland  sluice,  hacked  it  open  with  a  few 
vigorous  strokes.  The  sea  poured  in  at  once,  making  the 
approach  to  the  city  upon  the  north  side  impossible. 
Bossu  then  led  his  Spaniards  along  the  Meuwland  dike  to 
the  southern  gate,  where  they  were  received  with  a  warm 
discharge  of  artillery,  which  completely  staggered  them. 
Meantime  Treslong  and  Roobol  had,  in  the  most  daring 
manner,  rowed  out  to  the  ships  which  had  brought  the 
enemy  to  the  island,  cut  some  adrift,  and  set  others  on 
fire.  The  Spaniards  at  the  southern  gate  caught  sight 
of  their  blazing  vessels,  saw  the  sea  rapidly  rising  over 
the  dike,  became  panic -struck  at  being  thus  enclosed 
between  fire  and  water,  and  dashed  off  in  precipitate  re- 
treat along  the  slippery  causeway  and  through  the  slimy 
and  turbid  waters,  which  were  fast  threatening  to  over- 
whelm them.  Many  were  drowned  or  smothered  in  their 
flight,  but  the  greater  portion  of  the  force  effected  their 
escape  in  the  vessels  which  still  remained  within  reach. 


1672]  BRILL  PLUNDERED  343 

This  danger  averted.  Admiral  Van  der  Marck  summoned  all 
the  inhabitants,  a  large  number  of  whom  had  returned  to 
the  town  after  the  capture  had  been  fairly  established, 
and  required  them,  as  well  as  all  the  population  of  the 
island,  to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Prince  of 
Orange  as  stadholder  for  his  Majesty. 

The  Prince  had  not  been  extremely  satisfied  with  the 
enterprise  of  Van  der  Marck.  He  thought  it  premature, 
and  doubted  whether  it  would  be  practicable  to  hold  the 
place,  as  he  had  not  yet  completed  his  arrangements  in 
Germany,  nor  assembled  the  force  with  which  he  intended 
again  to  take  the  field.  More  than  all,  perhaps,  he  had 
little  confidence  in  the  character  of  his  Admiral.  Orange 
was  right  in  his  estimate  of  Van  der  Marck.  It  had  not 
been  that  rover^s  design  either  to  take  or  to  hold  the 
place ;  and  after  the  descent  had  been  made,  the  ships 
victualled,  the  churches  plundered,  the  booty  secured,  and 
a  few  monks  murdered,  he  had  given  orders  for  the  burn- 
ing of  the  town  and  for  the  departure  of  the  fleet.  The 
urgent  solicitations  of  Treslong,  however,  prevailed,  with 
some  difficulty,  over  Van  der  Marck's  original  intentions. 
It  is  to  that  bold  and  intelligent  noble,  therefore,  more 
than  to  any  other  individual,  that  the  merit  of  laying  this 
corner-stone  of  the  Batavian  commonwealth  belongs.  The 
enterprise  itself  was  an  accident,  but  the  quick  eye  of 
Treslong  saw  the  possibility  of  a  permanent  conquest 
where  his  superior  dreamed  of  nothing  beyond  a  piratical 
foray. 

Meantime  Bossu,  baffled  in  his  attempt  upon  Brill,  took 
his  way  towards  Rotterdam.  It  was  important  that  he 
should  at  least  secure  such  other  cities  as  the  recent  suc- 
cess of  the  rebels  might  cause  to  waver  in  their  allegiance. 
He  found  the  gates  of  Rotterdam  closed.  The  authori- 
ties refused  to  comply  with  his  demand  to  admit  a  garri- 
son for  the  King.  Professing  perfect  loyalty,  the  inhabi- 
tants very  naturally  refused  to  admit  a  band  of  sangui- 
nary Spaniards  to  enforce  their  obedience.  Compelled  to 
parley,  Bossu  resorted  to  a  perfidious  stratagem.  He  re- 
quested permission  for  his  troops  to  pass  through  the  city 
without  halting.     This  was  granted  by  the  magistrates,  on 


344  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1572 

condition  that  only  a  corporal's  command  should  be  ad- 
mitted at  a  time.  To  these  terms  the  Count  affixed  his 
hand  and  seal.  With  the  admission,  however,  of  the  first 
detachment,  a  violent  onset  was  made  upon  the  gate  by  the 
whole  Spanish  force.  The  towns-people,  not  suspecting 
treachery,  were  not  prepared  to  make  effective  resistance. 
A  stout  smith,  confronting  the  invaders  at  the  gate 
almost  singly  with  his  sledge-hammer,  was  stabbed  to 
the  heart  by  Bossu  with  his  own  hand.  The  soldiers  hav- 
ing thus  gained  admittance,  rushed  through  the  streets, 
putting  every  man  to  death  who  offered  the  slightest  re- 
sistance. Within  a  few  minutes  four  hundred  citizens 
were  murdered.  The  fate  of  the  women,  abandoned  now 
to  the  outrage  of  a  brutal  soldiery,  was  worse  than  death. 
The  capture  of  Rotterdam  is  infamous  for  the  same  crimes 
which  blacken  the  record  of  every  Spanish  triumph  in  the 
Netherlands. 

The  important  town  of  Flushing,  on  the  isle  of  Wal- 
cheren,  was  first  to  vibrate  with  the  patriotic  impulse 
given  by  the  success  at  Brill.  The  Seigneur  de  Erpt,  a 
warm  partisan  of  Orange,  excited  the  burghers  assembled 
in  the  market-place  to  drive  the  small  remnant  of  the 
Spanish  garrison  from  the  city.  A  little  later  upon  the 
same  day  a  considerable  reinforcement  arrived  before  the 
walls.  The  Duke  had  determined,  although  too  late,  to 
complete  the  fortress  which  had  been  commenced  long 
before  to  control  the  possession  of  this  important  position 
at  the  mouth  of  the  western  Scheldt.  The  troops  who 
were  to  resume  this  too  long  intermitted  work  arrived 
just  in  time  to  witness  the  expulsion  of  their  comrades. 
De  Erpt  easily  persuaded  the  burghers  that  the  die  was 
cast,  and  that  their  only  hope  lay  in  a  resolute  resistance. 
The  people  warmly  acquiesced,  while  a  half-drunken,  half- 
Avitted  fellow  in  the  crowd  valiantly  proposed,  in  consider- 
ation of  a  pot  of  beer,  to  ascend  the  ramparts  and  to  dis- 
charge a  couple  of  pieces  of  artillery  at  the  Spanish  ships. 
The  offer  was  accepted,  and  the  vagabond,  merrily  mount- 
ing the  height,  discharged  the  guns.  Strange  to  relate, 
the  shot  thus  fired  by  a  lunatic's  hand  put  the  invading 
ships  to  flight.     A  sudden  panic  seized  the  Spaniards,  the 


1572]  FATE   OF   PACHECO  345 

whole  fleet  stood  away  at  once  in  the  direction  of  Mid- 
delburg,  and  were  soon  out  of  sight. 

The  patriot  party,  however,  was  not  so  strong  in  soldiers 
as  in  spirit.  No  sooner,  therefore,  had  they  established 
their  rebellion  to  Alva  as  an  incontrovertible  fact  than  they 
sent  off  emissaries  to  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  to  Admiral 
Van  der  Marck  at  Brill.  Finding  that  the  inhabitants  of 
Flushing  were  willing  to  provide  arms  and  ammunition. 
Van  der  Marck  readily  consented  to  send  a  small  number 
of  men,  bold  and  experienced  in  partisan  warfare,  of  whom 
he  had  now  collected  a  larger  number  than  he  could  well 
arm  or  maintain  in  his  present  position. 

The  detachment,  two  hundred  in  number,  in  three  small 
vessels,  set  sail  accordingly  from  Brill  for  Flushing;  and 
a  wild  crew  they  were  of  reckless  adventurers,  under  com- 
mand of  the  bold  Treslong.  The  expedition  seemed  a  fierce 
but  whimsical  masquerade.  Every  man  in  the  little  fleet 
was  attired  in  the  gorgeous  garments  of  the  plundered 
churches  —  in  cassocks  of  varied  hue,  glittering  vest- 
ments, or  the  more  sombre  cowls  and  robes  of  Capuchin 
friars.  So  sped  the  early  standard  -  bearers  of  that  fero- 
cious liberty  which  had  sprung  from  the  fires  in  which  all 
else  for  which  men  cherish  their  fatherland  had  been  con- 
sumed. So  swept  that  resolute  but  fantastic  band  along 
the  placid  estuaries  of  Zeeland,  waking  the  stg-gnant  waters 
with  their  wild  beggar  songs  and  cries  of  vengeance. 

That  vengeance  found  soon  a  distinguished  object.  Pa- 
checo,  the  chief  engineer  of  Alva,  who  had  accompanied 
the  Duke  in  his  march  from  Italy,  who  had  since  earned  a 
world-wide  reputation  as  the  architect  of  the  Antwerp  cit- 
adel, had  been  just  despatched  in  haste  to  Flushing  to 
complete  the  fortress  whose  construction  had  been  so  long 
delayed.  Too  late  for  his  work,  too  soon  for  his  safety, 
the  ill-fated  engineer  had  arrived  almost  at  the  same  mo- 
ment with  Treslong  and  his  crew.  He  was  seized,  impris- 
oned, and  hanged  on  the  day  of  his  arrival. 

So  perished  miserably  a  brave  soldier,  and  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  engineers  of  his  time  ;  a  man  whose 
character  and  accomplishments  had  certainly  merited  for 
him  a  better  fate.    But  while  we  stigmatize  as  it  deserves  the 


346  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [15'72 

atrocious  conduct  of  a  few  Netherland  partisans,  we  should 
remember  who  first  unchained  the  demon  of  international 
hatred  in  this  unhappy  land,  nor  should  it  ever  be  forgotten 
that  the  great  leader  of  the  revolt,  by  word,  proclamation, 
example,  by  entreaties,  threats,  and  condign  punishment, 
constantly  rebuked,  and  to  a  certain  extent  restrained, 
the  sanguinary  spirit  by  which  some  of  his  followers  dis- 
graced the  noble  cause  which  they  had  espoused. 

Treslong  did  not  long  remain  in  command  at  Flushing. 
An  officer  high  in  the  confidence  of  the  Prince,  Jerome 
Tseraerts,  now  arrived  at  Flushing  with  a  commission  to 
be  lieutenant-governor  over  the  whole  isle  of  Walcheren. 
He  was  attended  by  a  small  band  of  French  infantry,  while 
at  nearly  the  same  time  the  garrison  was  further  strength- 
ened by  the  arrival  of  a  large  number  of  volunteers  from 
England. 


CHAPTER  VII 
COUNT  LOUIS,  THE  HUGUENOTS,  AND  ST.  BARTHOLOMEW 

The  example  thus  set  by  Brill  and  Flushing  was  rapidly 
followed.  Instantly  afterwards,  half  the  island  of  Wal- 
cheren  renounced  the  yoke  of  Alva.  Next,  Enkhuizen,  the 
key  to  the  Zuyder  Zee,  the  principal  arsenal,  and  one  of 
the  first  commercial  cities  in  the  Netherlands,  rose  against 
the  Spanish  Admiral,  and  hung  out  the  banner  of  Orange 
on  its  ramparts.  Oudewater,  Dort,  Haarlem,  Leyden,  Gor- 
cum,  Loevenstein,  Gouda,  Medenblik,  Horn,  Alkmaar, 
Edam,  Monnikendam,  Purmerende,  as  well  as  Flushing, 
Veer,  and  Enkhuizen,  all  ranged  themselves  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  Orange,  as  lawful  stadholder  for  the  King. 

Nor  was  it  in  Holland  and  Zeeland  alone  that  the  beacon 
fires  of  freedom  were  lighted.  City  after  city  in  Gelder- 
land,  Overyssel,  and  the  See  of  Utrecht ;  all  the  important 
towns  of  Friesland — some  sooner,  some  later  ;  some  with- 
out a  struggle,  some  after  a  short  siege  ;  some  with  resist- 
ance by  the  functionaries  of  government,  some  by  amica- 
ble compromise — accepted  the  garrisons  of  the  Prince,  and 
formally  recognized  his  authority.  Out  of  the  chaos  which 
a  long  and  preternatural  tyranny  had  produced,  the  first 
struggling  elements  of  a  new  and  a  better  world  began  to 
appear.  It  were  superfluous  to  narrate  the  details  which 
marked  the  sudden  restoration  of  liberty  in  these  various 
groups  of  cities.  Traits  of  generosity  marked  the  change 
of  government  in  some,  circumstances  of  ferocity  disfigured 
the  revolution  in  others.  The  island  of  Walcheren,  equal- 
ly divided  as  it  was  between  the  two  parties,  was  the  scene 
of  much  truculent  and  diabolical  warfare. 

In  other  parts  of  the  country  the  revolution  was,  on  the 


348  HISTORY   OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1572 

whole,  accomplished  with  comparative  calmness.  Even 
traits  of  generosity  were  not  uncommon. 

A  new  board  of  magistrates  had  been  chosen  in  all  the 
redeemed  cities  by  popular  election.  They  were  required 
to  take  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  King  of  Spain,  and  to 
the  Prince  of  Orange  as  his  stadholder ;  to  promise  re- 
sistance to  the  Duke  of  Alva,  the  tenth  penny,  and  the 
inquisition  ;  *'  to  support  every  man's  freedom  and  the 
welfare  of  the  country  ;  to  protect  widows,  orphans,  and 
miserable  persons,  and  to  maintain  justice  and  truth.'' 

Diedrich  Sonoy  arrived  on  the  2d  of  June  at  Enkhuizen. 
He  was  provided  by  the  Prince  with  a  commission  ap- 
pointing him  lieutenant-governor  of  North  Holland,  or 
Waterland.  Thus,  to  combat  the  authority  of  Alva  was 
set  up  the  authority  of  the  King.  The  stadholderate 
over  Holland  and  Zeeland,  to  which  the  Prince  had  been 
appointed  in  1559,  he  now  resumed.  Upon  this  fiction 
reposed  the  whole  provisional  polity  of  the  revolted  Neth- 
erlands. To  recover  practical  liberty  and  their  histori- 
cal rights,  and  to  shake  from  their  shoulders  a  most 
sanguinary  government,  was  the  purpose  of  William  and 
of  the  people.     No  revolutionary  standard  was  displayed. 

The  written  instructions  given  by  the  Prince  to  his 
lieutenant,  Sonoy,  were  to  *^'see  that  the  Word  of  God 
was  preached,  without,  however,  suffering  any  hinderance 
to  the  Roman  Church  in  the  exercise  of  its  religion  ;  to  re- 
store fugitives  and  the  banished  for  conscience  sake,  and 
to  require  of  all  magistrates  and  officers  of  guilds  and 
brotherhoods  an  oath  of  fidelity."  The  Prince  likewise 
prescribed  the  form  of  that  oath,  repeating  therein,  to 
his  eternal  honor,  the  same  strict  prohibition  of  intol- 
erance. ''  Likewise,"  said  the  formula,  "  shall  those  of 
'  the  religion '  offer  no  let  or  hinderance  to  the  Eoman 
churches." 

The  Prince  was  still  in  Germany,  engaged  in  raising 
troops  and  providing  funds.  He  directed,  however,  the 
affairs  of  the  insurgent  provinces  in  their  minutest  de- 
tails, by  virtue  of  the  dictatorship  inevitably  forced  upon 
him  both  by  circumstances  and  by  the  people.  In  the 
mean  time  Louis  of  Nassau,  the  Bayard  of  the  Nether- 


1572]  ALVA'S   ASTONISHMENT  349 

lands,  captured  the  important  city  of  Mons.  This  town, 
the  capital  of  Hainault,  situated  in  a  fertile,  undulating, 
and  beautiful  country,  protected  by  lofty  walls,  a  triple 
moat,  and  a  strong  citadel,  was  one  of  the  most  flourish- 
ing and  elegant  places  in  the  Netherlands.  It  was,  more- 
over, from  its  vicinity  to  the  frontiers  of  France,  a  most 
important  acquisition  to  the  insurgent  party.  The  capt- 
ure had  been  accomplished  by  a  most  clever  stratagem 
after  a  larger  number  of  adherents  within  the  city  had 
already  been  secured.  Soon  a  garrison  of  five  thousand 
Huguenots  gained  entrance  into  the  city. 

Thus  the  Duke  of  Alva  suddenly  found  himself  exposed 
to  a  tempest  of  revolution.  One  thunderbolt  after  another 
seemed  descending  around  him  in  breathless  succession. 
Nevertheless,  he  preserved  his  courage,  if  not  his  temper. 
Blinded  for  a  brief  season  by  the  rapid  attacks  made  upon 
him,  he  had  been  uncertain  whither  to  direct  his  ven- 
geance. This  last  blow,  in  so  vital  a  quarter  as  Mons, 
determined  him  at  once.  He  forthwith  despatched  Don 
Frederic  to  undertake  the  siege  of  Mons,  and  earnestly 
set  about  raising  large  reinforcements  to  his  army.  Don 
Frederic  took  possession,  without  much  opposition,  of  the 
Bethlehem  cloister  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  city, 
and  with  four  thousand  troops  began  the  investment  in 
due  form. 

On  the  10th  of  June  the  Duke  of  Medina  Cceli,  with  a 
fleet  of  more  than  forty  sail,  arrived  off  Blankenburg, 
intending  to  enter  the  Scheldt.  Julian  Romero,  with  two 
thousand  Spaniards,  was  also  on  board  the  fleet.  Noth- 
ing, of  course,  was  known  to  the  new-comers  of  the  al- 
tered condition  of  affairs  in  the  Netherlands,  nor  of  the 
unwelcome  reception  which  they  were  likely  to  meet  in 
Flushing.  A  few  of  the  lighter  craft  having  been  taken 
by  the  patriot  cruisers,  the  alarm  was  spread  through  all 
the  fleet.  Medina  Cceli,  with  a  few  transports,  was  enabled 
to  effect  his  escape  to  Sluis,  whence  he  hastened  to  Brus- 
sels in  a  much  less  ceremonious  manner  than  he  had  orig- 
inally contemplated.  Twelve  Biscayan  ships  stood  out  to 
sea,  descried  a  large  Lisbon  fleet,  by  a  singular  coinci- 
dence suddenly  heaving  in   sight,  changed  their  course 


350  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1572 

again,  and  with  a  favoring  breeze  bore  boldly  up  the  liond, 
passed  Flushing  in  spite  of  a  severe  cannonade  from  the 
forts,  and  eventually  made  good  their  entrance  into  Ram- 
mekens,  whence  the  soldiery,  about  one-half  of  whom  had 
thus  been  saved,  were  transferred  at  a  very  critical  mo- 
ment to  Middelburg. 

The  great  Lisbon  fleet  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  Bis- 
cayans  with  much  inferior  success.  Totally  ignorant  of 
the  revolution  which  had  occurred  in  the  isle  of  Walcheren, 
it  obeyed  the  summons  of  the  rebel  fort  to  come  to  anchor, 
and,  with  the  exception  of  three  or  four,  the  vessels  were 
all  taken.  It  was  the  richest  booty  which  the  insurgents 
had  yet  acquired  by  sea  or  land.  The  fleet  was  laden  with 
spices,  money,  jewelry,  and  the  richest  merchandise. 
Five  hundred  thousand  crowns  of  gold  were  taken,  and  it 
was  calculated  that  the  plunder  altogether  would  suffice 
to  maintain  the  war  for  two  years  at  least.  One  thousand 
Spanish  soldiers,  and  a  good  amount  of  ammunition,  Avere 
also  captured.  The  unexpected  condition  of  affairs  made 
a  pause  natural  and  almost  necessary,  before  the  govern- 
ment could  be  decorously  transferred.  Medina  Coeli,  with 
Spanish  grandiloquence,  avowed  his  willingness  to  serve 
as  a  soldier,  under  a  general  whom  he  so  much  venerated, 
while  Alva  ordered  that,  in  all  respects,  the  same  outward 
marks  of  respect  should  be  paid  to  his  appointed  successor 
as  to  himself.  Beneath  all  this  external  ceremony,  how- 
ever, much  mutual  malice  was  concealed. 

Meantime  the  Duke,  who  was  literally  *^  without  a  sin- 
gle real,"  was  forced  at  last  to  smother  his  pride  in  the 
matter  of  the  tenth  penny.  On  the  24th  of  June  he  sum- 
moned the  estates  of  Holland  to  assemble  on  the  15th  of 
the  ensuing  month.  In  the  missive  issued  for  this  pur- 
pose he  formally  agreed  to  abolish  the  whole  tax,  on  con- 
dition that  the  estates-general  of  the  Netherlands  would 
furnish  him  with  a  yearly  supply  of  two  millions  of  florins. 
Almost  at  the  same  moment  the  King  had  dismissed  the 
deputies  of  the  estates  from  Madrid  with  the  public  as- 
surance that  the  tax  was  to  be  suspended,  and  a  private 
intimation  that  it  was  not  abolished  in  terms  only  in  or- 
der to  save  the  dignity  of  the  Duke. 


16721  THE   CONGRESS   AT   DORT  351 

These  healing  measures  came  entirely  too  late.  The  es- 
tates of  Holland  met,  indeed,  on  the  appointed  day  of 
July,  but  they  assembled  not  in  obedience  to  Alva,  but  in 
consequence  of  a  summons  from  William  of  Orange.  They 
met,  too,  not  at  The  Hague,  but  at  Dort,  to  take  formal 
measures  for  renouncing  the  authority  of  the  Duke.  The 
first  congress  of  the  Netherland  commonwealth  still  pro- 
fessed loyalty  to  the  crown,  but  was  determined  to  accept 
the  policy  of  Orange  without  a  question. 

The  Prince  had  again  assembled  an  army  in  Germany, 
consisting  of  fifteen  thousand  foot  and  seven  thousand 
horse,  besides  a  number  of  Netherlanders,  mostly  Walloons, 
amounting  to  nearly  three  thousand  more.  Before  taking 
the  field,  however,  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  guar- 
antee at  least  three  months'  pay  to  his  troops.  This  he 
could  no  longer  do,  except  by  giving  bonds  endorsed  by  cer- 
tain cities  of  Holland  as  his  securities.  He  had  accordingly 
addressed  letters  in  his  own  name  to  all  the  principal  cities, 
fervently  adjuring  them  to  remember,  at  last,  what  was 
due  to  him,  to  the  fatherland,  and  to  their  own  character. 

The  King's  authority  was  invoked  against  himself  in 
the  person  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  to  whom,  thirteen 
years  before,  a  portion  of  that  divine  right  had  been  dele- 
gated. The  estates  of  Holland  met  at  Dort  on  the  15th  of 
July  as  representatives  of  the  people,  but  they  were  sum- 
moned by  Orange,  royally  commissioned  in  1559  as  stad- 
holder,  and  therefore  the  supreme  legislative  and  execu- 
tive officer  of  certain  provinces.  This  was  the  theory  of 
the  provisional  government.  The  Prince  represented  the 
royal  authority,  the  nobles  represented  both  themselves 
and  the  people  of  the  open  country,  while  the  twelve  cities 
represented  the  whole  body  of  burghers.  Together  they 
were  supposed  to  embody  all  authority,  both  divine  and 
human,  which  a  congress  could  exercise.  Thus  the  whole 
movement  was  directed  against  Alva  and  against  Count 
Bossu,  appointed  stadholder  by  Alva  in  the  place  of  Or- 
ange. Philip's  name  was  destined  to  figure  for  a  long  time 
at  the  head  of  documents  by  which  moneys  were  raised, 
troops  levied,  and  taxes  collected,  all  to  be  used  in  deadly 
war  against  himself. 


352  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1672 

The  estates  were  convened  on  the  15th  of  July,  when 
Paul  Buys,  Pensionary  of  Leyden,  the  tried  and  confiden- 
tial friend  of  Orange,  was  elected  Advocate  of  Holland. 
The  convention  was  then  adjourned  till  the  18th,  when 
Saint- Aldegonde  made  his  appearance,  with  full  powers 
to  act  provisionally  in  behalf  of  his  Highness. 

The  distinguished  plenipotentiary  delivered  before  the 
congress  a  long  and  very  effective  harangue.  His  impas- 
sioned eloquence  produced  a  profound  impression.  The 
men  who  had  obstinately  refused  the  demands  of  Alva 
now  unanimously  resolved  to  pour  forth  their  gold  and 
their  blood  at  the  call  of  Orange.  It  was  resolved  that 
the  requisite  amount  should  be  at  once  raised,  partly  from 
the  regular  imposts  and  current  '^  requests,"  partly  by 
loans  from  the  rich,  from  the  clergy,  from  the  guilds  and 
brotherhoods,  partly  from  superfluous  church  ornaments 
and  other  costly  luxuries.  It  was  directed  that  subscrip- 
tions should  be  immediately  opened  throughout  the  land, 
that  gold  and  silver  plate,  furniture,  jewelry,  and  other 
expensive  articles  should  be  received  by  voluntary  con- 
tributions, for  which  inventories  and  receipts  should  be 
given  by  the  magistrates  of  each  city,  and  that  upon  these 
money  should  be  raised,  either  by  loan  or  sale.  An  en- 
thusiastic and  liberal  spirit  prevailed.  All  seemed  de- 
termined, rather  than  pay  the  tenth  to  Alva,  to  pay  the 
whole  to  the  Prince. 

The  Prince  was,  in  reality,  clothed  with  dictatorial  and 
even  regal  powers.  This  authority  had  been  forced  upon 
him  by  the  prayers  of  the  people,  but  he  manifested  no 
eagerness  as  he  partly  accepted  the  onerous  station.  He 
was  provisionally  the  depositary  of  the  whole  sovereignty 
of  the  northern  provinces,  but  he  cared  much  less  for 
theories  of  government  than  for  ways  and  means.  So  little 
was  he  disposed  to  strengthen  his  own  individual  power 
that  he  voluntarily  imposed  limits  on  himself,  by  an  act, 
supplemental  to  the  proceedings  of  the  Congress  of  Dort. 
In  this  important  ordinance  made  by  the  Prince  of  Orange 
as  a  provisional  form  of  government,  he  publicly  announced 
"that  he  would  do  and  ordain  nothing  except  by  the  advice 
of  the  estates,  by  reason  that  they  were  best  acquainted 


1572]  GENLIS  ROUTED  353 

with  the  circumstances  and  the  humors  of  the  inhabitants/' 
He  directed  the  estates  to  appoint  receivers  for  all  public 
taxes,  and  ordained  that  all  military  officers  should  make 
oath  of  fidelity  to  him,  as  stadholder,  and  to  the  estates  of 
Holland,  to  be  true  and  obedient,  in  order  to  liberate  the 
land  from  the  Albanian  and  Spanish  tyranny,  for  the  ser- 
vice of  his  royal  Majesty  as  Count  of  HoUajid.  The  pro- 
visional constitution,  thus  made  by  a  sovereign  Prince  and 
actual  dictator,  was  certainly  as  disinterested  as  it  was 
sagacious. 

The  war  which  had  opened  vigorously  in  Hainault  proved 
disastrous  to  the  Huguenots,  while  Don  Frederic  held  the 
city  closely  beleaguered.  Louis  sent  word  to  Genlis,  who 
was  approaching  with  reinforcements,  urging  him  to  effect 
first  a  junction  with  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who  had  already 
crossed  the  Rhine.  Genlis,  who  wanted  all  the  glory  of 
relieving  the  city,  disregarded  this  advice.  His  rashness 
proved  his  ruin.  On  the  19th  of  July,  within  two  degrees 
of  the  city,  he  was  surprised  by  Don  Frederic  and  his 
troops  were  cut  to  pieces.  Genlis  was  captured  and  after- 
wards strangled  in  Antwerp.  About  one  hundred  foot 
soldiers  succeeded  in  making  their  entrance  into  Mons, 
and  this  was  all  the  succor  which  Count  Louis  was  destined 
to  receive  from  France,  upon  which  country  he  had  built 
such  lofty  and  such  reasonable  hopes. 

While  this  unfortunate  event  was  occurring,  the  Prince 
had  already  put  his  army  in  motion.  On  the  7th  of  July 
he  had  crossed  the  Rhine  at  Duisburg  with  fourteen  thou- 
sand foot,  seven  thousand  horse — enlisted  in  Germany — be- 
sides a  force  of  three  thousand  Walloons.  On  the  23d  of 
July  he  took  the  city  of  Roermonde  after  a  sharp  cannon- 
ade, at  which  place  his  troops  already  began  to  disgrace 
the  honorable  cause  in  which  they  were  engaged  by  imi- 
tating the  cruelties  and  barbarities  of  their  antagonists. 

The  Prince  was  delayed  for  a  month  at  Roermonde,  be- 
cause, as  he  expressed  it,  '^  he  had  not  a  single  sou,''  and 
because,  in  consequence,  the  troops  refused  to  advance 
into  the  Netherlands.  Having  at  last  been  furnished  with 
the  requisite  guarantees  from  the  Holland  cities  for  three 
months'  pay,  on  the  27th  of  August,  the  day  of  the  publi- 

23 


354  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1572 

cation  of  his  letter  to  the  Emperor,  he  crossed  the  Meuse 
and  took  his  circuitous  way  through  Diest,  Tirlemont, 
Sichem,  Louvain,  Mechlin,  Termonde,  Oudenarde,  and  Ni- 
velles.  Many  cities  and  villages  accepted  his  authority  and 
admitted  his  garrisons.  Louvain  purchased  its  neutrality 
for  the  time  with  sixteen  thousand  ducats ;  Brussels  ob- 
stinately refused  to  listen  to  him,  and  was  too  powerful  to 
be  forcibly  attacked  at  that  juncture;  other  important 
cities,  convinced  by  the  arguments  and  won  by  the  elo- 
quence of  the  various  proclamations  which  he  scattered  as 
he  advanced,  ranged  themselves  spontaneously  and  even 
enthusiastically  upon  his  side.  How  different  would  have 
been  the  result  of  his  campaign  but  for  the  unexpected 
earthquake  which  at  that  instant  was  to  appall  Christen- 
dom and  to  scatter  all  his  well-matured  plans  and  legiti- 
mate hopes.  His  chief  reliance,  under  Providence  and 
his  own  strong  heart,  had  been  upon  French  assistance. 
On  the  11th  of  August,  Coligny  had  written  hopefully 
of  his  movements  towards  the  Netherlands,  sanctioned 
and  aided  hy  Ms  King.  A  fortnight  from  that  day  oc- 
curred the  '^ Paris  wedding";  and  the  Admiral,  with  thou- 
sands of  his  religious  confederates,  invited  to  confidence 
by  superhuman  treachery,  and  lulled  into  security  by  the 
music  of  august  marriage-bells,  was  suddenly  butchered  in 
the  streets  of  Paris  by  royal  and  noble  hands. 

The  Prince  proceeded  on  his  march,  during  which  the 
heavy  news  had  been  brought  to  him,  but  he  felt  con- 
vinced that,  with  the  very  arrival  of  the  awful  tidings,  the 
fate  of  that  campaign  was  sealed,  and  the  fall  of  Mons  in- 
evitable. In  his  own  language,  he  had  been  struck  to  the 
earth  '^  with  the  blow  of  a  sledge-hammer," — nor  did  the 
enemy  draw  a  different  augury  from  the  great  event. 
/  On  the  11th  of  September,  Don  Frederic,  with  a  force 
/of  four  thousand  picked  men,  established  himself  at  Saint 
Florian,  a  village  near  the  Havre  gate  of  Mons,  while  the 
Prince  had  encamped  at  Hermigny,  within  half  a  league 
of  the  same  place,  whence  he  attempted  to  introduce  re- 
inforcements into  the  town.  On  the  night  of  the  11th 
and  12th,  Don  Frederic  hazarded  an  e7icamisada  upon  the 
enemy's  camp,  which  proved  eminently  successful,  and 


1572]  AN   ENCAMISADA  355 

had  nearly  resulted  in  the  capture  of  the  Prince  himself. 
A  chosen  band  of  six  hundred  arquebusiers,  attired,  as  was 
customary  in  these  nocturnal  expeditions,  with  their  shirts 
outside  their  armor,  that  they  might  recognize  each  other 
in  the  darkness,  were  led  by  Julian  Romero  within  the 
lines  of  the  enemy.  The  sentinels  were  cut  down,  the 
whole  army  surprised,  and,  for  a  moment,  powerless,  while, 
for  two  hours  long,  from  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  until 
three,  the  Spaniards  butchered  their  foes,  hardly  aroused 
from  their  sleep,  ignorant  by  how  small  a  force  they  had 
been  thus  suddenly  surprised,  and  unable  in  the  confusion 
to  distinguish  between  friend  and  foe.  The  boldest,  led 
by  Julian  in  person,  made  at  once  for  the  Prince's  tent. 
His  guards  and  himself  were  in  profound  sleep,  but  a  small 
spaniel,  which  always  passed  the  night  upon  his  bed,  was 
a  more  faithful  sentinel.  The  creature  sprang  forward, 
barking  furiously  at  the  sound  of  hostile  footsteps  and 
scratching  his  master's  face  with  his  paws.  There  was  but 
just  time  for  the  Prince  to  mount  a  horse,  which  was  ready 
saddled,  and  to  effect  his  escape  through  the  darkness  be- 
fore his  enemies  sprang  into  the  tent.  His  servants  were 
cut  down,  his  master  of  the  horse  and  two  of  his  secreta- 
ries, who  gained  their  saddles  a  moment  later,  all  lost  their 
lives,  and  but  for  the  little  dog's  watchfulness  William  of 
Orange,  upon  whose  shoulders  the  whole  weight  of  his 
country's  fortunes  depended,  would  have  been  led  within 
a  week  to  an  ignominious  death.  Afterwards  to  his  dying 
day  the  Prince  kept  a  spaniel  of  the  same  race  in  his 
bedchamber.  The  midnight  slaughter  still  continued, 
but  the  Spaniards  in  their  fury  set  fire  to  the  tents.  The 
glare  of  the  conflagration  showed  the  Orangists  by  how 
paltry  a  force  they  had  been  surprised.  Before  they  could 
rally,  however,  Romero  led  off  his  arquebusiers,  every  one 
of  whom  had  at  least  killed  his  man.  Six  hundred  of  the 
Prince's  troops  had  been  put  to  the  sword,  while  many 
others  were  burned  in  their  beds,  or  drowned  in  the  little 
rivulet  which  flowed  outside  their  camp.  Only  sixty  Span- 
iards lost  their  lives. 

This  disaster  did  not  alter  the  plans  of  the  Prince,  for 
those  plans  had  already  been  frustrated.     The  whole  mar- 


356  HISTORY  OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1572 

row  of  liis  enterprise  had  been  destroyed  in  an  instant 
by  the  Massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew.  He  retreated  to 
Peronne  and  Nivelles,  an  assassin  named  Heist,  a  Ger- 
man by  birth  but  a  French  chevalier,  following  him  se- 
cretly in  his  camp,  pledged  to  take  his  life  for  a  large 
reward  promised  by  Alva  —  an  enterprise  not  destined, 
however,  to  be  successful.  The  soldiers  flatly  refused  to 
remain  an  hour  longer  in  the  field,  or  even  to  furnish  an 
escort  for  Count  Louis,  if,  by  chance,  he  could  be  brought 
out  of  the  town.  The  Prince  was  obliged  to  inform  his 
brother  of  the  desperate  state  of  his  affairs,  and  to  advise 
him  to  capitulate  on  the  best  terms  which  he  could  make. 
With  a  heavy  heart  he  left  the  chivalrous  Louis  besieged 
in  the  city  which  he  had  so  gallantly  captured,  and  took 
his  way  across  the  Meuse  towards  the  Khine.  A  furious 
mutiny  broke  out  among  his  troops.  His  life  was  with 
difficulty  saved  from  the  brutal  soldiery — infuriated  at 
his  inability  to  pay  them,  except  in  the  overdue  securi- 
ties of  the  Holland  cities — by  the  exertions  of  the  officers, 
who  still  regarded  him  with  veneration  and  affection. 
Crossing  the  Rhine  at  Orsoy,  he  disbanded  his  army  and 
betook  himself,  almost  alone,  to  Holland. 

Yet  even  in  this  hour  of  distress  and  defeat  the  Prince 
seemed  more  heroic  than  many  a  conqueror  in  his  day  of 
triumph.  With  all  his  hopes  blasted,  with  the  whole  fab- 
ric of  his  country's  fortunes  shattered  by  the  colossal  crime 
of  his  royal  ally,  he  never  lost  his  confidence  in  himself 
nor  his  unfaltering  trust  in  God.  All  the  cities  which,  but 
a  few  weeks  before,  had  so  eagerly  raised  his  standard,  now 
fell  off  at  once.  He  went  to  Holland,  the  only  province 
which  remained  true,  and  which  still  looked  up  to  him  as 
its  saviour,  but  he  went  thither  expecting  and  prepared  to 
perish.  ^^  There  I  will  make  my  sepulchre"  was  his  simple 
and  sublime  expression  in  a  private  letter  to  his  brother. 

Meanwhile  Count  Louis  lay  confined  to  his  couch  with 
a  burning  fever.  His  soldiers  refused  any  longer  to  hold 
the  city,  now  that  the  altered  intentions  of  Charles  the 
Ninth  were  known  and  the  forces  of  Orange  withdrawn. 
Alva  offered  the  most  honorable  conditions,  and  it  was 
therefore  impossible  for  the  Count  to  make  longer  resist- 


1572]  THE  MONS  COUNCIL   OF  BLOOD  357 

ance.  The  city  was  so  important,  and  time  was  at  that 
moment  so  valuable,  that  the  Duke  was  willing  to  forego 
his  vengeance  upon  the  rebel  whom  he  so  cordially  de- 
tested, and  to  be  satisfied  with  depriving  him  of  the  prize 
which  he  had  seized  with  such  audacity.  Out  of  policy. 
Count  Louis  was  received  with  studied  courtesy  by  the 
two  Dukes.  The  capitulation  was  made  late  at  night,  on 
the  20th  of  September,  without  the  provision  which  Charles 
the  Ninth  had  hoped  for — namely,  the  massacre  of  De  la 
None  and  his  companions.  The  city  was  evacuated  on  the 
21st  of  September.  Alva  entered  it  upon  the  24th.  Most 
of  the  volunteers  departed  with  the  garrison,  but  many 
who  had  most  unfortunately  prolonged  their  farewells  to 
their  families,  trusting  to  the  word  of  the  Spanish  Captain 
Molinos,  were  thrown  into  prison.  Noircarmes,  the  butcher 
of  Valenciennes,  now  made  his  appearance  in  Mons.  As 
grand  bailiff  of  Hainault,  he  came  to  the  place  as  one  in 
authority,  and  his  deeds  were  now  to  complete  the  infamy 
which  must  forever  surround  his  name.  In  brutal  viola- 
tion of  the  terms  upon  which  the  town  had  surrendered, 
he  now  set  about  the  work  of  massacre  and  pillage.  A 
Commission  of  Troubles,  in  close  imitation  of  the  famous 
Council  of  Blood  at  Brussels,  was  established,  the  members 
of  the  tribunal  being  appointed  by  Noircarmes,  and  all  be- 
ing inhabitants  of  the  town.  The  council  commenced 
proceedings  by  condemning  all  the  volunteers,  although 
expressly  included  in  the  capitulation.  The  work  of  hang- 
ing, burning,  beheading,  and  confiscation  went  on  day  af- 
ter day,  month  after  month.  Till  the  27th  of  August  of 
the  following  year  (1573)  the  executioner  never  rested, 
and  when  Requesens,  successor  to  Alva,  caused  the  prisons 
of  Mons  to  be  opened,  there  were  found  still  seventy-five 
individuals  condemned  to  the  block  and  awaiting  their 
fate. 

The  Spaniards  had  thus  recovered  Mons,  by  which  event 
the  temporary  revolution  throughout  the  whole  southern 
Netherlands  was  at  an  end.  The  keys  of  that  city  un- 
locked the  gates  of  every  other  in  Brabant  and  Flanders. 
The  towns  which  had  so  lately  embraced  the  authority  of 
Orange  now  hastened  to  disavow  the  Prince  and  to  return 


358  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [15V2 

to  their  ancient,  hypocritical,  and  cowardly  allegiance. 
The  new  oaths  of  fidelity  were  in  general  accepted  by 
Alva,  but  the  beautiful  archiepiscopal  city  of  Mechlin  was 
selected  for  an  example  and  a  sacrifice. 

There  were  heavy  arrears  due  to  the  Spanish  troops.  To 
indemnify  them,  and  to  make  good  his  blasphemous  proph- 
ecy of  Divine  chastisement  for  its  past  misdeeds,  Alva 
now  abandoned  this  town  to  the  license  of  his  soldiery. 
By  his  command  Don  Frederic  advanced  to  the  gates  and 
demanded  its  surrender.  Early  next  morning  there  issued 
from  the  gates  a  solemn  procession  of  priests,  with  banner 
and  crozier,  followed  by  a  long  and  suppliant  throng  of 
citizens,  who  attempted  by  this  demonstration  to  avert  the 
wrath  of  the  victor.  While  the  penitential  psalms  were 
resounding  the  soldiers  were  busily  engaged  in  heaping 
dried  branches  and  rubbish  in  the  moat.  Before  the  re- 
ligious exercises  were  concluded,  thousands  had  forced 
the  gates  or  climbed  the  walls,  and  entered  the  city  with 
a  celerity  which  only  the  hope  of  rapine  could  inspire. 
The  sack  instantly  commenced.  The  property  of  friend 
and  foe,  of  papist  and  Calvinist,  was  indiscriminately  rifled. 
Everything  was  dismantled  and  destroyed. 

Three  days  long  the  city  was  abandoned  to  that  trinity 
of  furies  which  ever  wait  upon  War's  footsteps — Murder, 
Lust,  and  Rapine — under  whose  promptings  human  beings 
become  so  much  more  terrible  than  the  most  ferocious 
beasts.  In  his  letter  to  his  master,  the  Duke  congratu- 
lated him  upon  these  foul  proceedings  as  upon  a  pious 
deed  well  accomplished. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  MASSACRES  AT  ZUTPHEN,   NAARDEN",  AND  HAARLEM 

While  thus  Brabant  and  Flanders  were  scourged  back 
to  the  chains  which  they  had  so  recently  broken,  the  af- 
fairs of  the  Prince  of  Orange  were  not  improving  in  Zee- 
land.  Never  was  a  twelvemonth  so  marked  by  contradic- 
tory fortune ;  never  were  the  promises  of  a  spring  followed 
by  such  blight  and  disappointment  in  autumn  than  in  the 
memorable  year  1572.  On  the  island  of  Walcheren,  Mid- 
delburg  and  Arnemuyden  still  held  for  the  King — Camp- 
veer  and  Flushing  for  the  Prince  of  Orange.  On  the 
island  of  South  Beveland,  the  city  of  Goes,  or  Tergoes, 
was  still  stoutly  defended  by  a  small  garrison  of  Spanish 
troops.  As  long  as  the  place  held  out,  the  city  of  Middel- 
burg  could  be  maintained.  Should  that  important  city 
fall,  the  Spaniards  would  lose  all  hold  upon  Walcheren 
and  the  province  of  Zeeland. 

Jerome  Tseraerts,  a  brave,  faithful,  but  singularly  un- 
lucky officer,  commanded  for  the  Prince  in  Walcheren. 
He  had  attempted  by  various  hastily  planned  expeditions 
to  give  employment  to  his  turbulent  soldiery,  but  fortune 
had  refused  to  smile  upon  his  efforts.  He  now  assembled 
a  force  of  seven  thousand  men,  marched  again  to  Tergoes, 
and  upon  the  26th  of  August  laid  siege  to  the  place  in 
form.  Alva  ordered  D'Avila,  who  commanded  in  Ant- 
werp, to  throw  succor  into  Tergoes  without  delay.  At- 
tempts were  made,  by  sea  and  by  land,  to  this  effect,  but 
were  all  unsuccessful.  The  Zeelanders  commanded  the 
waters  with  their  fleet,  and  were  too  much  at  home  among 
those  gulfs  and  shallows  not  to  be  more  than  a  match  for 
their  enemies.     Baffled  in  their  attempt  to  relieve  the 


360  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1572 

town  by  water  or  by  land,  the  Spaniards  conceived  an 
amphibious  scheme.  Their  plan  led  to  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  feats  of  arms  which  distinguishes  the  history  of 
this  war. 

Captain  Blomaert,  a  Fleming  of  great  experience  and 
bravery,  warmly  attached  to  the  King^s  cause,  conceived 
the  plan  of  sending  reinforcements  across  the  Drowned 
Land  between  the  island  of  South  Beveland  and  the  main- 
land. Accompanied  by  two  peasants  of  the  country  well 
acquainted  with  the  track,  he  twice  accomplished  the 
dangerous  and  difficult  passage,  which,  from  dry  land  to 
dry  land,  was  nearly  ten  English  miles  in  length,  through 
water  which  was  five  feet  deep  at  low  tide.  Having  thus 
satisfied  himself  as  to  the  possibility  of  the  enterprise,  he 
laid  his  plan  before  the  Spanish  colonel  Mondragon. 

That  courageous  veteran  eagerly  embraced  the  proposal, 
examined  the  ground,  and,  after  consultation  with  Sancho 
d'Avila,  resolved  to  lead  in  person  an  expedition  along 
the  path  suggested  by  Blomaert.  Three  thousand  picked 
men — a  thousand  from  each  nation,  Spaniards,  Walloons, 
and  Germans,  were  speedily  and  secretly  assembled  at 
Bergen -op -Zoom,  from  the  neighborhood  of  which  city, 
at  a  place  called  Agger,  it  was  necessary  that  the  expedi- 
tion should  set  forth.  A  quantity  of  sacks  were  provided, 
in  which  a  supply  of  biscuit  and  of  powder  was  placed,  one 
to  be  carried  by  each  soldier  upon  his  head.  Although  it 
was  already  late  in  the  autumn,  the  weather  was  propi- 
tious ;  the  troops,  not  yet  informed  as  to  the  secret  enter- 
prise for  which  they  had  been  selected,  were  already  as- 
sembled at  the  edge  of  the  water,  and  Mondragon,  who, 
notwithstanding  his  age,  had  resolved  upon  heading  the 
hazardous  expedition,  now  briefly,  on  the  evening  of  the 
20th  of  October,  explained  to  them  the  nature  of  the  ser- 
vice. His  statement  of  the  dangers  which  they  were  about 
to  encounter  rather  inflamed  than  diminished  their  ardor. 
Their  enthusiasm  became  unbounded  as  he  described  the 
importance  of  the  city  which  they  were  about  to  save,  and 
alluded  to  the  glory  which  would  be  won  by  those  who 
thus  courageously  came  forward  to  its  rescue.  The  time 
of  about  half  ebb  -  tide  having  arrived,  the  veteran,  pre- 


1572]  EXPEDITION    TO    RELIEVE   TERGOES  361 

ceded  only  by  the  guides  and  Blomaert,  plunged  gayly 
into  the  waves,  followed  by  his  army,  almost  in  single  file. 
The  water  was  never  lower  than  the  breast,  often  higher 
than  the  shoulders.  The  distance  to  the  island,  three  and 
a  half  leagues  at  least,  was  to  be  accomplished  within,  at 
most,  six  hours,  or  the  rising  tide  would  overwhelm  them 
forever.  And  thus,  across  the  quaking  and  uncertain 
slime,  which  oiten  refused  them  a  footing,  that  adventu- 
rous band  pursued  their  night  march,  five  hours  long, 
sometimes  swimming  for  their  lives,  and  always  struggling 
with  the  waves,  which  every  instant  threatened  to  ingulf 
them. 

Before  the  tide  had  risen  to  more  than  half-flood,  before 
the  day  had  dawned,  the  army  set  foot  on  dry  land  again, 
at  the  village  of  Yerseke.  Of  the  whole  three  thousand, 
only  nine  unlucky  individuals  had  been  drowned  ;  so  much 
had  courage  and  discipline  availed  in  that  dark  and  peril- 
ous passage  through  the  very  bottom  of  the  sea.  A  panic 
broke  out  among  the  patriots  as  the  Spanish  fell  upon  a 
foe  much  superior  in  number  to  their  own  force.  It  was 
impossible  for  Tseraerts  to  induce  his  soldiers  to  offer  re- 
sistance. They  fled  precipitately  and  ignominiously  to 
their  ships,  hotly  pursued  by  the  Spaniards,  who  overtook 
and  destroyed  the  whole  of  their  rear  guard  before  they 
could  embark.  This  done,  the  gallant  little  garrison, 
which  had  so  successfully  held  the  city,  was  reinforced 
with  the  courageous  veterans  who  had  come  to  their  re- 
lief. His  audacious  project  thus  brilliantly  accomplished, 
the  "good  old  Mondragon,"  as  his  soldiers  called  him,  re- 
turned to  the  province  of  Brabant. 

After  the  capture  of  Mons  and  the  sack  of  Mechlin, 
the  Duke  of  Alva  had  taken  his  way  to  Nimwegen,  having 
despatched  his  son,  Don  Frederic,  to  reduce  the  northern 
and  eastern  country,  which  was  only  too  ready  to  submit 
to  the  conqueror.  Very  little  resistance  was  made  by  any 
of  the  cities  which  had  so  recently,  and  with  such  enthu- 
siasm, embraced  the  cause  of  Orange.  Zutphen  attempted 
a  feeble  opposition  to  the  entrance  of  the  King's  troops, 
and  received  a  dreadful  chastisement  in  consequence. 
Alva  sent  orders  to  his  son  to  leave  not  a  single  man  alive 


362  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1572 

in  the  city,  and  to  burn  every  house  to  the  ground.  The 
Duke^s  command  was  almost  literally  obeyed.  Don  Fred- 
eric entered  Zutphen,  and  without  a  moment's  warning 
put  the  whole  garrison  to  the  sword.  The  citizens  next 
fell  a  defenceless  prey — some  being  stabbed  in  the  streets, 
some  hanged  on  the  trees  which  decorated  the  city,  some 
stripped  stark  naked  and  turned  out  into  the  fields  to 
freeze  to  death  in  the  wintry  night.  As  the  work  of  death 
became  too  fatiguing  for  the  butchers,  five  hundred  inno- 
cent burghers  were  tied  two  and  two,  back  to  back,  and 
drowned  like  dogs  in  the  river  Yssel.  A  few  stragglers 
who  had  contrived  to  elude  pursuit  at  first,  were  after- 
wards taken  from  their  hiding  places  and  hanged  upon 
tlie  gallows  hy  the  feet,  some  of  which  victims  suffered  four 
days  and  nights  of  agony  before  death  came  to  their  relief. 
It  is  superfluous  to  add  that  the  outrages  upon  women 
were  no  less  universal  in  Zutphen  than  they  had  been  in 
every  city  captured  or  occupied  by  the  Spanish  troops. 
These  horrors  continued  till  scarcely  chastity  or  life  re- 
mained throughout  the  miserable  city. 

Count  Van  den  Berg,  another  brother-in-law  of  Or- 
ange, proving  himself  signally  unworthy  of  the  illustrious 
race  to  which  he  was  allied,  basely  abandoned  the  field 
where  he  had  endeavored  to  gather  laurels  while  the  sun 
of  success  had  been  shining.  With  his  fiight  all  the 
cities  which,  under  his  guidance,  had  raised  the  standard 
of  Orange  deserted  the  cause  at  once.  No  rebellion 
being  left,  except  in  the  northwestern  extremities  of  the 
Netherlands,  Don  Frederic  was  ordered  to  proceed  from 
Zutphen  to  Amsterdam,  thence  to  undertake  the  conquest 
of  Holland.  The  little  city  of  Naarden,  on  the  coast  of 
the  Zuyder  Zee,  lay  in  his  path,  and  had  not  yet  formally 
submitted. 

Early  in  December,  Don  Frederic  reached  Bussem  with 
his  army.  The  deputation  of  citizens  commissioned  to 
surrender  the  city  was  met  on  the  way  by  Julian  Komero. 
He  demanded  the  keys  of  the  city,  and  gave  the  deputa- 
tion a  solemn  pledge  that  the  lives  and  property  of  all  the 
inhabitants  should  be  sacredly  respected.  To  attest  this 
assurance,  Don  Julian  gave  his  hand  three  several  times 


1572]  THE  NAARDEN   BUTCHERY  363 

to  Lambert  Hortensius.  A  soldier's  word  thus  plighted, 
the  commissioners,  without  exchanging  any  written  docu- 
ments, surrendered  the  keys,  and  immediately  afterwards 
accompanied  Romero  into  the  city,  who  was  soon  followed 
by  five  or  six  hundred  musketeers. 

To  give  these  guests  a  hospitable  reception,  all  the 
house-wives  of  the  city  at  once  set  about  preparations  for 
a  sumptuous  feast,  to  which  the  Spaniards  did  ample 
justice,  while  the  colonel  and  his  officers  were  entertained 
by  Senator  Gerrit  at  his  own  house.  As  soon  as  this  con- 
viviality had  come  to  an  end,  Romero,  accompanied  by 
his  host,  walked  into  the  square.  The  great  bell  had  been 
meantime  ringing,  and  the  citizens  had  been  summoned 
to  assemble  in  the  Gast  Huis  Church,  then  used  as  a  town- 
hall.  In  the  course  of  a  few  minutes  five  hundred  had 
entered  the  building,  and  stood  quietly  awaiting  whatever 
measures  might  be  offered  for  their  deliberation.  Sud- 
denly a  priest,  who  had  been  pacing  to  and  fro  before  the 
church  door,  entered  the  building,  and  bade  them  all  pre- 
pare for  death ;  but  the  announcement,  the  preparation, 
and  the  death,  were  simultaneous.  The  door  was  flung 
open,  and  a  band  of  armed  Spaniards  rushed  across  the 
sacred  threshold.  They  fired  a  single  volley  upon  the  de- 
fenceless herd,  and  then  sprang  in  upon  them  with  sword 
and  dagger.  A  yell  of  despair  arose  as  the  miserable  vic- 
tims saw  how  hopelessly  they  were  engaged  and  beheld 
the  ferocious  faces  of  their  butchers.  The  carnage  within 
that  narrow  space  was  compact  and  rapid.  Within  a  few 
minutes  all  were  despatched,  and  among  them  Senator 
Gerrit,  from  whose  table  the  Spanish  commander  had  but 
just  risen.  The  church  was  then  set  on  fire,  and  the  dead 
and  dying  were  consumed  to  ashes  together. 

Inflamed  but  not  satiated,  the  Spaniards  then  rushed 
into  the  streets,  thirsty  for  fresh  horrors.  The  houses 
were  all  rifled  of  their  contents,  and  men  were  forced  to 
carry  the  booty  to  the  camp,  who  were  then  struck  dead 
as  their  reward.  The  town  was  then  fired  in  every  direc- 
tion, that  the  skulking  citizens  might  be  forced  from  their 
hiding-places.  As  fast  as  they  came  forth  they  were  put 
to  death  by  their  impatient  foes.    Some  were  pierced  with 


364  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1572 

rapiers,  some  were  chopped  to  pieces  with  axes,  some  were 
surrounded  in  the  blazing  streets  by  troops  of  laughing 
soldiers,  intoxicated,  not  with  wine  but  with  blood,  who 
tossed  them  to  and  fro  with  their  lances,  and  derived  a 
wild  amusement  from  their  dying  agonies.  Those  who 
attempted  resistance  were  crimped  alive  like  fishes,  and 
left  to  gasp  themselves  to  death  in  lingering  torture.  The 
soldiers  becoming  more  and  more  insane  as  the  foul  work 
went  on,  opened  the  veins  of  some  of  their  victims  and 
drank  their  blood  as  if  it  were  wine.  Some  of  the  burghers 
were  for  a  time  spared  that  they  might  witness  the  vio- 
lation of  their  wives  and  daughters,  and  were  then  butch- 
ered in  company  with  these  still  more  unfortunate  victims. 
Miracles  of  brutality  were  accomplished.  Neither  church 
nor  hearth  was  sacred.  Men  were  slain,  women  outraged 
at  the  altars,  in  the  streets,  in  their  blazing  homes. 

Nearly  all  the  inhabitants  of  Naarden,  soldiers  and  citi- 
zens, were  thus  destroyed ;  and  now  Don  Frederic  issued 
peremptory  orders  that  no  one,  on  pain  of  death,  should 
give  lodging  or  food  to  any  fugitive.  He  likewise  forbade 
to  the  dead  all  that  could  now  be  forbidden  them — a  grave. 
Three  weeks  long  did  these  unburied  bodies  pollute  the 
streets,  nor  could  the  few  wretched  women  who  still  cow- 
ered within  such  houses  as  had  escaped  the  flames  ever 
move  from  their  lurking-places  without  treading  upon  the 
festering  remains  of  what  had  been  their  husbands,  their 
fathers,  or  their  brethren.  Shortly  afterwards  came  an 
order  to  dismantle  the  fortifications,  which  had  certainly 
proved  sufficiently  feeble  in  the  hour  of  need,  and  to  raze 
what  was  left  of  the  city  from  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
The  work  was  faithfully  accomplished,  and  for  a  long  time 
Naarden  ceased  to  exist. 

After  the  army  which  the  Prince  had  so  successfully 
led  to  the  relief  of  Mons  had  been  disbanded,  he  had 
himself  repaired  to  Holland.  He  had  come  to  Kampen 
shortly  before  its  defection  from  his  cause.  Thence  he  had 
been  escorted  across  the  Zuyder  Zee  to  Enkhuizen.  He 
came  to  that  province,  the  only  one  which  through  good  and 
ill  report  remained  entirely  faithful  to  him,  not  as  a  con- 
queror^ but  m  an  unsuccessful,  proscribed  mm*    But  there 


1572]  MANCEUVRES   ON   THE   ICE  365 

were  warm  hearts  beating  within  those  cold  lagoons,  and 
no  conqueror  returning  from  a  brilliant  series  of  victories 
could  have  been  received  with  more  affectionate  respect 
than  William  in  that  darkest  hour  of  the  country's  his- 
tory. He  had  but  seventy  horsemen  at  his  back,  all  that 
remained  of  the  twenty  thousand  troops  which  he  had  a 
second  time  levied  in  Germany,  and  he  felt  that  it  would 
be  at  that  period  hopeless  for  him  to  attempt  the  forma- 
tion of  a  third  army.  He  had  now  come  thither  to  share 
the  fate  of  Holland,  at  least,  if  he  could  not  accomplish 
her  liberation.  He  went  from  city  to  city,  advising  with 
the  magistracies  and  with  the  inhabitants,  and  arranging 
many  matters  pertaining  both  to  peace  and  war.  At  Haar- 
lem the  States  of  the  Provinces,  according  to  his  request, 
had  been  assembled.  The  assembly  begged  him  to  lay 
before  them,  if  it  were  possible,  any  schemes  and  means 
which  he  might  have  devised  for  further  resistance  to  the 
Duke  of  Alva.  Thus  solicited,  the  Prince,  in  a  very  se- 
cret session,  unfolded  his  plans,  and  satisfied  them  as  to 
the  future  prospects  of  the  cause. 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  sack  and  massacre  of  Naar- 
den,  Don  Frederic  had  hastened  to  Amsterdam,  where 
the  Duke  was  then  quartered,  that  he  might  receive  the 
paternal  benediction  for  his  well-accomplished  work.  The 
royal  approbation  was  soon  afterwards  added  to  the  ap- 
plause of  his  parent,  and  the  Duke  was  warmly  congratu- 
lated in  a  letter  written  by  Philip  as  soon  as  the  murder- 
ous deed  was  known,  that  Don  Frederic  had  so  plainly 
shown  himself  to  be  his  father's  son.  There  was  now 
more  work  for  father  and  son. 

The  King's  representative,  Bossu,  had  formally  pro- 
claimed the  extermination  of  man,  woman,  and  child  in 
every  city  which  opposed  his  authority,  but  the  promul- 
gation and  practice  of  such  a  system  had  an  opposite 
effect  to  the  one  intended.  The  hearts  of  the  Hollanders 
were  rather  steeled  to  resistance  than  awed  into  submis- 
sion by  the  fate  of  Naarden.  A  fortunate  event,  too,  was 
accepted  as  a  lucky  omen  for  the  coming  contest.  A  little 
fleet  of  armed  vessels,  belonging  to  Holland,  had  been 
frozen    up  in   the  neighborhood   of   Amsterdam.     Don 


366  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1572 

Frederic,  on  his  arrival  from  Naarden,  despatched  a  body 
of  picked  men  over  the  ice  to  attack  the  imprisoned  ves- 
sels. The  crews  had,  however,  fortified  themselves  by 
digging  a  wide  trench  around  the  whole  fleet,  which  thus 
became  for  the  moment  an  almost  impregnable  fortress. 
Out  of  this  frozen  citadel  a  strong  band  of  well-armed  and 
skilful  musketeers  sallied  forth  upon  skates  as  the  be- 
sieging force  advanced.  A  rapid,  brilliant,  and  slippery 
skirmish  succeeded,  in  which  the  Hollanders,  so  accus- 
tomed to  such  sports,  easily  vanquished  their  antagonists 
and  drove  them  off  the  field,  with  the  loss  of  several  hun- 
dred left  dead  upon  the  ice.  '^^Twas  a  thing  never  heard 
of  before  to-day,'^  said  Alva,  "to  see  a  body  of  arquebus- 
iers  thus  skirmishing  upon  a  frozen  sea.^^  In  the  course 
of  the  next  four-and-twenty  hours  a  flood  and  a  rapid 
thaw  released  the  vessels,  which  all  escaped  to  Enkhuizen, 
while  a  frost,  immediately  and  strangely  succeeding,  made 
pursuit  impossible. 

The  Spaniards  were  astonished  at  these  novel  manoeuvres 
upon  the  ice.  It  is  amusing  to  read  their  elaborate  de- 
scriptions of  the  wonderful  appendages  which  had  ena- 
bled the  Hollanders  to  glide  so  glibly  into  battle  with  a 
superior  force,  and  so  rapidly  to  glance  away  after  achiev- 
ing a  signal  triumph.  Nevertheless,  the  Spaniards  could 
nefev  be  dismayed,  and  were  always  apt  scholars,  even  if 
an  enemy  were  the  teacher.  Alva  immediately  ordered 
seven  thousand  pairs  of  skates,  and  his  soldiers  soon 
learned  to  perform  military  evolutions  with  these  new 
accoutrements  as  audaciously,  if  not  as  adroitly,  as  the 
Hollanders. 

Haarlem,  over  whose  ruins  the  Spanish  tyranny  intended 
to  make  its  entrance  into  Holland,  lay  in  the  narrowest 
part  of  that  narrow  isthmus  which  separates  the  Zuyder 
Zee  from  the  German  Ocean.  The  distance  from  sea  to 
sea  is  hardly  five  English  miles  across. 

The  city  was  one  of  the  largest  and  most  beautiful  in 
the  Netherlands.     It  was  also  one  of  the  weakest.     The. 
walls  were    of   antique   construction,   turreted,  but   not 
strong.     The  extent  and  feebleness  of  the  defences  made 
a  large  garrison  necessary,  but,  unfortunately,  the  garrison 


1572]  HAARLEM    INVESTED  307 

was  even  weaker  than  the  walls.  The  city's  main  reliance 
was  on  the  stent  hearts  of  the  inhabitants.  The  streets 
were,  for  that  day,  spacious  and  regular,  the  canals 
planted  with  limes  and  poplars.  The  ancient  church  of 
St.  Bavon,  a  large,  imposing  structure  of  brick,  stood 
almost  in  the  centre  of  the  place,  the  most  prominent 
object  not  only  of  the  town  but  of  the  province,  visible 
over  leagues  of  sea  and  of  land  more  level  than  the  sea, 
and  seeming  to  gather  the  whole  quiet  little  city  under 
its  sacred  and  protective  wings.  Its  tall,  open-work,  leaden 
spire  was  surmounted  by  a  colossal  crown,  which  an  ex- 
alted imagination  might  have  regarded  as  the  emblematic 
guerdon  of  martyrdom  held  aloft  over  the  city,  to  reward 
its  heroism  and  its  agony. 

It  was  at  once  obvious  that  the  watery  expanse  between 
Haarlem  and  Amsterdam  would  be  the  principal  theatre 
of  the  operations  about  to  commence.  The  siege  was 
soon  begun.  On  the  10th  of  December,  Don  Frederic 
sent  a  strong  detachment  to  capture  the  fort  and  village 
of  Spaarndam,  as  an  indispensable  preliminary  to  the 
commencement  of  the  siege.  A  peasant  having  shown 
Zapata,  the  commander  of  the  expedition,  a  secret  passage 
across  the  flooded  and  frozen  meadows,  the  Spaniards 
stormed  the  place  gallantly,  routed  the  whole  garrison, 
killed  three  hundred,  and  took  possession  of  the  works 
and  village.  Next  day  Don  Frederic  appeared  before  the 
walls  of  Haarlem,  and  proceeded  regularly  to  invest  the 
place.  The  misty  weather  favored  his  operations,  nor  did 
he  cease  reinforcing  himself  until  at  least  thirty  thousand 
men,  including  fifteen  hundred  cavalry,  had  been  en- 
camped around  the  city.  The  Germans,  under  Count 
Overstein,  were  stationed  in  a  beautiful  and  extensive 
grove  of  limes  and  beeches,  which  spread  between  the 
southern  walls  and  the  shore  of  Haarlem  Lake.  Don 
Frederic,  with  his  Spaniards,  took  up  a  position  on  the 
opposite  side,  at  a  place  called  the  House  of  Kleef,  the 
ruins  of  which  still  remain.  The  Walloons  and  other 
regiments  were  distributed  in  different  places,  so  as  com- 
pletely to  encircle  the  town.  On  the  edge  of  the  mere 
the  Prince  of  Orange  had  already  ordered  a  cluster  of 


368  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1572 

forts  to  be  erected,  by  which  the  command  of  its  frozen 
surface  was  at  first  secured  for  Haarlem.  In  the  course 
of  the  siege,  however,  other  forts  were  erected  by  Don 
Frederic,  so  that  the  aspect  of  things  suffered  a  change. 

The  garrison  numbered  about  one  thousand  pioneers 
or  delvers,  three  thousand  fighting  men,  and  about  three 
hundred  fighting  women.  The  last  was  a  most  efficient 
corps,  all  females  of  respectable  character,  armed  with 
sword,  musket,  and  dagger.  Their  chief,  Kenau  Has- 
selaer,*  was  a  widow  of  distinguished  family  and  unblem- 
ished reputation,  about  forty-seven  years  of  age,  who,  at 
the  head  of  her  amazons,  participated  in  many  of  the  most 
fiercely  contested  actions  of  the  siege,  both  within  and 
without  the  walls.  When  such  a  spirit  animated  the 
maids  and  matrons  of  the  city,  it  might  be  expected  that 
the  men  would  hardly  surrender  the  place  without  a 
struggle.  The  Prince  had  assembled  a  force  of  three  or 
four  thousand  men  at  Leyden,  which  he  sent  before  the 
middle  of  December  towards  the  city,  under  the  command 
of  Van  der  Marck.  These  troops  were,  however,  attacked 
on  the  way  by  a  strong  detachment  under  Bossu,  Noir- 
carmes,  and  Komero.  After  a  sharp  action  in  a  heavy 
snow-storm.  Van  der  Marck  was  completely  routed.  One 
thousand  of  his  soldiers  were  cut  to  pieces,  and  a  large 
number  carried  off  as  prisoners  to  the  gibbets,  which  were 
already  conspicuously  erected  in  the  Spanish  camp,  and 
which  from  the  commencement  to  the  close  of  the  siege 
were  never  bare  of  victims.  Among  the  captives  was  a 
gallant  officer.  Baptist  van  Trier,  for  whom  Van  der  Marck 

*  Kenau  van  Hasselaer,  who  figures  so  largely  in  art  and  song,  and  whose 
statue,  with  hat,  sword,  and  spear,  adorns  more  than  one  Dutch  city,  is  a 
historic  personage.  After  undue  exaggeration  of  popular  enthusiasm,  and 
the  embroidery  of  the  original  story  at  the  hands  of  orators  and  fiction- 
writers,  the  sceptic  and  critical  historian  have  laid  "  the  legend "  on  the 
dissecting-table  in  the  antiseptic,  "  bacteria-vrij "  atmosphere  appropriate 
to  the  literary  surgeon,  who  is  anxious  to  remove  parasitic  or  morbid 
growths.  The  result  of  Dutch  researches  is  to  place  Kenau  van  Hasselaer 
on  the  solid  ground  of  history.  A  wood-cut,  dated  1573,  represents  in 
picture  what  the  latest  historian.  Dr.  P.  J.  Blok,  says  in  his  text,  "  met 
eene  vrouwenscheen  onder  aanvoering  van  de  vurige  Kenau  Hasselaer  aan 
de  verdeding  een  werkzaam  aandeel  nam."     Vol.  III.,  page  117. 


1572]  FIRST  CANNONADE   OF  HAARLEM        •  369 

in  vain  offered  two  thousand  crowns  and  nineteen  Span- 
ish prisoners.  The  proposition  was  refused  with  con- 
tempt. Van  Trier  was  hanged  upon  the  gallows  by  one 
leg  until  he  was  dead,  in  return  for  which  barbarity  the 
nineteen  Spaniards  were  immediately  gibbeted  by  Van  der 
Marck.  With  this  interchange  of  cruelties  the  siege  may 
be  said  to  have  opened. 

Don  Frederic  had  stationed  himself  in  a  position  oppo- 
site to  the  Gate  of  the  Cross,  which  was  not  very  strong, 
but  fortified  by  a  ravelin.  Intending  to  make  a  very  short 
siege  of  it,  he  established  his  batteries  immediately,  and 
on  the  18th,  19th,  and  20th  of  December  directed  a  furi- 
ous cannonade  against  the  Cross  Gate,  the  St.  John's 
Gate,  and  the  curtain  between  the  two.  Six  hundred  and 
eighty  shots  were  discharged  on  the  first,  and  nearly  as 
many  on  each  of  the  two  succeeding  days.  The  walls 
were  much  shattered,  but  men,  women,  and  children 
worked  night  and  day  within  the  city,  repairing  the 
breaches  as  fast  as  made.  They  brought  bags  of  sand, 
blocks  of  stone,  cart-loads  of  earth  from  every  quarter, 
and  they  stripped  the  churches  of  all  their  statues,  which 
they  threw  by  heaps  into  the  gaps.  After  three  days' 
cannonade  the  assault  was  ordered,  Don  Frederic  only 
intending  a  rapid  massacre,  to  crown  his  achievements 
at  Zutphen  and  Naarden.  The  place,  he  thought,  would 
fall  in  a  week,  and  after  another  week  of  sacking,  killing, 
and  ravishing,  he  might  sweep  on  until  Holland  was 
overwhelmed. 

Komero  advanced  to  the  breach,  followed  by  a  numer- 
ous storming  party,  but  met  with  a  resistance  which  as- 
tonished the  Spaniards.  The  church  bells  rang  tlie  alarm 
throughout  the  city,  and  the  whole  population  swarmed 
to  the  walls.  The  besiegers  were  encountered  not  only 
with  sword  and  musket,  but  with  every  implement  which 
the  burghers'  hands  could  find.  Heavy  stones,  boiling 
oil,  live  coals,  were  hurled  upon  the  heads  of  the  soldiers ; 
hoops,  smeared  with  pitch  and  set  on  fire,  were  dexter- 
ously thrown  upon  their  necks.  Even  Spanish  courage 
and  Spanish  ferocity  were  obliged  to  shrink  before  the 
steady  determination  of  a  whole  population  animated  by 

24 


370  •         HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1572 

a  single  spirit.  Komero  lost  an  eye  in  the  conflict,  many 
ofi&cers  were  killed  and  wounded,  and  three  or  four  hun- 
dred soldiers  left  dead  in  the  breach,  while  only  three  or 
four  of  the  townsmen  lost  their  lives.  The  signal  of  recall 
was  reluctantly  given,  and  the  Spaniards  abandoned  the 
assault.  Don  Frederic  was  now  aware  that  Haarlem  would 
not  fall  at  his  feet  at  the  first  sound  of  his  trumpet. 

Meantime  the  Prince  of  Orange,  from  his  headquarters 
at  Sassenheim,  on  the  southern  extremity  of  the  mere, 
made  a  fresh  effort  to  throw  succor  into  the  place.  Two 
thousand  men,  with  seven  field-pieces  and  many  wagon- 
loads  of  munitions,  were  sent  forward  under  Batenburg. 
This  officer  had  replaced  Van  der  Marck,  whom  the  Prince 
had  at  last  deprived  of  his  commission.  The  reckless  and 
unprincipled  freebooter  was  no  longer  to  serve  a  cause 
which  was  more  sullied  by  his  barbarity  than  it  could  be 
advanced  by  his  desperate  valor,  Batenburg's  expedition 
was,  however,  not  more  successful  than  the  one  made  by 
his  predecessor.  The  troops,  after  reaching  the  vicinity 
of  the  city,  lost  their  way  in  the  thick  mists  which  almost 
perpetually  enveloped  the  scene.  Cannons  were  fired, 
fog-bells  were  rung,  and  beacon-fires  were  lighted  on  the 
ramparts,  but  the  party  was  irretrievably  lost.  The  Span- 
iards fell  upon  them  before  they  could  find  their  way  to 
the  city.  Many  were  put  to  the  sword,  others  made  their 
escape  in  different  directions ;  a  very  few  succeeded  in 
entering  Haarlem.  Batenburg  brought  off  a  remnant  of 
the  forces,  but  all  the  provisions,  so  much  needed,  were 
lost,  and  the  little  army  entirely  destroyed. 

De  Koning,  the  second  in  command,  was  among  the 
prisoners.  The  Spaniards  cut  off  his  head  and  threw  it 
over  the  walls  into  the  city,  with  this  inscription  :  "  This 
is  the  head  of  Captain  de  Koning,  who  is  on  his  way  with 
reinforcements  for  the  good  city  of  Haarlem."  The  citi- 
zens retorted  with  a  practical  jest  which  was  still  more 
barbarous.  They  cut  off  the  heads  of  eleven  prisoners  and 
put  them  into  a  barrel,  which  they  threw  into  the  Spanish 
camp.  A  label  upon  the  barrel  contained  these  words  : 
'^  Deliver  these  ten  heads  to  Duke  Alva  in  payment  of  his 
tenpennv  tax,  with   one  additional   head   for  interest. '' 


1573]  SUBTERRANEAN    WARFARE  371 

With  such  ghastly  merriment  did  besieged  and  besiegers 
vary  the  monotonous  horror  of  that  winter's  siege.  As 
the  sallies  and  skirmishes  were  of  daily  occurrence,  there 
was  a  constant  supply  of  prisoners  upon  whom  both  par- 
ties might  exercise  their  ingenuity,  so  that  the  gallows  in 
camp  or  city  was  perpetually  garnished. 

Since  the  assault  of  the  21st  of  December,  Don  Frederic 
had  been  making  his  subterranean  attack  by  regular  ap- 
proaches. As  fast,  however,  as  the  Spaniards  mined,  the 
citizens  countermined.  Spaniard  and  Netherlander  met 
daily  in  deadly  combat  within  the  bowels  of  the  earth. 
Desperate  and  frequent  were  the  struggles  within  gang- 
ways so  narrow  that  nothing  but  daggers  could  be  used, 
so  obscure  that  the  dim  lanterns  hardly  lighted  the  death- 
stroke.  They  seemed  the  conflicts  not  of  men  but  of 
evil  spirits.  Nor  were  these  hand-to-hand  battles  all.  A 
shower  of  heads,  limbs,  mutilated  trunks,  the  mangled 
remains  of  hundreds  of  human  beings  often  spouted  from 
the  earth  as  if  from  an  invisible  volcano.  The  mines  were 
sprung  with  unexampled  frequency  and  •  determination. 
Still  the  Spaniards  toiled  on  with  undiminished  zeal,  and 
still  the  besieged,  undismayed,  delved  below  their  works 
and  checked  their  advance  by  sword  and  spear  and  hor- 
rible explosions. 

The  Prince  of  Orange,  meanwhile,  encouraged  the  citi- 
zens to  persevere  by  frequent  promises  of  assistance.  His 
letters,  written  on  extremely  small  bits  of  paper,  were 
sent  into  the  town  by  carrier-pigeons.  On  the  28th  of 
January  he  despatched  a  considerable  supply  of  the  two 
necessaries,  powder  and  bread,  on  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty sledges  across  the  Haarlem  Lake,  together  with  four 
hundred  veteran  soldiers.  The  citizens  continued  to  con- 
test the  approaches  to  the  ravelin  before  the  Cross  Gate, 
but  it  had  become  obvious  that  they  could  not  hold  it  long. 
Secretly,  steadfastly,  and  swiftly  they  had,  therefore,  dur- 
ing the  long  wintry  nights,  been  constructing  a  half- 
moon  of  solid  masonry  on  the  inside  of  the  same  portal. 
Old  men,  feeble  women,  tender  children,  united  with  the 
able-bodied  to  accomplish  this  work,  by  which  tbey  horded 
still  to  maintain  themselves  after  the  ravelin  had  talleti. 


372  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1573 

On  the  31st  of  January,  after  two  or  three  days'  can- 
nonade against  the  gates  of  the  Cross  and  of  St.  John, 
and  the  intervening  curtains,  Don  Frederic  ordered  a  mid- 
night assault.  The  besieged,  as  before,  defended  them- 
selves with  musket  and  rapier,  with  melted  pitch,  with 
firebrands,  with  clubs  and  stones.  After  morning  prayers 
in  the  Spanish  camp,  the  trumpet  for  a  general  assault 
was  sounded.  A  tremendous  onset  was  made  upon  the 
Gate  of  the  Cross,  and  the  ravelin  was  carried  at  last.  The 
Spaniards  poured  into  this  fort,  so  long  the  object  of  their 
attack,  expecting  instantly  to  sweep  into  the  city  with 
sword  and  fire.  As  they  mounted  its  wall  they  became 
for  the  first  time  aware  of  the  new  and  stronger  fortifica- 
tion which  had  been  secretly  constructed  on  the  inner 
side.  The  reason  why  the  ravelin  had  been  at  last  con- 
ceded was  revealed.  The  half-moon,  whose  existence  they 
had  not  suspected,  rose  before  them  bristling  with  cannon. 
A  sharp  fire  was  instantly  opened  upon  the  besiegers,  while 
at  the  same  instant  the  ravelin,  which  the  citizens  had 
undermined,  blew  up  with  a  severe  explosion,  carrying 
into  the  air  all  the  soldiers  who  had  just  entered  it  so 
triumphantly.  This  was  the  turning-point.  The  retreat 
was  sounded  and  the  Spaniards  fled  to  their  camp,  leav- 
ing at  least  three  hundred  dead  beneath  the  walls. 

It  was  now  resolved  that  Haarlem  should  be  reduced  by 
famine.  Still,  as  the  winter  wore  on,  the  immense  army 
without  the  walls  were  as  great  sufferers  by  that  scourge 
as  the  population  within.  The  soldiers  fell  in  heaps  be- 
fore the  diseases  engendered  by  intense  cold  and  insuf- 
ficient food,  for,  as  usual  in  such  sieges,  these  deaths  far 
outnumbered  those  inflicted  by  the  enemy's  hand.  The 
sufferings  inside  the  city  necessarily  increased  day  by 
day,  the  whole  population  being  put  on  a  strict  allowance 
of  food.  Their  supplies  were  daily  diminishing,  and  with 
the  approach  of  the  spring  and  the  thawing  of  the  ice  on 
the  lake,  there  was  danger  that  they  would  be  entirely 
cut  off.  If  the  possession  of  the  water  were  lost,  they 
must  yield  or  starve  ;  and  they  doubted  whether  the  Prince 
would  be  able  to  organize  a  fleet.  The  gaunt  spectre  of 
famine  already  rose  before  them  with  a  menace  which 


1573]  A  BRILLIANT  SALLY  373 

could  not  be  misunderstood.  In  their  misery  they  longed 
for  the  assaults  of  the  Spaniards,  that  they  might  look  in 
the  face  of  a  less  formidable  foe.  They  paraded  the  ram- 
parts daily,  with  drums  beating,  colors  flying,  taunting 
the  besiegers  to  renewed  attempts.  To  inflame  the  relig- 
ious animosity  of  their  antagonists,  they  attired  themselves 
in  the  splendid  gold-embroidered  vestments  of  the  priests, 
which  they  took  from  the  churches,  and  moved  about  in 
mock  procession,  bearing  aloft  images  bedizened  in  ec- 
clesiastical finery,  relics,  and  other  symbols,  sacred  in 
Catholic  eyes,  which  they  afterwards  hurled  from  the 
ramparts,  or  broke,  with  derisive  shouts,  into  a  thousand 
fragments. 

In  one  outbreak  the  Haarlemers,  under  cover  of  a  thick 
fog,  marched  up  to  the  enemy's  chief  battery,  and  at- 
tempted to  spike  the  guns  before  his  face.  They  were  all 
slain  at  the  cannon's  mouth,  whither  patriotism,  not  vain- 
glory, had  led  them,  and  lay  dead  around  the  battery,  with 
their  hammers  and  spikes  in  their  hands.  The  same  spirit 
was  daily  manifested.  As  the  spring  advanced,  the  kine 
went  daily  out  of  the  gates  to  their  peaceful  pasture,  not- 
withstanding all  the  turmoil  within  and  around  ;  nor  was  it 
possible  for  the  Spaniards  to  capture  a  single  one  of  these 
creatures  without  paying  at  least  a  dozen  soldiers  as  its 
price.  "  These  citizens,"  wrote  Don  Frederic,  ''  do  as 
much  as  the  best  soldiers  in  the  world  could  do.'' 

The  combats  before  the  walls  were  of  almost  daily  oc- 
currence. On  the  25th  of  March  one  thousand  of  the 
besieged  made  a  brilliant  sally,  drove  in  all  the  outposts 
of  the  enemy,  burned  three  hundred  tents,  and  captured 
seven  cannon,  nine  standards,  and  many  wagon-loads  of 
provisions,  all  which  they  succeeded  in  bringing  with  them 
into  the  city.  Having  thus  reinforced  themselves,  in  a 
manner  not  often  practised  by  the  citizens  of  a  belea- 
guered town,  in  the  very  face  of  thirty  thousand  veterans 
— having  killed  eight  hundred  of  the  enemy,  which  was 
nearly  one  for  every  man  engaged,  while  they  lost  but 
four  of  their  own  party — the  Haarlemers,  on  their  return, 
erected  a  trophy  of  funereal  but  exulting  aspect.  A  mound 
of  earth  was  constructed  upon  the  ramparts,  in  the  form 


374  HISTORY   OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1573 

of  a  colossal  grave,  in  full  view  of  the  enemy's  camp,  and 
upon  it  were  planted  the  cannon  and  standards  so  gal- 
lantly won  in  the  skirmish,  with  the  taunting  inscription 
floating  from  the  centre  of  the  mound — ^'  Haarlem  is  the 
graveyard  of  the  Spaniards." 

The  Spaniards  had  been  reinforced  both  by  land  and 
water,  but  the  Prince  of  Orange  had,  on  the  other  hand, 
provided  more  than  one  hundred  sail  of  various  descrip- 
tions, so  that  naval  skirmishes  took  place  almost  daily. 
At  last,  on  the  28th  of  May,  a  decisive  engagement  of  the 
fleets  took  place.  The  vessels  grappled  with  each  other, 
and  there  was  a  long,  fierce,  hand-to-hand  combat.  Under 
Bossu  were  one  hundred  vessels ;  under  Martin  Brand, 
admiral  of  the  patriot  fleet,  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty, 
but  of  lesser  dimensions.  Batenburg  commanded  the 
troops  on  board  the  Dutch  vessels.  After  a  protracted 
conflict,  in  which  several  thousands  were  killed,  the  vic- 
tory was  decided  in  favor  of  the  Spaniards.  Twenty-two 
of  the  Prince's  vessels  being  captured,  and  the  rest  totally 
routed,  Bossu  swept  across  the  lake  in  triumph.  The 
forts  belonging  to  the  patriots  were  immediately  taken, 
and  the  Haarlemers,  with  their  friends,  entirely  excluded 
from  the  lake. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  end.  Despair  took  pos- 
session of  the  city.  The  whole  population  had  been  long 
subsisting  upon  an  allowance  of  a  pound  of  bread  to  each 
man,  and  half  a  pound  for  each  woman  ;  but  the  bread 
was  now  exhausted,  the  famine  had  already  begun,  and, 
with  the  loss  of  the  lake,  starvation  was  close  at  their  doors. 
They  sent  urgent  entreaties  to  the  Prince  to  attempt  some- 
thing in  their  behalf.  Three  weeks  more  they  assigned 
as  the  longest  term  during  which  they  could  possibly  hold 
out.  He  sent  them  word  by  carrier-pigeons  to  endure  yet 
a  little  time,  for  he  was  assembling  a  force,  and  would 
still  succeed  in  furnishing  them  with  supplies.  Mean- 
time, through  the  month  of  June,  the  sufferings  of  the  in- 
habitants increased  hourly.  Men,  women,  and  children 
fell  dead  by  scores  in  the  streets,  perishing  of  pure  star- 
vation, and  the  survivors  had  hardly  the  heart  or  the 
strength  to  bury  them  out  of  their  sight.     They  who  yet 


MOUKLS    i>b     ^Hit 


i:    KERK,   HAAKLEM 


1573]  EXPEDITION   TO   RELIEVE  375 

lived  seemed  to  flit  like  shadows  to  and  fro,  envying  those 
whose  sufferings  had  already  been  terminated  by  death. 

Thus  wore  away  the  month  of  June.  On  the  1st  of 
July  the  burghers  consented  to  a  parley.  Deputies  were 
sent  to  confer  with  the  besiegers,  but  the  negotiations 
were  abruptly  terminated,  for  no  terms  of  compromise 
were  admitted  by  Don  Frederic.  On  the  3d  a  tremendous 
cannonade  was  reopened  upon  the  city.  One  thousand 
and  eight  balls  were  discharged — the  most  which  had  ever 
been  thrown  in  one  day  since  the  commencement  of  the 
siege.  The  walls  were  severely  shattered,  but  the  assault 
was  not  ordered,  because  the  besiegers  were  assured  that 
it  was  physically  impossible  for  the  inhabitants  to  hold 
out  many  days  longer.  A  last  letter,  written  in  blood, 
was  now  despatched  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  stating  the 
forlorn  condition  to  which  they  were  reduced.  At  the 
same  time,  with  the  derision  of  despair,  they  flung  into 
the  hostile  camp  the  few  loaves  of  bread  which  yet  re- 
mained within  the  city  walls.  A  day  or  two  later  a  sec- 
ond and  a  third  parley  were  held,  with  no  more  satisfactory 
result  than  had  attended  the  first.  A  black  flag  was  now 
hoisted  on  the  cathedral  tower,  the  signal  of  despair  to 
friend  and  foe,  but  a  pigeon  soon  afterwards  flew  into  the 
town  with  a  letter  from  the  Prince,  begging  them  to 
maintain  themselves  two  days  longer,  because  succor  was 
approaching. 

The  Prince  had,  indeed,  been  doing  all  which,  under  the 
circumstances,  was  possible.  He  assembled  the  citizens 
of  Delft  in  the  market-place,  and  announced  his  intention 
of  marching  in  person  to  the  relief  of  the  city,  in  the  face 
of  the  besieging  army,  if  any  troops  could  be  obtained. 
Four  thousand  armed  volunteers,  with  six  hundred  mounted 
troopers  under  Carlo  de  Noot,  had  been  assembled,  and 
the  Prince  now  placed  himself  at  their  head.  There  was, 
however,  a  universal  cry  of  remonstrance  from  the  magis- 
tracies and  burghers  of  all  the  towns,  and  from  the  troops 
themselves,  at  this  project.  They  would  not  consent  that 
a  life  so  precious,  so  indispensable  to  the  existence  of 
Holland,  should  be  needlessly  hazarded.  It  was  important 
to  succor  Haarlem,  but  the  Prince  was  of  more  value  than 


376  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [151S 

many  cities.  He  at  last  reluctantly  consented,  therefore, 
to  abandon  the  command  of  the  expedition  to  Baron  Baten- 
burg,  the  less  Avillingly  from  the  want  of  confidence  which 
he  could  not  help  feeling  in  the  character  of  the  forces. 
On  the  8th  of  July,  at  dusk,  the  expedition  set  forth  from 
Sassenheim.  It  numbered  nearly  five  thousand  men,  who 
had  with  them  four  hundred  wagon -loads  of  provisions 
and  seven  field -pieces.  Among  the  volunteers,  Olden- 
barneveld,  afterwards  so  illustrious  in  the  history  of  the 
Eepublic,  marched  in  the  ranks  with  his  musket  on  his 
shoulder.  Such  was  a  sample  of  the  spirit  which  pervaded 
the  population  of  the  province. 

Unfortunately  for  the  patriots,  the  whole  Spanish  army 
were  under  arms  awaiting  this  undisciplined  force.  They 
had  learned  of  its  coming  from  the  carrier-pigeons  which 
they  had  shot.  Batenburg  was  slain  and  his  whole  force 
routed.  The  Spaniards  announced  the  results  to  the  citi- 
zens by  throwing  a  few  heads  over  the  wall  and  sending 
in  a  prisoner  with  his  nose  and  ears  cut  off. 

The  citizens  were  now  in  despair ;  but,  nevertheless, 
Don  Frederic  felt,  after  what  he  had  witnessed  in  the  past 
seven  months,  that  there  was  nothing  which  the  Haarlemers 
could  not  do  or  dare.  He  feared  lest  they  should  set  fire 
to  their  city,  and  consume  their  houses,  themselves,  and 
their  children  to  ashes  together,  and  he  was  unwilling  that 
the  fruits  of  his  victory,  purchased  at  such  a  vast  expense, 
should  be  snatched  from  his  hand  as  he  was  about  to 
gather  them.  A  letter  was  accordingly,  by  his  order,  sent 
to  the  magistracy  and  leading  citizens,  in  the  name  of 
Count  Overstein,  commander  of  the  German  forces  in  the 
besieging  army.  This  despatch  invited  a  surrender  at  dis- 
cretion, but  contained  the  solemn  assurance  that  no  pun- 
ishment should  be  inflicted  except  upon  those  who,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  citizens  themselves,  had  deserved  it,  and 
promised  ample  forgiveness  if  the  town  should  submit 
without  further  delay.  At  the  moment  of  sending  this 
letter  Don  Frederic  was  in  possession  of  strict  orders 
from  his  father  not  to  leave  a  man  alive  of  the  garrison, 
excepting  only  the  Germans,  and  to  execute  besides  a  large 
number  of  the  burghers.     These  commands  he  dared  not 


1573]  BUTCHERY  377 

disobey,  even  if  he  had  felt  any  inclination  to  do  so.  In 
consequence  of  the  semi-official  letter  of  Overstein,  how- 
ever, the  city  formally  surrendered  at  discretion  on  the 
12th  of  July. 

The  great  bell  was  tolled,  and  orders  were  issued  that 
all  arms  in  the  possession  of  the  garrison  or  the  inhabi- 
tants should  be  brought  to  the  town-house.  The  men  were 
then  ordered  to  assemble  in  the  cloister  of  Zyl,  the  women 
in  the  cathedral.  On  the  same  day,  Don  Frederic,  accom- 
panied by  Count  Bossu  and  a  numerous  staff,  rode  into  the 
city.  The  scene  which  met  his  view  might  have  moved  a 
heart  of  stone. 

The  next  day  Alva  came  over  to  the  camp.  He  rode 
about  the  place,  examining  the  condition  of  the  fortifica- 
tions from  the  outside,  but  returned  to  Amsterdam  with- 
out having  entered  the  city.  On  the  following  morning 
the  massacre  commenced.  The  plunder  had  been  com- 
muted for  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  guilders, 
which  the  citizens  bound  themselves  to  pay  in  four  instal- 
ments ;  but  murder  was  an  indispensable  accompaniment 
of  victory,  and  admitted  of  no  compromise.  Moreover, 
Alva  had  already  expressed  the  determination  to  effect  a 
general  massacre  upon  this  occasion.  The  garrison,  dur- 
ing the  siege,  had  been  reduced  from  four  thousand  to 
eighteen  hundred.  Of  these  the  Germans,  six  hundred 
in  number,  were,  by  Alva's  order,  dismissed,  on  a  pledge 
to  serve  no  more  against  the  King.  All  the  rest  of  the 
garrison  were  immediately  butchered,  with  at  least  as 
many  citizens.  Five  executioners,  with  their  attendants, 
were  kept  constantly  at  work ;  and  when  at  last  they  were 
exhausted  with  fatigue,  or  perhaps  sickened  with  horror, 
three  hundred  wretches  were  tied  two  and  two,  back  to 
back,  and  drowned  in  the  Haarlem  Lake. 

At  last,  after  twenty -three  hundred  human  creatures 
had  been  murdered  in  cold  blood,  within  a  city  where  so 
many  thousands  had  previously  perished  by  violent  or  by 
lingering  deaths,  the  blasphemous  farce  of  a  pardon  was 
enacted.  Fifty-seven  of  the  most  prominent  burghers  of 
the  place  were,  however,  excepted  from  the  act  of  amnesty, 
and  taken  into  custody  as  security  for  the  future  good  con- 


378  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [15'73 

duct  of  the  other  citizens.  Of  these  hostages  some  were 
soon  executed,  some  died  in  prison,  and  all  would  have 
been  eventually  sacrificed  had  not  the  naval  defeat  of 
Bossu  soon  afterwards  enabled  the  Prince  of  Orange  to 
rescue  the  remaining  prisoners.  Ten  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty-six  shots  had  been  discharged  against  the 
walls  during  the  siege.  Twelve  thousand  of  the  besieging 
army  had  died  of  wounds  or  disease  during  the  seven 
months  and  two  days  between  the  investment  and  the 
surrender.  In  the  earlier  part  of  August,  after  the  execu- 
tions had  been  satisfactorily  accomplished,  Don  Frederic 
made  his  triumphal  entry,  and  the  first  chapter  in  the  in- 
vasion of  Holland  was  closed.  Such  was  the  memorable 
siege  of  Haarlem,  an  event  in  which  we  are  called  upon  to 
wonder  equally  at  human  capacity  to  inflict  and  to  endure 
misery. 

The  Spaniards  celebrated  a  victory,  while  in  Utrecht 
they  made  an  eflfigy  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  which  they 
carried  about  in  procession,  broke  upon  the  wheel,  and 
burned.  It  was,  however,  obvious  that  if  the  reduction 
of  Haarlem  were  a  triumph,  it  was  one  which  the  conquer- 
ors might  well  exchange  for  a  defeat.  At  any  rate,  it  was 
certain  that  the  Spanish  empire  was  not  strong  enough  to 
sustain  many  more  such  victories.  If  it  had  required 
thirty  thousand  choice  troops — among  which  were  three 
regiments  called  by  Alva,  respectively,  the  ''  Invincibles,'^ 
the  ^^ Immortals,"  and  the  ^'None-such" — to  conquer  the 
weakest  city  of  Holland  in  seven  months,  and  with  the 
loss  of  twelve  thousand  men,  how  many  men,  how  long  a 
time,  and  how  many  deaths  would  it  require  to  reduce  the 
rest  of  that  little  province  ?  For,  as  the  sack  of  Naarden 
had  produced  the  contrary  effect  from  the  one  intended, 
inflaming  rather  than  subduing  the  spirit  of  Dutch  resist- 
ance, so  the  long  and  glorious  defence  of  Haarlem,  not- 
w^ithstanding  its  tragical  termination,  had  only  served  to 
strain  to  the  highest  pitch  the  hatred  and  patriotism  of  the 
other  cities  in  the  province.  Even  the  treasures  of  the 
New  World  were  inadequate  to  pay  for  the  conquest  of 
that  little  sand-bank.  Within  five  years  twenty-five  mill- 
ions of  florins  had  been  sent  from  Spain  for  war  expenses 


1678]  A   ROYAL  FEVER  ASSUAGED  379 

in  the  Netherlands.  Yet  this  amount,  with  the  addition 
of  large  sums  annually  derived  from  confiscations,  of  five 
millions  at  which  the  proceeds  of  the  hundredth  penny- 
was  estimated,  and  the  two  millions  yearly  for  which  the 
tenth  and  twentieth  pence  had  been  compounded,  was  in- 
sufficient to  save  the  treasury  from  beggary  and  the  unpaid 
troops  from  mutiny. 

Nevertheless,  for  the  moment,  the  joy  created  was  in- 
tense. Philip  was  lying  dangerously  ill  at  the  wood  of 
Segovia  when  the  happy  tidings  of  the  reduction  of  Haar- 
lem, with  its  accompanying  butchery,  arrived.  The  account 
of  all  this  misery,  minutely  detailed  to  him  by  Alva,  acted 
like  magic.  The  blood  of  twenty -three  hundred  of  his 
fellow-creatures — coldly  murdered  by  his  orders  in  a  single 
city — proved  for  the  sanguinary  monarch  the  elixir  of  life ; 
he  drank  and  was  refreshed. 

While  such  was  the  exultation  of  the  Spaniards,  the 
Prince  of  Orange  was  neither  dismayed  nor  despondent. 
As  usual,  he  trusted  to  a  higher  power  than  man.  '^  I 
had  hoped  to  send  you  better  news,"  he  wrote  Count 
Louis;  "nevertheless,  since  it  has  otherwise  pleased  the 
good  God,  we  must  conform  ourselves  to  His  divine  will. 
I  take  the  same  God  to  witness  that  I  have  done  every- 
thing, according  to  my  means,  which  was  possible  to  suc- 
cor the  city."  A  few  days  later,  writing  in  the  same 
spirit,  he  informed  his  brother  that  the  Zeelanders  had 
succeeded  in  capturing  the  castle  of  Kammekeus,  on  the 
isle  of  Walcheren. 


CHAPTER  IX 
ALKMAAR  AND  DUTCH  VICTORIES  01!^  THE  ZUYDER  ZEE 

Alva  had  for  some  time  felt  himself  in  a  false  and  un- 
comfortable position.  While  he  continued  to  be  the  object 
of  a  popular  hatred  as  intense  as  ever  glowed,  he  had 
gradually  lost  his  hold  upon  those  who,  at  the  outset  of 
his  career,  had  been  loudest  and  lowest  in  their  demon- 
strations of  respect.  Even  Aerschot,  for  whom  the  Duke 
had  long  maintained  an  intimacy  half  affectionate,  half 
contemptuous,  now  began  to  treat  him  with  a  contumely 
which  it  was  difficult  for  so  proud  a  stomach  to  digest. 

But  the  main  source  of  discomfort  was  doubtless  the 
presence  of  Medina  Coeli.  This  was  the  perpetual  thorn 
in  his  side,  which  no  cunning  could  extract.  A  successor 
who  would  not  and  could  not  succeed  him,  yet  who  attend- 
ed him  as  his  shadow  and  his  evil  genius — a  confidential 
colleague  who  betrayed  his  confidence,  mocked  his  proj- 
ects, derided  his  authority,  and  yet  complained  of  ill 
treatment — a  rival  who  was  neither  compeer  nor  subaltern, 
and  who  affected  to  be  his  censor — a  functionary  of  a 
purely  anomalous  character,  sheltering  himself  under  his 
abnegation  of  an  authority  which  he  had  not  dared  to  as- 
sume, and  criticising  measures  which  he  was  not  compe- 
tent to  grasp  ;  such  was  the  Duke  of  Medina  Coeli,  in 
Alva's  estimation. 

The  bickering  between  the  two  Dukes  became  unceas- 
ing and  disgraceful.  Of  course,  each  complained  to  the 
King,  and  each,  according  to  his  own  account,  was  a 
martyr  to  the  other's  tyranny,  but  the  meekness  manifest- 
ed by  Alva,  in  all  his  relations  with  the  new-comer,  was 
wonderful,  if  we  are  to  believe  the  accounts  furnished 


1673]  A  ROYAL   ADDRESS  381 

by  himself  and  by  his  confidential  secretary.  On  the 
other  hand,  Medina  Coeli  wrote  to  the  King,  complaining 
of  Alva  in  most  unmitigated  strains,  and  asserting  that  he 
was  himself  7iever  alloiued  to  see  any  desjmtches,  nor  to  have 
the  slightest  information  as  to  the  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment. He  reproached  the  Duke  with  shrinking  from 
personal  participation  in  military  operations,  and  begged 
the  royal  forgiveness  if  he  withdrew  from  a  scene  where 
he  felt  himself  to  be  superfluous. 

Accordingly,  towards  the  end  of  November,  he  took  his 
departure,  without  paying  his  respects.  The  governor 
complained  to  the  King  of  this  unceremonious  proceed- 
ing, and  assured  his  Majesty  that  never  were  courtesy 
and  gentleness  so  ill  requited  as  his  had  been  by  this  in- 
grate  and  cankered  Duke. 

Immediately  after  the  fall  of  Haarlem  another  attempt 
was  made  by  Alva  to  win  back  the  allegiance  of  the  other 
cities  by  proclamations.  It  had  become  obvious  to  the 
governor  that  so  determined  a  resistance  on  the  part  of 
the  first  place  besieged  augured  many  long  campaigns  be- 
fore the  whole  province  could  be  subdued.  A  circular  was 
accordingly  issued  upon  the  2Gtli  of  July,  from  Utrecht, 
and  published  immediately  afterwards  in  all  the  cities  of 
the  Netherlands.  It  was  a  paper  of  singular  character, 
commingling  an  affectation  of  almost  ludicrous  clemency 
with  honest  and  hearty  brutality. 

It  is  almost  superfluous  to  add  that  this  circular  re- 
mained fruitless.  The  royal  wrath,  blasphemously  identi- 
fying itself  with  divine  vengeance,  inspired  no  terror,  the 
royal  blandishments  no  affection. 

The  next  point  of  attack  was  the  city  of  Alkmaar,  situ- 
ate quite  at  the  termination  of  the  peninsula,  among  the 
lagoons  and  redeemed  prairies  of  North  Holland.  The 
Prince  of  Orange  had  already  provided  it  with  a  small 
garrison.  The  city  had  been  summoned  to  surrender  by  the 
middle  of  July,  and  had  returned  a  bold  refusal.  Mean- 
time, the  Spaniards  had  retired  from  before  the  walls, 
while  the  surrender  and  chastisement  of  Haarlem  occupied 
them  during  the  next  succeeding  weeks.  Tlie  month  of 
August,  moreover,  w^s  mainly  consumed  by  Alva  in  queU- 


382  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1573 

ing  a  dangerous  and  protracted  mutiny,  which  broke  out 
among  the  Spanish  soldiers  at  Haarlem,  between  three  and 
four  thousand  of  them  having  been  quartered  upon  the 
ill-fated  population  of  that  city. 

The  Duke  went  to  Amsterdam,  accordingly,  where  by 
his  exertions,  ably  seconded  by  those  of  the  Marquis 
Vitelli,  and  by  the  payment  of  thirty  crowns  to  each  sol- 
dier— fourteen  on  account  of  arrearages  and  sixteen  as  his 
share  in  the  Haarlem  compensation  money — the  rebellion 
was  appeased  and  obedience  restored. 

There  was  now  leisure  for  the  general  to  devote  his 
whole  energies  against  the  little  city  of  Alkmaar.  On 
that  bank  and  shoal,  the  extreme  verge  of  habitable  earth, 
the  spirit  of  Holland's  freedom  stood  at  bay.  The  gray 
towers  of  Egmont  Castle  and  of  Egmont  Abbey  rose  be- 
tween the  city  and  the  sea,  and  there  the  troops  sent  by 
the  Prince  of  Orange  were  quartered  during  the  very  brief 
period  in  which  the  citizens  wavered  as  to  receiving  them. 
The  die  was  soon  cast,  however,  and  the  Prince's  garrison 
admitted.  The  Spaniards  advanced,  burned  the  village  of 
Egmont  to  the  ground  as  soon  as  the  patriots  had  left  it, 
and  on  the  21st  of  August  Don  Frederic,  appearing  before 
the  walls,  proceeded  formally  to  invest  Alkmaar.  In  a  few 
days  this  had  been  so  thoroughly  accomplished  that,  in 
Alva's  language,  'Mt  was  impossible  for  a  sparrow  to  en- 
ter or  go  out  of  the  city."  The  odds  were  somewhat  un- 
equal. Sixteen  thousand  veteran  troops  constituted  the 
besieging  force.  Within  the  city  were  a  garrison  of  eiglit 
hundred  soldiers,  together  with  thirteen  hundred  burgh- 
ers capable  of  bearing  arms.  The  rest,  of  the  population 
consisted  of  a  very  few  refugees,  besides  the  women  and 
children.  Two  thousand  one  hundred  able-bodied  men, 
of  whom  only  about  one -third  were  soldiers,  to  resist 
pixteen  thousand  regulars  !  Nor  was  there  any  doubt  as 
to  the  fate  which  was  reserved  for  them,  should  they  suc- 
cumb. 

Upon  Diedrich  Sonoy,  lieutenant-governor  for  Orange 
in  the  province  of  North  Holland,  devolved  the  imme- 
diate responsibility  of  defending  this  part  of  the  country. 
As  the  storm  rolled  slowly  up  from  the  south,  even  that 


1573]  ASSAULT   UPON   ALKMAAR  383 

experienced  officer  became  uneasy  at  the  unequal  conflict 
impending.  He  despatched  a  letter  to  his  chief,  giving 
a  gloomy  picture  of  his  position.  The  Prince  answered  : 
''  You  ask  if  I  have  entered  into  a  firm  treaty  with  any 
great  king  or  potentate,  to  which  I  answer,  that  before  I 
ever  took  up  the  cause  of  the  oppressed  Christians  in  these 
provinces,  I  had  entered  into  a  close  alliance  tvitli  the  King 
of  kings  ;  and  I  am  firmly  convinced  that  all  who  put  their 
trust  in  Ilim  shall  be  saved  by  His  almighty  hand.  The 
God  of  armies  will  raise  up  armies  for  us  to  do  battle  with 
our  enemies  and  His  own."  In  conclusion,  he  stated  his 
preparations  for  attacking  the  enemy  by  sea  as  well  as  by 
land,  and  encouraged  his  lieutenant  and  the  citizens  of 
the  northern  quarter  to  maintain  a  bold  front  before  the 
advancing  foe. 

Affairs  soon  approached  a  crisis  within  the  beleaguered 
city.  Darly  skirmishes,  without  decisive  result,  had  taken 
place  outside  the  walls.  At  last,  on  the  18th  of  Septem- 
ber, after  a  steady  cannonade  of  nearly  twelve  hours,  Don 
Frederic,  at  three  in  the  afternoon,  ordered  an  assault. 
Notwithstanding  his  seven  months'  experience  at  Haarlem, 
he  still  believed  it  certain  that  he  should  carry  Alkmaar 
by  storm.  The  attack  took  place  at  once  upon  the  Frisian 
Gate  and  upon  the  red  tower  on  the  opposite  side.  Two 
choice  regiments,  recently  arrived  from  Lombardy,  led 
the  onset,  rending  the  air  with  their  shouts,  and  confi- 
dent of  an  easy  victory.  They  were  sustained  by  what 
seemed  an  overwhelming  force  of  disciplined  troops. 
Every  living  man  was  on  the  walls.  The  storming  parties 
were  assailed  with  cannon,  with  musketry,  with  pistols. 
The  women  and  children,  unscared  by  the  balls  flying  in 
every  direction,  or  by  the  hand-to-hand  conflicts  on  the 
ramparts,  passed  steadily  to  and  fro  from  the  arsenals  to 
the  fortifications,  constantly  supplying  their  fathers,  hus- 
bands, and  brothers  with  powder  and  ball.  Thus,  every 
human  being  in  the  city  that  could  walk  had  become  a 
soldier.  At  last  darkness  fell  upon  the  scene.  The 
trumpet  of  recall  was  sounded,  and  the  Spaniards,  utter- 
ly discomfited,  retired  from  the  walls,  leaving  at  least 
one  thousand  dead  in  the  trenches,  while  only  thirteen 


384  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1573 

burghers  and  twenty-fonr  of  the  garrison  lost  their  lives. 
'^  Plain-looking  fishermen"  had  defeated  the  veterans  of 
Alva. 

The  day  following  the  assault  a  fresh  cannonade  was 
opened  upon  the  city.  Seven  hundred  shots  having  been 
discharged,  the  attack  was  ordered.  It  was  in  vain  :  nei- 
ther threats  nor  entreaties  could  induce  the  Spaniards, 
hitherto  so  indomitable,  to  mount  the  breach.  The  place 
seemed  to  their  imagination  protected  by  more  than  mor- 
tal powers  ;  otherwise  how  was  it  possible  that  a  few  half- 
starved  fishermen  could  already  have  so  triumphantly 
overthrown  the  time-honored  legions  of  Spain  ?  It  was 
thought,  no  doubt,  that  the  devil,  whom  they  worshipped, 
would  continue  to  protect  his  children.  Neither  the 
entreaties  nor  the  menaces  of  Don  Frederic  were  of 
any  avail.  Several  soldiers  allowed  themselves  to  be  run 
through  the  body  by  their  own  officers  rather  than  ad- 
vance to  the  walls  ;  and  the  assault  was  accordingly  post- 
poned to  an  indefinite  period. 

Meantime,  as  Governor  Sonoy  had  opened  many  of  the 
dikes,  the  land  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  camp  was  be- 
coming plashy,  although  as  yet  the  threatened  inunda- 
tion had  not  taken  place.  The  soldiers  were  already  very 
uncomfortable  and  very  refractory.  Peter  Van  der  Mey, 
the  carpenter  envoy  from  Alkmaar,  had  not  been  idle, 
having,  upon  the  26th  of  September,  arrived  at  Sonoy's 
quarters,  bearing  letters  from  the  Prince  of  Orange. 
These  despatches  gave  distinct  directions  to  Sonoy  to 
flood  the  country  at  all  risks,  rather  than  allow  Alkmaav 
to  fall  into  the  enemy^s  hands.  The  harvests  were  dootn- 
ed  to  destruction,  and  a  frightful  loss  of  property  ren- 
dered inevitable ;  but,  at  any  rate,  the  Spaniards,  if  this 
last  measure  were  taken,  must  fly  or  perish  to  a  man. 

This  decisive  blow  having  been  thus  ordered  and  prom- 
ised, the  carpenter  set  forth  towards  the  city,  but,  while 
occupied  in  saving  himself,  was  so  nnlucky,  or,  as  it 
proved,  so  fortunate,  as  to  lose  the  stick  in  which  his 
despatches  were  enclosed.  His  letters  were  laid  before 
the  general  of  the  besieging  army,  and  made  a  profound 
impression  upon  Don  Frederic's  mind.    The  situation  hav- 


1573]  THE  SIEGE   RAISED  385 

ing  been  discussed  in  a  council  of  officers,  the  result  was 
reached  that  sufficient  had  been  already  accomplished  for 
the  glory  of  Spanish  arms.  Neither  honor  nor  loyalty, 
it  was  thought,  required  that  sixteen  thousand  soldiers 
should  be  sacrificed  in  a  contest,  not  with  man,  but  with 
the  ocean. 

On  the  8th  of  October,  accordingly,  the  siege,  which 
had  lasted  seven  weeks,  was  raised,  and  Don  Frederic  re- 
joined his  father  in  Amsterdam. 

On  the  1st  of  May,  1573,  the  articles  of  convention  be- 
tween England  and  Spain,  with  regard  to  the  Nether- 
land  difficulty,  had  been  formally  published  in  Brussels. 
The  Duke,  in  communicating  the  termination  of  these 
arrangements,  quietly  recommended  his  master  thence- 
forth to  take  the  English  ministry  into  his  pay.  In  par- 
ticular he  advised  his  Majesty  to  bestow  an  annual  bribe 
upon  Lord  Burleigh,  "who  held  the  kingdom  in  his 
hand  ;  for  it  has  always  been  my  opinion,"  he  continued, 
"that  it  was  an  excellent  practice  for  princes  to  give 
pensions  to  the  ministers  of  other  potentates,  and  to 
keep  those  at  home  who  took  bribes  from  nobody." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  negotiations  of  Orange  with  the 
English  court  were  not  yet  successful,  and  he  still  found 
it  almost  impossible  to  raise  the  requisite  funds  for  carry- 
ing on  the  war.  Certainly,  his  private  letters  showed  that 
neither  he  nor  his  brothers  were  self-seekers  in  their  ne- 
gotiations. The  restoration  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
the  establishment  of  the  great  principle  of  toleration  in 
matters  of  conscience,  constituted  the  purpose  to  which 
his  days  and  nights  were  devoted,  his  princely  fortune 
sacrificed,  his  life-blood  risked.  At  the  same  time,  his 
enforcement  of  toleration  to  both  religions  excited  cah 
umny  against  him  among  the  bigoted  adherents  of  each. 
By  the  Catholics  he  was  accused  of  having  instigated  the 
excesses  which  he  had  done  everything  in  his  power  to 
repress.  The  enormities  of  Van  der  Marck,  which  had 
inspired  the  Prince's  indignation,  were  even  laid  at  the 
door  of  him  who  had  risked  his  life  to  prevent  and  to 
chastise  them.  Van  der  Marck  had,  indeed,  by  his  sub- 
sequent cruelties,  more  than  counterbalanced  his  great 

26 


386  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [157S 

service  in  the  taking  of  Brill.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
following  year  (1574)  he  was  at  last  compelled  to  leave 
the  provinces,  which  he  never  again  troubled  with  his 
presence.  Some  years  afterwards  he  died  of  the  bite  of 
a  mad  dog,  an  end  not  inappropriate  to  a  man  of  so  rabid 
a  disposition. 

The  main  reliance  of  Orange  was  upon  the  secret  nego- 
tiations which  his  brother  Louis  was  then  renewing  with 
the  French  government.  The  Prince  had  felt  an  almost 
insurmountable  repugnance  towards  entertaining  any  re- 
lation with  that  blood-stained  court  since  the  Massacre 
of  Saint  Bartholomew.  But  a  new  face  had  recently  been 
put  upon  that  transaction.  Instead  of  glorying  in  their 
crime,  the  King  and  his  mother  now  assumed  a  tone  of 
compunction,  and  averred  that  the  deed  had  been  un- 
premeditated ;  that  it  had  been  the  result  of  a  panic  or 
an  ecstasy  of  fear  inspired  by  the  suddenly  discovered 
designs  of  the  Huguenots ;  and  that,  in  the  instinct  of 
self-preservation,  the  King,  with  his  family  and  immediate 
friends,  had  plunged  into  a  crime  which  they  now  bitterly 
lamented.  The  French  envoys  at  the  different  courts  of 
Europe  were  directed  to  impress  this  view  upon  the  minds 
of  the  monarchs  to  whom  they  were  accredited. 

To  humble  the  power  of  Spain,  to  obtain  the  hand  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  for  the  Duke  of  AlenQon,  to  establish  an 
insidious  kind  of  protectorate  over  the  Protestant  princes 
of  Germany,  to  obtain  the  throne  of  Poland  for  the  Duke 
of  Anjou,  and  even  to  obtain  the  imperial  crown  for  the 
house  of  Valois  —  all  these  cherished  projects  seemed 
dashed  to  the  ground  by  the  Paris  massacre  and  the 
abhorrence  which  it  had  created.  Charles  and  Catharine 
were  not  slow  to  discover  the  false  position  in  which  they 
had  placed  themselves,  while  the  Spanish  jocularity  at  the 
immense  error  committed  by  France  was  visible  enough 
through  the  assumed  mask  of  holy  horror. 

Charles  the  Ninth,  although  it  was  not  possible  for  him 
to  recall  to  life  the  countless  victims  of  the  Parisian  wed- 
ding, was  yet  ready  to  explain  those  murders  to  the  satis- 
faction of  every  unprejudiced  mind.  This  had  become 
strictly  necessary.     Although  the  accession  of  either  his 


1573]  OUTLINES  OF  A  FRENCH   TREATY  387 

Most  Christian  or  Most  Catholic  Majesty  to  the  throne 
of  the  Caesars  was  a  most  improbable  event,  yet  the  humbler 
elective  throne  actually  vacant  was  indirectly  in  the  gift 
of  the  same  powers.  It  was  possible  that  the  crown  of 
Poland  might  be  secured  for  the  Duke  of  Anjou.  That 
key  unlocks  the  complicated  policy  of  this  and  the  suc- 
ceeding year. 

It  was  difficult  for  the  Prince  to  overcome  his  repug- 
nance to  the  very  name  of  the  man  whose  crime  had  at 
once  made  France  desolate  and  blighted  the  fair  pros- 
pects under  which  he  and  his  brother  had  the  year  before 
entered  the  Netherlands.  Nevertheless,  he  was  willing 
to  listen  to  the  statements  by  which  the  King  and  his 
ministers  endeavored,  not  entirely  without  success,  to 
remove  from  their  reputations,  if  not  from  their  souls, 
the  guilt  of  deep  design.  Orange  was  induced,  there- 
fore, to  accept,  however  distrustfully,  the  expression  of 
a  repentance  which  was  to  be  accompanied  with  healing 
measures.  He  allowed  his  brother  Louis  to  resume  nego- 
tiations with  Schomberg  in  Germany.  He  drew  up  and 
transmitted  to  him  the  outlines  of  a  treaty  which  he  was 
willing  to  make  with  Charles.  The  main  conditions  of 
this  arrangement  illustrated  the  disinterested  character 
of  the  man.  He  stipulated  that  the  King  of  France 
should  immediately  make  peace  with  his  subjects,  declar- 
ing expressly  that  he  had  been  abused  by  those  who, 
under  pretext  of  his  service,  had  sought  their  own  profit 
at  the  price  of  ruin  to  the  crown  and  people.  The  King 
should  make  religion  free.  The  edict  to  that  effect 
should  be  confirmed  by  all  the  parliaments  and  estates  of 
the  kingdom,  and  such  confirmations  should  be  distrib- 
uted without  reserve  or  deceit  among  all  the  princes  of 
Germany.  If  his  Majesty  were  not  inclined  to  make  war 
for  the  liberation  of  the  Netherlands,  he  was  to  furnish 
the  Prince  of  Orange  with  one  hundred  thousand  crowns 
at  once,  and  every  three  months  with  another  hundred 
thousand.  The  Prince  was  to  have  liberty  to  raise  one 
thousand  cavalry  and  seven  thousand  infantry  in  France. 
Every  city  or  town  in  the  provinces  which  should  be  con- 
quered by  his  arms,  except  in  Holland  or  Zeeland,  should 


388  HISTORY   OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1573 

be  placed  under  the  sceptre  and  in  the  hands  of  the  King 
of  France.  The  provinces  of  Holland  and  Zeeland  should 
also  be  placed  under  his  protection,  but  should  be  governed 
by  their  own  gentlemen  and  citizens.  Perfect  religious 
liberty  and  maintenance  of  the  ancient  constitutions, 
privileges,  and  charters  were  to  be  guaranteed  '^  without 
any  cavilling  whatsoever.^'  The  Prince  of  Orange,  or  the 
estates  of  Holland  or  Zeeland,  were  to  reimburse  his 
Christian  Majesty  for  the  sums  which  he  was  to  advance. 
In  this  last  clause  was  the  only  mention  which  the  Prince 
made  of  himself,  excepting  in  the  stipulation  that  he  was 
to  be  allowed  a  levy  of  troops  in  France.  His  only  personal 
claims  were  to  enlist  soldiers  to  fight  the  battles  of  free- 
dom, and  to  pay  their  expense,  if  it  should  not  be  pro- 
vided for  by  the  estates.  At  nearly  the  same  period  he 
furnished  his  secret-  envoys,  Lumbres  and  Dr.  Taijaert, 
who  were  to  proceed  to  Paris,  with  similar  instructions. 

Count  Louis  required  peremptorily  that  the  royal  re- 
pentance should  bring  forth  the  fruit  of  salvation  for  the 
remaining  victims.  Out  of  the  nettles  of  these  dangerous 
intrigues  his  fearless  hand  plucked  the  "flower  of  safety" 
for  his  down-trodden  cause.  He  demanded  not  words, 
but  deeds,  or  at  least  pledges.  He  maintained  with  the 
agents  of  Charles  and  with  the  monarch  himself  the  same 
hardy  scepticism  which  was  manifested  by  the  Huguenot 
deputies  in  their-  conferences  with  Catharine  de  Medici. 
*'  Is  the  word  of  a  king,"  said  the  dowager  to  the  com- 
missioners, who  were  insisting  upon  guarantees — "is  the 
word  of  a  king  not  sufficient  ?"  "No,  madam,"  replied 
one  of  them — ^'by  St.  Bartholomew,  no  !" 

On  the  23d  of  March,  1573,  Schomberg  had  an  inter- 
view with  Count  Louis,  which  lasted  seven  or  eight  hours. 
In  that  interview  the  enterprises  of  the  Count,  "which," 
said  Schomberg,  "are  assuredly  grand  and  beautiful," 
were  thoroughly  discussed,  and  a  series  of  conditions, 
drawn  up  partly  in  the  hand  of  one,  partly  in  that  of  the 
other  negotiator,  definitely  agreed  upon.  These  condi- 
tions were  on  the  basis  of  a  protectorate  over  Holland  and 
Zeeland  for  the  King  of  France,  with  sovereignty  over 
the  other  places  to  be  acquired  in  the  Netherlands.    They 


1573]  THE   EPISTLE  389 

were  in  strict  accordance  with  the  articles  furnished  by 
the  Prince  of  Orange.  Liberty  of  worship  for  those  of 
both  religions,  sacred  preservation  of  municipal  charters, 
and  stipulation  of  certain  annual  subsidies  on  the  part  of 
France — in  case  his  Majesty  should  not  take  the  field — 
were  the  principal  features. 

While  Louis  was  thus  busily  engaged  in  Germany, 
Orange  was  usually  established  at  Delft.  He  felt  the 
want  of  his  brother  daily,  for  the  solitude  of  the  Prince, 
in  the  midst  of  such  fiery  trials,  amounted  almost  to  deso- 
lation. 

It  was  not  alone  the  battles  and  sieges  which  furnished 
him  with  occupation  and  filled  him  with  anxiety.  Alone 
he  directed  in  secret  the  politics  of  the  country,  and, 
powerless  and  outlawed  though  he  seemed,  was  in  daily 
correspondence  not  only  with  the  estates  of  Holland  and 
Zeeland,  whose  deliberations  he  guided,  but  with  the  prin- 
cipal governments  of  Europe.  The  estates  of  the  Nether- 
lands, moreover,  had  been  formally  assembled  by  Alva  in 
September,  at  Brussels,  to  devise  ways  and  means  for  con- 
tinuing the  straggle.  It  seemed  to  the  Prince  a  good 
opportunity  to  make  an  appeal  to  the  patriotism  of  the 
whole  country.  He  furnished  the  province  of  Holland, 
accordingly,  with  the  outlines  of  an  address  which  was 
forthwith  despatched,  in  their  own  and  his  name,  to  the 
general  assembly  of  the  Netherlands.  The  estates-general 
were  earnestly  adjured  to  come  forward  like  brothers  in 
blood  and  join  hands  with  Holland,  that  together  they 
might  rescue  the  fatherland  and  restore  its  ancient  pros- 
perity and  bloom. 

At  almost  the  same  time  the  Prince  drew  up  and  put  in 
circulation  one  of  the  most  vigorous  and  impassioned  pro- 
ductions which  ever  came  from  his  pen.  It  was  entitled 
an  ''Epistle,  in  form  of  supplication,  to  his  royal  Majesty 
of  Spain,  from  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  the  estates  of 
Holland  and  Zeeland."  The  document  produced  a  pro- 
found impression  throughout  Christendom.  It  was  a 
royal  appeal  to  the  monarch's  loyalty — a  demand  that  the 
land-privileges  should  be  restored  and  the  Duke  of  Alva 
removed.     It  contained  a  startling  picture  of  his  atroci- 


390  HISTORY   OP  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1573 

ties  and  the  nation^s  misery,  and,  with  a  few  energetic 
strokes,  demolished  the  pretence  that  these  sorrows  had 
been  cansed  by  the  people^'s  guilt. 

The  brave  words  in  this  document  were  destined  to  be 
bravely  fulfilled,  as  the  life  and  death  of  the  writer  and 
the  records  of  his  country  proved,  from  generation  unto 
generation.  If  we  seek  for  the  main-spring  of  the  energy 
which  thus  sustained  the  Prince  in  the  unequal  conflict 
to  which  he  had  devoted  his  life,  we  shall  find  it  in  the 
one  pervading  principle  of  his  nature — confidence  in  God. 
He  was  the  champion  of  the  political  rights  of  his  coun- 
try, but  before  all  he  was  the  defender  of  its  religion. 
Liberty  of  conscience  for  his  people  was  his  first  object. 
Freedom  of  worship  for  all  denominations,  toleration  for 
all  forms  of  faith,  this  was  the  great  good  in  his  philoso- 
phy. For  himself,  he  had  now  become  a  member  of  the 
Calvinist,  or  Eeformed  Church,  having  delayed  for  a  time 
his  public  adhesion  to  this  communion  in  order  not  to 
give  offence  to  the  Lutherans  and  to  the  Emperor.  He 
was  never  a  dogmatist,  however,  and  he  sought  in  Chris- 
tianity for  that  which  unites  rather  than  for  that  which 
separates  Christians.  In  the  course  of  October  he  jpublic- 
ly  joined  the  Church  at  Dort. 

The  happy  termination  of  the  siege  of  Alkmaar  was  fol- 
lowed, three  days  afterwards,  by  another  signal  success  on 
the  part  of  the  patriots.  Count  Bossu,  who  had  con- 
structed or  collected  a  considerable  fleet  at  Amsterdam, 
had,  early  in  October,  sailed  into  the  Zuyder  Zee,  not- 
withstanding the  sunken  wrecks  and  other  obstructions 
by  which  the  patriots  had  endeavored  to  render  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Y  impracticable.  The  patriots  of  North  Hol- 
land had,  however,  not  been  idle,  and  a  fleet  of  five-and- 
twenty  vessels,  under  Admiral  Dirkzoon,  was  soon  cruis- 
ing in  the  same  waters.  A  few  skirmishes  took  place,  but 
Bossu's  ships,  which  were  larger,  and  provided  with 
heavier  cannon,  were  apparently  not  inclined  for  the  close 
quarters  which  the  patriots  sought.  The  Spanish  Admi- 
ral, Hollander  as  he  was,  knew  the  mettle  of  his  country- 
men in  a  close  encounter  at  sea,  and  preferred  to  trust  to 
the  calibre  of  his  cannon.     On  the  11th  of  October,  how- 


1573]        NAVAL  ENGAGEMENT  ON  THE  ZUYDER  ZEE  391 

ever,  the  whole  patriot  fleet,  favored  by  a  strong  easterly 
breeze,  bore  down  upon  the  Spanish  armada,  which,  num- 
bering now  thirty  sail  of  all  denominations,  was  lying  off 
and  on  in  the  neighborhood  of  Horn  and  Enkhuizen. 
After  a  short  and  general  engagement,  nearly  all  the 
Spanish  fleet  retired  with  precipitation,  closely  pursued 
by  most  of  the  patriot  Dutch  vessels.  Five  of  the  King's 
ships  were  eventually  taken,  the  rest  effected  their  es- 
cape. Only  the  Admiral  remained,  who  scorned  to  yield, 
although  his  forces  had  thus  basely  deserted  him.  His 
ship,  the  Inquisition,  for  such  was  her  insolent  appella- 
tion, was  far  the  largest  and  best  manned  of  both  the 
fleets.  Most  of  the  enemy  had  gone  in  pursuit  of  the 
fugitives,  but  four  vessels  of  inferior  size  had  attacked  the 
Inquisition  at  the  commencement  of  the  action.  The 
Hollander,  as  usual,  attacked  with  pitch  hoops,  boiling 
oil,  and  molten  lead.  Repeatedly  they  effected  their  en- 
trance to  the  Admiral's  ship,  and  as  often  they  were  re- 
pulsed and  slain  in  heaps  or  hurled  into  the  sea.  The 
battle  began  at  three  in  the  afternoon,  and  continued 
without  intermission  through  the  whole  night,  and  was  re- 
newed the  next  day.  At  eleven  o'clock  the  next  morning 
Admiral  Bossu  surrendered,  and  with  three  hundred  pris- 
oners was  carried  into  Holland.  Bossu  was  himself  impris- 
oned at  Horn,  in  which  city  he  was  received  on  his  ar- 
rival with  great  demonstrations  of  popular  hatred.  The 
massacre  of  Rotterdam,  due  to  his  cruelty  and  treachery, 
had  not  yet  been  forgotten  or  forgiven. 

This  victory,  following  so  hard  upon  the  triumph  at 
Alkmaar,  was  as  gratifying  to  the  patriots  as  it  was  gall- 
ing to  Alva.  As  his  administration  drew  to  a  close,  it 
was  marked  by  disaster  and  disgrace  on  land  and  sea. 
Such  of  the  hostages  from  Haarlem  as  had  not  yet  been 
executed,  now  escaped  with  their  lives.  Moreover,  Sainte- 
Aldegonde,  the  eloquent  patriot  and  confldential  friend  of 
Orange,  who  was  taken  prisoner  a  few  weeks  later  in 
an  action  at  Maaslandsluis,  was  preserved  from  inevi- 
table destruction  by  the  same  cause.  The  Prince  hast- 
ened to  assure  the  Duke  of  Alva  that  the  same  measure 
would  be  dealt  to  Bossu  as  should  be  meted  to  Sainte- 


392  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1573 

Aldegonde.  It  was,  therefore,  impossible  for  the  gov- 
ernor-general to  execute  his  prisoner,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  submit  to  the  vexation  of  seeing  a  leading  rebel  and 
heretic  in  his  power  whom  he  dared  not  strike.  Both 
the  distinguished  prisoners  eventually  regained  their  lib- 
erty. 

The  Duke  was,  doubtless,  lower  sunk  in  the  estimation 
of  all  classes  than  he  had  ever  been  before  during  his 
long  and  generally  successful  life.  The  reverses  sus- 
tained by  his  army,  the  belief  that  his  master  had  grown 
cold  towards  him,  the  certainty  that  his  career  in  the 
Netherlands  was  closing  without  a  satisfactory  result,  the 
natural  weariness  produced  upon  men's  minds  by  the  con- 
templation of  so  monotonous  and  unmitigated  a  tyranny 
during  so  many  years,  all  contributed  to  diminish  his 
reputation.  He  felt  himself  odious  alike  to  princes  and 
to  plebeians.  Moreover,  he  had  kept  himself,  for  the 
most  part,  at  a  distance  from  the  seat  of  government. 
During  the  military  operations  in  Holland  his  head- 
quarters had  been  at  Amsterdam.  Here,  as  the  year 
drew  to  its  close,  he  had  become  as  unpopular  as  in  Brus- 
sels. 

He  had  contracted  an  enormous  amount  of  debt,  both 
public  and  private.  He  accordingly,  early  in  November, 
caused  a  proclamation  to  be  made  throughout  the  city,  by 
sound  of  trumpet,  that  all  persons  having  demands  upon 
him  were  to  present  their  claims,  in  person,  upon  a  speci- 
fied day.  During  the  night  preceding  the  day  so  appoint- 
ed the  Duke  and  his  train  very  noiselessly  took  their  de- 
parture, without  notice  or  beat  of  drum.  By  this  masterly 
generalship  his  unhappy  creditors  were  foiled  upon  the  very 
eve  of  their  anticipated  triumph ;  the  heavy  accounts  which 
had  been  contracted  on  the  faith  of  the  King  and  the  gov- 
ernor remained  for  the  most  part  unpaid,  and  many  opu- 
lent and  respectable  families  were  reduced  to  beggary. 
Such  was  the  consequence  of  the  unlimited  confidence 
which  they  had  reposed  in  the  honor  of  their  tyrant. 

On  the  17th  of  November,  Don  Luis  de  Eeqnesens  y 
Cuniga,  Grand  Commander  of  St.  Jago,  the  appointed  suc- 
cessor of  Alva,  arrived  in  Brussels,  where  he  was  received 


1573]  CLOSE   OF   THE  DUKE'S   CAREER  393 

with  great  rejoicings.  There  was,  of  course,  a  profuse  in- 
terchange of  courtesy  between  the  departing  and  the  new- 
ly arrived  governors.  Alva  was  willing  to  remain  a  little 
while,  to  assist  his  successor  with  his  advice,  but  preferred 
that  the  Grand  Commander  should  immediately  assume 
the  reins  of  office.  To  this  Eequesens,  after  much  respect- 
ful reluctance,  at  length  consented.  On  the  29th  of  No- 
vember he  accordingly  took  the  oaths,  at  Brussels,  as  lieu- 
tenant-governor and  captain -general,  in  presence  of  the 
Duke  of  Aerschot,  Baron  Berlaymont,  the  President  of  the 
Council,  and  other  functionaries. 

On  the  18th  of  December  the  Duke  of  Alva  departed 
from  the  provinces  forever.  He  was  well  received  by  his 
royal  master,  and  remained  in  favor  until  a  new  adventure 
of  Don  Frederic  brought  father  and  son  into  disgrace. 
Having  deceived  and  abandoned  a  maid  of  honor,  he  sud- 
denly espoused  his  cousin  in  order  to  avoid  that  repara- 
tion by  marriage  which  was  demanded  for  his  offence.  In 
consequence,  both  the  Duke  and  Don  Frederic  were  im- 
prisoned and  banished,  nor  was  Alva  released  till  a  gen- 
eral of  experience  was  required  for  the  conquest  of  Por- 
tugal. Thither,  as  it  were  with  fetters  on  his  legs,  he 
went.  After  having  accomplished  the  military  enter- 
prise entrusted  to  him  he  fell  into  a  lingering  fever,  at 
the  termination  of  which  he  was  so  much  reduced  that  he 
was  only  kept  alive  by  milk  which  he  drank  from  a  wom- 
an's breast.  Such  was  the  gentle  second  childhood  of  the 
man  who  had  almost  literally  been  drinking  blood  for  sev- 
enty years.     He  died  on  the  12th  of  December,  1582.* 

*  A  valuable  addition  to  the  original  material  accessible  for  the  study  of 
the  life  and  times  of  Philip's  great  general  is  the  Doatmentos  Escogidos 
del  Archivo  de  la  Casa  de  Alba,  published  by  the  Duchess  of  Berwick  and 
Alva  at  Madrid  in  1891.  Most  of  tliese  letters  and  papers  of  prominent  actors 
in  European  affairs  from  the  15th  to  the  18th  centuries  have  never  been  pub- 
lished, and  throw  new  light  on  many  points  of  history.  Among  other  curi- 
osities is  a  musical  panegyric  upon  Alva  as  Governor  of  the  Low  Countries. 


part  W 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  GRAND  COMMANDER 

1573-1576 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   DOLEFUL   DEFEAT   AT   MOOKERHEYDB 

The  horrors  of  Alva's  administration  had  caused  men  to 
look  back  with  fondness  upon  the  milder  and  more  vacilla- 
ting tyranny  of  the  Duchess  Margaret.  From  the  same 
cause  the  advent  of  the  Grand  Commander  was  hailed  with 
pleasure  and  with  a  momentary  gleam  of  hope.  The  new 
governor-general  was,  doubtless,  human,  and  it  had  been 
long  since  the  Netherlanders  imagined  anything  in  com- 
mon between  themselves  and  the  late  viceroy. 

Apart  from  this  hope,  however,  there  was  little  encour- 
agement to  be  derived  from  anything  positively  known  of 
the  new  functionary,  or  the  policy  which  he  was  to  repre- 
sent. Don  Luis  de  Eequesens  and  Cuiiiga,  Grand  Com- 
mander of  Castile  and  the  late  governor  of  Milan,  was  a  man 
of  mediocre  abilities,  who  possessed  a  reputation  for  mod- 
eration and  sagacity  which  he  hardly  deserved.  His  mili- 
tary prowess  had  been  chiefly  displayed  in  the  bloody  and 
barren  battle  of  Lepanto,  where  his  conduct  and  counsel 
were  supposed  to  have  contributed,  in  some  measure,  to 
the  victorious  result.  His  administration  at  Milan  had 
been  characterized  as  firm  and  moderate.  Nevertheless, 
his  character  was  regarded  with  anything  but  favorable 
eyes  in  the  Netherlands.  Men  told  each  other  of  his  brok- 
en faith  to  the  Moors  in  Granada,  and  of  his  unpopularity 
in  Milan,  where,  notwithstanding  his  boasted  moderation, 
he  had,  in  reality,  so  oppressed  the  people  as  to  gain  their 
deadly  hatred.  They  complained,  too,  that  it  was  an  in- 
sult to  send,  as  governor-general  of  the  provinces,  not  a 
prince  of  the  blood,  as  used  to  be  the  case,  but  a  simple 
'*  gentleman  of  cloak  and  sword." 


398  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1573 

To  conquer  the  people  of  the  provinces,  except  by  ex- 
termination, seemed  difficult  —  to  judge  by  the  seven 
years  of  execution,  sieges,  and  campaigns  which  had  now 
passed  without  a  definite  result.  It  was,  therefore,  thought 
expedient  to  employ  concession.  The  new  governor  ac- 
cordingly, in  case  the  Netherlanders  would  abandon  every 
object  for  which  they  had  been  so  heroically  contending, 
was  empowered  to  concede  a  pardon.  It  was  expressly 
enjoined  upon  him,  however,  that  no  conciliatory  measures 
should  be  adopted  in  which  the  King's  absolute  supremacy 
and  the  total  prohibition  of  every  form  of  worship  but  the 
Roman  Catholic  were  not  assumed  as  a  basis.  Now,  as 
the  people  had  been  contending  at  least  ten  years  long  for 
constitutional  rights  against  prerogative,  and  at  least  seven 
for  liberty  of  conscience  against  papistry,  it  was  easy  to 
foretell  how  much  effect  any  negotiations  thus  commenced 
were  likely  to  produce. 

Yet,  no  doubt,  in  the  Netherlands  there  was  a  most 
earnest  longing  for  peace.  The  Catholic  portion  of  the 
popn^a.tion  were  desirous  of  a  reconciliation  with  their 
brethren  of  the  new  religion.  The  universal  vengeance 
which  had  descended  upon  heresy  had  not  struck  the 
heretics  only.  It  was  difficult  to  find  a  fireside,  Protestant 
or  Catholic,  which  had  not  been  made  desolate  by  execu- 
tion, banishment,  or  confiscation.  The  common  people 
and  the  grand  seigniors  were  alike  weary  of  the  war.  Not 
only  Aerschot  and  Viglius,  but  Noircarmes  and  Berlay- 
mont  were  desirous  that  peace  should  be  at  last  compass- 
ed upon  liberal  terms,  and  the  Prince  of  Orange  fully  and 
unconditionally  pardoned.  Even  the  Spanish  command- 
ers had  become  disgusted  with  the  monotonous  butchery 
which  had  stained  their  swords. 

Moreover,  the  Grand  Commander  discovered,  at  his  first 
glance  into  the  disorderly  state  of  the  exchequer,  that  at 
least  a  short  respite  was  desirable  before  proceeding  with 
the  interminable  measures  of  hostility  against  the  rebel- 
lion. If  any  man  had  ever  been  disposed  to  give  Alva 
credit  for  administrative  ability,  such  delusion  must  have 
vanished  at  the  spectacle  of  confusion  and  bankruptcy 
which  presented  itself  at  the  termination  of  his  govern- 


DK    KKqUKSKNJ 


1673]  A  BARREN  EXCHEQUER  399 

ment.  He  took  his  departure,  accordingly,  leaving  Eeqne- 
sens  in  profound  ignorance  as  to  liis  past  accounts  ;  an  ig- 
norance in  which  it  is  probable  that  the  Duke  himself 
shared  to  the  fullest  extent.  The  rebellion  had  already 
been  an  expensive  matter  to  the  Crown.  The  army  in  the 
Netherlands  numbered  more  than  sixty-two  thousand  men, 
eight  thousand  being  Spaniards,  the  rest  Walloons  and 
Germans.  Forty  millions  of  dollars  had  already  been  sunk, 
and  it  seemed  probable  that  it  would  require  nearly  the 
whole  annual  produce  of  the  American  mines  to  sustain 
the  war.  The  transatlantic  gold  and  silver,  disinterred 
from  the  depths  where  they  had  been  buried  for  ages, 
were  employed,  not  to  expand  the  current  of  a  healthy, 
life-giving  commerce,  but  to  be  melted  into  blood.  The 
sweat  and  the  tortures  of  the  King's  pagan  subjects  in  the 
primeval  forests  of  the  New  World  were  made  subsidiary 
to  the  extermination  of  his  Netherlands  people  and  the  de- 
struction of  an  ancient  civilization.  To  this  end  had  Co- 
lumbus discovered  a  hemisphere  for  Castile  and  Aragon, 
and  the  new  Indies  revealed  their  hidden  treasures  ? 

Forty  millions  of  ducats  had  been  spent.  Six  and  a 
half  millions  of  arrearages  were  due  to  the  army,  while  its 
current  expenses  were  six  hundred  thousand  a  month. 
The  military  expenses  alone  of  the  Netherlands  were  ac- 
cordingly more  than  seven  millions  of  dollars  yearly,  and 
the  mines  of  the  New  World  produced,  during  the  half 
century  of  Philip's  reign,  an  average  of  only  eleven  millions. 
Against  this  constantly  increasing  deficit  there  was  not  a 
stiver  in  the  exchequer,  nor  the  means  of  raising  one. 

It  was,  therefore,  obvious  to  Requesens  that  it  would 
be  useful  at  the  moment  to  hold  out  hopes  of  pardon  and 
reconciliation.  He  saw,  what  he  had  not  at  first  compre- 
hended, and  what  few  bigoted  supporters  of  absolutism  in 
any  age  have  ever  comprehended,  that  national  enthusiasm, 
when  profound  and  general,  makes  a  rebellion  more  expen- 
sive to  the  despot  than  to  the  insurgents.  The  moral 
which  the  new  governor  drew  from  his  correct  diagnosis 
of  the  prevailing  disorder  was  not  that  this  national  en- 
thusiasm should  be  respected,  but  that  it  should  be  de- 
ceived.    He  deceived  no  one  but  himself,  however.     He 


400  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [15Y3 

censured  Noircarmes  and  Eomero  for  their  intermeddling, 
but  held  out  hopes  of  a  general  pacification.  He  repudi- 
ated the  idea  of  any  reconciliation  between  the  King  and 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  but  proposed  at  the  same  time  a 
settlement  of  the  revolt.  He  had  not  yet  learned  that  the 
revolt  and  William  of  Orange  were  one.  Although  the 
Prince  himself  had  repeatedly  offered  to  withdraw  for  ever 
from  the  country  if  his  absence  would  expedite  a  settle- 
ment satisfactory  to  the  provinces,  there  was  not  a  patriot 
in  the  Netherlands  who  could  contemplate  his  departure 
without  despair.  Moreover,  they  all  knew,  better  than  did 
Requesens,  the  inevitable  result  of  the  pacific  measures 
which  had  been  daily  foreshadowed. 

In  the  embarrassed  condition  of  affairs,  and  while  wait- 
ing for  further  supplies,  the  Commander  was  secretly  dis- 
posed to  try  the  effect  of  a  pardon.  The  object  was  to 
deceive  the  people  and  to  gain  time ;  for  there  was  no 
intention  of  conceding  liberty  of  conscience,  of  withdraw- 
ing foreign  troops,  or  of  assembling  the  states-general. 
It  was,  however,  not  possible  to  apply  these  hypocritical 
measures  of  conciliation  immediately.  The  war  was  in 
full  career,  and  could  not  be  arrested  even  in  that  wintry 
season.  The  patriots  held  Mondragon  closely  besieged 
in  Middelbnrg,  the  last  point  in  the  isle  of  Walcheren 
which  held  for  the  King.  There  was  a  considerable  treas- 
ure in  money  and  merchandise  shut  up  in  that  city;  and, 
moreover,  so  deserving  and  distinguished  an  officer  as 
Mondragon  could  not  be  abandoned  to  his  fate.  At  the 
same  time,  famine  was  pressing  him  sorely,  and  by  the 
end  of  the  year  garrison  and  townspeople  had  nothing 
but  rats,  mice,  dogs,  cats,  and  such  repulsive  substitutes 
for  food  to  support  life  withal.  It  was  necessary  to  take 
immediate  measures  to  relieve  the  place. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  situation  of  the  patriots  was  not 
very  encouraging.  Their  superiority  on  the  sea  was  un- 
questionable, for  the  Hollanders  and  Zeelanders  were  the 
best  sailors  in  th'6  world,  and  they  asked  of  their  country 
no  payment  for  their  blood  but  thanks.  The  land  forces, 
however,  were  usually  mercenaries,  who  were  apt  to  mu- 
tiny at  the  commencement  of  an  action  if,  as  was  too 


1573-4]  SPANISH   AND   PATRIOT   FLEETS  401 

often  the  case,  their  wages  could  not  be  paid.  Holland 
was  entirely  cut  in  twain  by  the  loss  of  Haarlem  and  the 
leaguer  of  Leyden,  no  communication  between  the  dis- 
severed portions  being  possible,  except  with  difficulty  and 
danger.  The  estates,  although  they  had  done  much  for 
the  cause  and  were  prepared  to  do  much  more,  were  too 
apt  to  wrangle  about  economical  details.  They  irritated 
the  Prince  of  Orange  by  huckstering  about  subsidies  to 
a  degree  which  his  proud  and  generous  nature  could 
hardly  brook.  He  had  strong  hopes  from  France.  Louis 
of  Nassau  had  held  secret  interviews  with  the  Duke  of 
AlenQon  and  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  now  King  of  Poland,  at 
Blamont.  AleuQon  had  assured  him  secretly,  affection- 
ately, and  warmly  that  he  would  be  as  sincere  a  friend 
to  the  cause  as  were  his  two  royal  brothers.  The  Count 
had  even  received  one  hundred  thousand  livres  in  hand 
as  an  earnest  of  the  favorable  intentions  of  France,  and 
was  now  busily  engaged,  at  the  instance  of  the  Prince, 
in  levying  an  army  in  Germany  for  the  relief  of  Leyden 
and  the  rest  of  Holland,  while  William,  on  his  part,  was 
omitting  nothing,  whether  by  representations  to  the  es- 
tates or  by  secret  foreign  missions  and  correspondence,  to 
further  the  cause  of  the  suffering  country. 

The  most  pressing  matter,  upon  the  Grand  Command- 
er's arrival,  was  obviously  to  relieve  the  city  of  Middel- 
burg.  Mondragon,  after  so  stanch  a  defence,  would  soon 
be  obliged  to  capitulate,  unless  he  should  promptly  re- 
ceive supplies.  Requesens  accordingly  collected  seventy- 
five  ships  at  Bergen-op-Zoom,  which  were  placed  nomi- 
nally under  the  command  of  Admiral  de  Glimes,  but  in 
reality  under  that  of  Julian  Romero.  Another  fleet  of 
thirty  vessels  had  been  assembled  at  Antwerp  under  San- 
cho  d'Avila.  Both,  amply  freighted  with  provisions,  were 
destined  to  make  their  way  to  Middelburg  by  the  two 
different  passages  of  the  Honde  and  the  Eastern  Scheldt. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Prince  of  Orange  had  repaired 
to  Flushing  to  superintend  the  operations  of  Admiral 
Boisot,  who  already,  in  obedience  to  his  orders,  had  got 
a  powerful  squadron  in  readiness  at  that  place.  Late  in 
January,  1574,  d'Avila  arrived  in  the   neighborhood  of 

26 


402  •      HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1574 

Flushing,  where  he  awaited  the  arrival  of  Romero's  fleet. 
United,  the  two  commanders  were  to  make  a  determined 
attempt  to  reinforce  the  starving  city  of  Middelburg. 
At  the  same  time.  Governor  Eequesens  made  his  appear- 
ance in  person  at  Bergen-op-Zoom  to  expedite  the  depart- 
ure of  the  stronger  fleet,  but  it  was  not  the  intention  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange  to  allow  this  expedition  to  save  the 
city.  The  Spanish  generals,  however  valiant,  were  to 
learn  that  their  genius  was  not  amphibious,  and  that  the 
Beggars  of  the  Sea  were  still  invincible  on  their  own  ele- 
ment, even  if  their  brethren  of  the  land  had  occasionally 
quailed. 

Admiral  Boisot's  fleet  had  already  moved  up  the  Scheldt 
and  taken  a  position  nearly  opposite  to  Bergen-op-Zoom. 
On  the  20th  of  January  the  Prince  of  Orange,  embarking 
from  Zierikzee,  came  to  make  them  a  visit  before  the 
impending  action.  They  swore  that  they  would  shed 
every  drop  of  blood  in  their  veins,  but  they  would  sustain 
the  Prince  and  the  country ;  and  they  solemnly  vowed 
not  only  to  serve,  if  necessary,  without  wages,  but  to  sac- 
rifice all  that  they  possessed  in  the  world  rather  than 
abandon  the  cause  of  their  fatherland.  Having  by  his 
presence  and  his  language  aroused  their  valor  to  so  high 
a  pitch  of  enthusiasm,  the  Prince  departed  for  Delft,  to 
make  arrangements  to  drive  the  Spaniards  from  the  siege 
of  Leyden. 

On  the  29th  of  January  the  fleet  of  Romero  sailed 
from  Bergen,  disposed  in  three  divisions,  each  numbering 
twenty-five  vessels  of  different  sizes.  As  the  Grand  Com- 
mander stood  on  the  dike  of  Schakerlo  to  witness  the 
departure,  a  general  salute  was  fired  by  the  fleet  in  his 
honor,  but  with  most  unfortunate  augury.  The  dis- 
charge, by  some  accident,  set  fire  to  the  magazines  of 
one  of  the  ships,  which  blew  up  with  a  terrible  explosion, 
every  soul  on  board  perishing.  The  expedition,  neverthe- 
less, continued  its  way.  Opposite  Romerswael,  the  fleet 
of  Boisot  awaited  them,  drawn  up  in  battle  array. 

A  single  broadside  from  the  Spaniards  proved  to  be  the 
first  and  last  of  the  cannonading.  As  many  of  Romero's 
vessels  as  could  be  grappled  with  in  the  narrow  estuary 


1574]  EVACUATION   OF  MIDDELBURG  403 

found  themselves  locked  in  close  embrace  with  their  ene- 
mies. A  murderous  hand-to-hand  conflict  succeeded. 
Battle-axe,  boarding-pike,  pistol,  and  dagger  were  the 
weapons.  Every  man  who  yielded  himself  a  prisoner  was 
instantly  stabbed  and  tossed  into  the  sea  by  the  remorse- 
less Zeelanders.  Fighting  only  to  kill,  and  not  to  plun- 
der, they  did  not  even  stop  to  take  the  gold  chains  which 
many  Spaniards  wore  on  their  necks.  It  had,  however, 
been  obvious  from  the  beginning  that  the  Spanish  fleet 
were  not  likely  to  achieve  that  triumph  over  the  patriots 
which  was  necessary  before  they  could  relieve  Middelburg. 
The  battle  continued  a  little  longer ;  but  after  fifteen 
ships  had  been  taken  and  twelve  hundred  royalists  slain, 
the  remainder  of  the  enemy's  fleet  retreated  into  Bergen. 
Sancho  d'Avila,  hearing  of  the  disaster  which  had  befallen 
his  countrymen,  brought  his  fleet,  with  the  greatest  expe- 
dition, back  to  Antwerp.  Thus  the  gallant  Mondragon 
was  abandoned  to  his  fate. 

That  fate  could  no  longer  be  protracted.  The  city  of 
Middelburg  had  reached  and  passed  the  starvation  point. 
Still  Mondragon  was  determined  not  to  yield  at  discretion, 
although  very  willing  to  capitulate.  The  Prince,  knowing 
that  the  brave  Spaniard  was  entirely  capable  of  executing 
his  threats  of  firing  the  city  and  perishing  with  all  in  the 
flames,  granted  honorable  conditions,  which,  on  the  18tli 
of  February,  were  drawn  up  in  five  articles,  and  signed, 
and  the  city  evacuated. 

The  Spaniards  had  thus  been  successfully  driven  from 
the  isle  of  Walcheren,  leaving  the  Hollanders  and  Zee- 
landers  masters  of  the  sea-coast.  Since  the  siege  of  Alk- 
maar  had  been  raised,  however,  the  enemy  had  remained 
within  the  territory  of  Holland.  Leyden  was  closely  in- 
vested, the  country  in  a  desperate  condition,  and  all  com- 
munication between  its  different  cities  nearly  suspended. 
It  was  comparatively  easy  for  the  Prince  of  Orange  to 
equip  and  man  his  fleets.  The  genius  and  habits  of  the 
people  made  them  at  home  upon  the  water,  and  inspired 
them  with  a  feeling  of  superiority  to  their  adversaries. 
It  was  not  so  upon  land.  Strong  to  resist,  patient  to 
suffer,  the  Hollanders,  although  terrible  in  defence,  had 


404  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [15Y4 

not  the  necessary  discipline  or  experience  to  meet  the 
veteran  legions  of  Spain  with  confidence  in  the  open 
field.  To  raise  the  siege  of  Leyden,  the  main  reliance  of 
the  Prince  was  upon  Count  Louis,  who  was  again  in 
Germany. 

Louis  had  been  actively  engaged  all  the  earlier  part  of 
the  winter  in  levying  troops  and  raising  supplies.  He  had 
been  assisted  by  the  French  princes  with  considerable 
sums  of  money,  as  an  earnest  of  what  he  was  in  future 
to  expect  from  that  source.  He  had  made  ati  unsuccess- 
ful attempt  to  effect  the  capture  of  Kequesens  on  his  way 
to  take  the  government  of  the  Netherlands.  He  had  then 
passed  to  the  frontier  of  France,  where  he-  had  held  his 
important  interview  with  Catharine  de  Medici  and  the 
Duke  of  Anjou,  then  on  the  point  of  departure  to  ascend 
the  throne  of  Poland.  He  had  received  liberal  presents, 
and  still  more  liberal  promises. 

Count  John  was  indefatigable  in  arranging  the  finances 
of  the  proposed  expedition,  and  in  levying  contributions 
among  his  numerous  relatives  and  allies  in  Germany,  while 
Louis  had  profited  by  the  occasion  of  Anjou^s  passage  into 
Poland  to  acquire  for  himself  two  thousand  German  and 
French  cavalry,  who  had  served  to  escort  that  Prince,  and 
who,  being  now  thrown  out  of  employment,  were  glad  to 
have  a  job  offered  them  by  a  general  who  was  thought  to 
be  in  funds.  Another  thousand  of  cavalry  and  six  thou- 
sand foot  were  soon  assembled  from  those  ever-swarming 
nurseries  of  mercenary  warriors,  the  smaller  German  states. 
With  these,  towards  the  end  of  February,  Louis  crossed 
the  Rhine  in  a  heavy  snow-storm,  and  bent  his  course 
towards  Maastricht.  All  the  three  brothers  of  the  Prince 
accompanied  this  little  army,  besides  Duke  Christopher, 
son  of  the  Elector  Palatine.  Before  the  end  of  the  month 
the  army  reached  the  Meuse,  and  encamped  within  four 
miles  of  Maastricht,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river. 

Meantime  the  Prince  of  Orange  had  raised  six  thousand 
infantry,  whose  rendezvous  was  the  isle  of  Bommel.  He 
was  disappointed  at  the  paucity  of  the  troops  which  Louis 
had  been  able  to  collect,  but  he  sent  messengers  imme- 
diately to  him,  with  a  statement  of  his  own  condition,  and 


1574]  LOUIS  AND   AVILA   ON  THE  MEUSE  405 

with  directions  to  join  him  in  the  isle  of  Bommel  as 
soon  as  Maastricht  should  be  reduced.  It  was,  however, 
not  in  the  destiny  of  Louis  to  reduce  Maastricht.  When 
he  encamped  opposite  Maastricht  he  found  the  river 
neither  frozen  nor  open,  the  ice  obstructing  the  naviga- 
tion, but  being  too  weak  for  the  weight  of  an  army. 
While  he  was  thus  delayed  and  embarrassed,  Mendoza 
arrived  in  the  city  with  reinforcements.  It  seemed  al- 
ready necessary  for  Louis  to  abandon  his  hopes  of  Maas- 
tricht. On  the  3d  of  March  Avila  arrived  with  a  large 
body  of  troops  at  Maastricht,  and  on  the  18th  Mendoza 
crossed  the  river  in  the  night,  giving  the  patriots  so  se- 
vere an  encamisada  that  seven  hundred  were  killed,  at 
the  expense  of  only  seven  of  his  own  party.  Harassed, 
but  not  dispirited,  by  these  disasters,  Louis  broke  up  his 
camp  on  the  21st,  and  took  a  position  farther  down  the 
river.  On  the  8th  of  April,  the  Spaniards  having  assem- 
bled a  large  force  of  veteran  troops  to  oppose  him,  he 
again  shifted  his  encampment,  and  took  his  course  along 
the  right  bank  of  the  Meuse,  between  that  river  and  the 
Ehine,  in  the  direction  of  Nimwegen.  Avila  promptly 
decided  to  follow  him,  upon  the  opposite  bank  of  the 
Meuse,  intending  to  throw  himself  between  Louis  and 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  by  a  rapid  march  to  give  the 
Count  battle  before  he  could  join  his  brother.  On  the 
8th  of  April,  at  early  dawn,  Louis  had  left  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Maastricht,  and  on  the  13th  he  encamped  at  the 
village  of  Mook,  on  the  Meuse,  near  the  confines  of  Cleves. 
Sending  out  his  scouts,  he  learned  to  his  vexation  that 
the  enemy  had  outmarched  him  and  were  now  within 
cannon-shot.  Thrust  as  he  was  like  a  wedge  into  the 
very  heart  of  a  hostile  country,  he  was  obliged  to  force 
his  way  through,  or  to  remain  in  his  enemy's  power. 
Moreover,  and  worst  of  all,  his  troops  were  in  a  state  of 
mutiny  for  their  wages.  While  he  talked  to  them  of 
honor  they  howled  to  him  for  money.  It  was  the  cus- 
tom of  these  mercenaries  to  mutiny  on  the  eve  of  battle — 
of  the  Spaniards,  after  it  had  been  fought.  By  the  one 
course  a  victory  was  often  lost  which  might  have  been 
achieved;  by  the  other,  when  won,  it  was  rendered  fruitless. 


406  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1574 

The  skirmishing  began  at  early  dawn  of  the  14th  of  April 
with  an  attack  upon  the  trench,  and  continued  some  hours, 
without  bringing  on  a  general  engagement.  Towards  ten 
o'clock  Count  Louis  became  impatient.  All  the  trumpets 
of  the  patriots  now  rang  out  a  challenge  to  their  adver- 
saries. The  Spaniards,  just  after  returning  the  defiance 
and  preparing  a  general  onset,  received  a  reinforcement  of 
one  thousand  men,  and  promise  of  five  hundred  more  next 
day.  A  council  of  war  hastily  held  decided  to  go  on  with 
the  battle.  The  skirmishing  at  the  trench  which  extended 
from  Mook  was  renewed  with  redoubled  vigor,  an  ad- 
ditional force  being  sent  against  it.  After  a  short  and 
fierce  struggle  it  was  carried,  and  the  Spaniards  rushed 
into  the  village,  but  were  soon  dislodged  by  a  larger  de- 
tachment of  infantry  which  Count  Louis  sent  to  the  rescue. 
The  battle  now  became  general  at  this  point. 

Nearly  all  the  patriot  infantry  were  employed  to  defend 
the  post ;  nearly  all  the  Spanish  infantry  were  ordered  to 
assail  it.  The  Spaniards,  dropping  on  their  knees  accord- 
ing to  custom,  said  a  Pater-noster  and  an  Ave-Maria,  and 
then  rushed  in  mass  to  the  attack.  After  a  short  but 
sharp  conflict  the  trench  was  again  carried,  and  the  pa- 
triots completely  routed.  Upon  this.  Count  Louis  charged 
with  all  his  cavalry  upon  the  enemy's  horse,  which  had 
hitherto  remained  motionless.  With  the  first  shock  the 
mounted  arquebusiers  of  Schenk,  constituting  the  van- 
guard, were  broken,  and  fled  in  all  directions.  So  great 
was  their  panic,  as  Louis  drove  them  before  him,  that 
they  never  stopped  till  they  had  swum  or  been  drowned 
in  the  river,  the  survivors  carrying  the  news  to  Grave  and 
to  other  cities  that  the  royalists  had  been  completely 
routed.  This  was,  however,  very  far  from  the  truth.  The 
patriot  cavalry,  mostly  carabineers,  wheeled  after  the  first 
discharge  and  retired  to  reload  their  pieces,  but  before 
they  were  ready  for  another  attack  the  Spanish  lancers 
and  the  German  black  troopers,  who  had  all  remained 
firm,  set  upon  them  with  great  spirit.  A  fierce,  bloody, 
and  confused  action  succeeded,  in  which  the  patriots  were 
completely  overthrown. 

Count  Louis,  finding  that  the  day  was  lost  and  his 


1674]  CHARACTER   OF  LOUIS  407 

army  cut  to  pieces,  rallied  around  him  a  little  band  of 
troopers,  among  whom  were  his  brother — Count  Henry — 
and  Duke  Christopher,  and  together  they  made  a  final 
and  desperate  charge.  It  was  the  last  that  was  ever  seen 
of  them  on  earth.  They  all  went  down  together  in  the 
midst  of  the  fight,  and  were  never  heard  of  more.  The 
battle  terminated,  as  usual  in  those  conflicts  of  mutual 
hatred,  in  a  horrible  butchery,  hardly  any  of  the  patriot 
army  being  left  to  tell  the  tale  of  their  disaster.  At  least 
four  thousand  were  killed,  including  those  who  were  slain 
on  the  field,  those  who  were  suffocated  in  the  marshes  or 
the  river,  and  those  who  were  burned  in  the  farm-houses 
where  they  had  taken  refuge.  It  was  uncertain  which  of 
those  various  modes  of  death  had  been  the  lot  of  Count 
Louis,  his  brother,  and  his  friend.  The  mystery  was  never 
solved.  They  had  probably  all  died  on  the  field ;  but, 
stripped  of  their  clothing,  with  their  faces  trampled  upon 
by  the  hoofs  of  horses,  it  was  not  possible  to  distinguish 
them  from  the  less  illustrious  dead. 

Thus  perished  Louis  of  Nassau  in  the  flower  of  his 
manhood,  in  the  midst  of  a  career  already  crowded  with 
events  such  as  might  suffice  for  a  century  of  ordinary  ex- 
istence. It  is  difficult  to  find  in  history  a  more  frank  and 
loyal  character.  His  life  was  noble  ;  the  elements  of  the 
heroic  and  the  genial  so  mixed  in  him  that  the  imagina- 
tion contemplates  him,  after  three  centuries,  with  an  al- 
most affectionate  interest.  He  was  not  a  great  man.  He 
was  far  from  possessing  the  subtle  genius  or  the  expansive 
views  of  his  brother  ;  but,  called  as  he  was  to  play  a  prom- 
inent part  in  one  of  the  most  complicated  and  imposing 
dramas  ever  enacted  by  man,  he  nevertheless  always  ac- 
quitted himself  with  honor.  His  direct,  fearless,  and  en- 
ergetic nature  commanded  alike  the  respect  of  friend  and 
foe.  As  a  politician,  a  soldier,  and  a  diplomatist,  he  was 
busy,  bold,  and  true.  He  accomplished  by  sincerity  what 
many  thought  could  only  be  compassed  by  trickery.  Deal- 
ing often  with  the  most  adroit  and  most  treacherous  of 
princes  and  statesmen,  he  frequently  carried  his  point, 
and  he  never  stooped  to  flattery.  From  the  time  when, 
attended  by  his  '*^  twelve  disciples,"  he  assumed  the  most 


408  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1574 

prominent  part  in  the  negotiations  with  Margaret  of 
Parma,  through  all  the  various  scenes  of  the  revolution, 
through  all  the  conferences  with  Spaniards,  Italians,  Hu- 
guenots, Malcontents,  Flemish  councillors,  or  German 
princes,  he  was  the  consistent  and  unflinching  supporter 
of  religious  liberty  and  constitutional  law.  The  battle  of 
Heiliger  Lee  and  the  capture  of  Mons  were  his  most  signal 
triumphs,  but  the  fruits  of  both  were  annihilated  by  sub- 
sequent disaster.  His  headlong  courage  was  his  chief 
foible.  The  French  accused  him  of  losing  the  battle  of 
Moncontour  by  his  impatience  to  engage  ;  yet  they  ac- 
knowledged that  to  his  masterly  conduct  it  was  owing 
that  their  retreat  was  effected  in  so  successful,  and  even 
so  brilliant,  a  manner.  He  was  censured  for  rashness  and 
precipitancy  in  this  last  and  fatal  enterprise,  but  the  re- 
proach seems  entirely  without  foundation.  The  expedition, 
as  already  stated,  had  been  deliberately  arranged,  with  the 
full  co-operation  of  his  brother,  and  had  been  several 
months  in  preparation.  That  he  was  able  to  set  no  larger 
force  on  foot  than  that  which  he  led  into  Guelders  was  not 
his  fault.  But  for  the  floating  ice,  which  barred  his  pas- 
sage of  the  Meuse,  he  would  have  surprised  Maastricht ; 
but  for  the  mutiny,  which  rendered  his  mercenary  soldiers 
cowards,  he  might  have  defeated  Avila  at  Mookerheyde. 
Had  he  done  so  he  would  have  joined  his  brother  in  the 
isle  of  Bommel  in  triumph,  the  Spaniards  would  prob- 
ably have  been  expelled  from  Holland,  and  Leyden  saved 
the  horrors  of  that  memorable  siege  which  she  was  soon 
called  upon  to  endure.  These  results  were  not  in  his 
destiny.  Providence  had  decreed  that  he  should  perish 
in  the  midst  of  his  usefulness  ;  that  the  Prince,  in  his 
death,  should  lose  the  right  hand  which  had  been  so  swift 
to  execute  his  various  plans,  and  the  faithful  fraternal 
heart  which  had  always  responded  so  readily  to  every  throb 
of  his  own. 

In  figure  he  was  below  the  middle  height,  but  martial  and 
noble  in  his  bearing.  The  expression  of  his  countenance 
was  lively ;  his  manner  frank  and  engaging.  All  who  knew 
him  personally  loved  him,  and  he  was  the  idol  of  his  gal- 
lant brethren.     His  mother  always  addressed  him  as  her 


1574]  A  FAMILY  OF  PATRIOTS  •    409 

dearly  beloved,  her  heart's  cherished  Louis.  '^  You  muat 
come  soon  to  me,"  she  wrote  in  the  last  year  of  his  life, 
'^  for  I  have  many  matters  to  ask  your  advice  upon ;  and 
I  thank  you  beforehand,  for  you  have  loved  me  as  your 
mother  all  the  days  of  your  life ;  for  which  may  God  Al- 
mighty have  you  in  His  holy  keeping." 

It  was  the  doom  of  this  high-born,  true-hearted  dame 
to  be  called  upon  to  weep  oftener  for  her  children  than  is 
the  usual  lot  of  mothers.  Count  Adolphus  had  already 
perished  in  his  youth,  on  the  field  of  Heiliger  Lee,  and  now 
Louis,  and  his  young  brother  Henry,  who  had  scarcely  at- 
tained his  twenty -sixth  year,  and  whose  short  life  liad 
been  passed  in  that  faithful  service  to  the  cause  of  free- 
dom which  was  the  instinct  of  his  race,  had  both  found  a 
bloody  and  an  unknown  grave.*  Count  John,  who  had 
already  done  so  much  for  the  cause,  was  fortunately  spared 
to  do  much  more.  Although  of  the  expedition,  and  ex- 
pecting to  participate  in  the  battle,  he  had,  at  the  urgent 
solicitation  of  all  the  leaders,  left  the  army  for  a  brief  sea- 
son, in  order  to  obtain  at  Cologne  a  supply  of  money  for 
the  mutinous  troops.  He  had  started  upon  this  mission 
two  days  before  the  action  in  which  he,  too,  would  other- 
wise have  been  sacrificed. 

The  victory  of  the  King's  army  at  Mookerheyde  had 
been  rendered  comparatively  barren  by  the  mutiny  which 
broke  forth  the  day  after  the  battle.  Three  years'  pay 
was  due  to  the  Spanish  troops,  and  it  was  not  surprising 
that  upon  this  occasion  one  of  those  periodic  rebellions 
should  break  forth,  by  which  the  royal  cause  was  fre- 
quently so  much  weakened  and  the  royal  governors  so 
intolerably  perplexed. 

On  receiving  nothing  but  promises  in  answer  to  their 
clamorous  demands,  they  mutinied  to  a  man,  and  crossed 
the  Meuse  to  Grave,  whence,  after  accomplising  the  usual 

*  Dr.  p.  J.  Blok,  successor  of  Professor  Fruin  in  the  chair  of  modern 
history  in  Leyden  University,  and  author  of  a  Bistoiy  of  the  Netherlandish 
People,  has  published  a  biography  of  Count  Louis  ("  Lodewijk  Van  Nas- 
sau"), Hague,  1889.  Largely  through  Dr.  Blok's  labors  and  influence  there 
has  been  erected  in  the  Reformed  Church  at  Mook  a  handsome  memorial  in 
colored  marbles  to  the  noble  patriots  Louis  and  Henry. 


410     •  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [15H 

elections,  they  took  their  course  to  Antwerp.  Being  in 
such  strong  force,  they  determined  to  strike  at  the  capital. 
Kumor  flew  before  them.  Ohampagny,  brother  of  Gran- 
velle,  and  royal  governor  of  the  city,  wrote  in  haste  to  ap- 
prise Keqnesens  of  the  approaching  danger.  The  Grand 
Commander,  attended  only  by  Vitelli,  repaired  instantly 
to  Antwerp.  Ohampagny  advised  throwing  up  a  breastwork 
with  bales  of  merchandise  upon  the  esplanade,  between 
the  citadel  and  the  town,  for  it  was  at  this  point,  where 
the  connection  between  the  fortifications  of  the  castle  and 
those  of  the  city  had  never  been  thoroughly  completed, 
that  the  invasion  might  be  expected.  Requesens  hesitat- 
ed. He  trembled  at  a  conflict  with  his  own  soldiery.  If 
successful,  he  could  only  be  so  by  trampling  upon  the  flow- 
er of  his  army.  If  defeated,  what  would  become  of  the 
King's  authority,  with  rebellious  troops  triumphant  in  re- 
bellious provinces  ?  Sorely  perplexed,  the  commander 
could  think  of  no  expedient.  Not  knowing  what  to  do, 
he  did  nothing.  In  the  mean  time,  Ohampagny,  who  felt 
himself  odious  to  the  soldiery,  retreated  to  the  Newtown, 
and  barricaded  himself,  with  a  few  followers,  in  the  house 
of  the  Baltic  merchants. 

On  the  26th  of  April  the  mutinous  troops,  in  perfect 
order,  marched  into  the  city,  effecting  their  entrance  pre- 
cisely at  the  weak  point  where  they  had  been  expected. 
Numbering  at  least  three  thousand,  they  encamped  on  the 
esplanade,  where  Requesens  appeared  before  them  alone 
on  horseback,  and  made  them  an  oration.  They  listened 
with  composure,  but  answered  briefly  and  with  one  ac- 
cord, "Dineroynonpalabras"  (Money  and  not  words).  Re- 
quesens promised  profusely,  but  the  time  was  past  for 
promises.  Hard  silver  dollars  would  alone  content  an  army 
which,  after  three  years  of  bloodshed  and  starvation,  had 
at  last  taken  the  law  into  its  own  hands.  Requesens 
withdrew  to  consult  the  Broad  Oouncil  of  the  city.  He 
was  without  money  himself,  but  he  demanded  four  hun- 
dred thousand  crowns  of  the  city.  This  was  at  first  re- 
fused, but  the  troops  knew  the  strength  of  their  position, 
for  these  mutinies  were  never  repressed,  and  rarely  pun- 
ished.     On  this  occasion  the  commander  was  afraid  to 


1674]  ANTWERP  SEIZED  411 

employ  force^,  and  the  burghers,  after  the  army  had  been 
quartered  upon  them  for  a  time,  would  gladly  pay  a  heavy 
ransom  to  be  rid  of  their  odious  and  expensive  guests. 
The  mutineers,  foreseeing  that  the  work  might  last  a  few 
weeks  and  determined  to  proceed  leisurely,  took  posses- 
sion of  the  great  square.  The  Eletto,  or  leader,  with  his 
staff  of  councillors,  was  quartered  in  the  Town-house,  while 
the  soldiers  distributed  themselves  among  the  houses  of 
the  most  opulent  citizens,  no  one  escaping  a  billet  who 
was  rich  enough  to  receive  such  company  :  bishop  or  burgo- 
master, margrave  or  merchant.  The  most  famous  kitch- 
ens were  naturally  the  most  eagerly  sought,  and  sumptuous 
apartments,  luxurious  dishes,  delicate  wines,  were  daily 
demanded.     The  burghers  dared  not  refuse. 

The  six  hundred  Walloons,  who  had  been  previously 
quartered  in  the  city,  were  expelled,  and  for  many  days 
the  mutiny  reigned  paramount.  The  mutineers  raised  an 
altar  of  chests  and  bales  upon  the  public  square,  and  cele- 
brated mass  under  the  open  sky,  solemnly  swearing  to  be 
true  to  one  another  to  the  last.  Scenes  of  carousing  and 
merry-making  were  repeatedly  renewed  at  the  expense  of 
the  citizens,  who  were  exposed  to  nightly  alarms  from  the 
boisterous  mirth  and  ceaseless  mischief  -  making  of  the 
soldiers.  Before  the  end  of  the  month,  the  Broad  Coun- 
cil, exhausted  by  the  incubus  which  had  afflicted  them  so 
many  weeks,  acceded  to  the  demand  of  Requesens,  and 
furnished  four  hundred  thousand  crowns,  the  Grand  Com- 
mander accepting  them  as  a  loan,  and  giving  in  return 
bonds  duly  signed  and  countersigned,  together  with  a 
mortgage  upon  all  the  royal  domains.  The  citizens  re- 
ceived the  documents  as  a  matter  of  form,  but  they  had 
handled  such  securities  before,  and  valued  them  but 
slightly.  The  mutineers  now  agreed  to  settle  with  the 
governor  -  general,  on  condition  of  receiving  all  their 
wages,  either  in  cash  or  cloth,  together  with  a  solemn 
promise  of  pardon  for  all  their  acts  of  insubordination. 
This  pledge  was  formally  rendered  with  appropriate  re- 
ligious ceremonies,  by  Requesens,  in  the  cathedral.  The 
payments  were  made  directly  afterwards,  and  a  great  ban- 
quet was  held  on  the  same  day,  by  the  whole  mass  of  the 


412  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  []5'74 

soldiery,  to  celebrate  the  event.  The  feast  took  place  on 
the  place  of  the  Meer,  and  was  a  scene  of  furious  revelry. 
The  soldiers,  more  thoughtless  than  children,  had  arrayed 
themselves  in  extemporaneous  costumes,  cut  frojn  the 
cloth  which  they  had  at  last  received  in  payment  of  their 
sufferings  and  their  blood.  Broadcloths,  silks,  satins,  and 
gold-embroidered  brocades,  worthy  of  a  queen's  wardrobe, 
were  hung  in  fantastic  drapery  around  the  sinewy  forms 
and  bronzed  faces  of  the  soldiery,  who,  the  day  before, 
had  been  clothed  in  rags.  The  mirth  was  fast  and  fur- 
ious ;  and  scarce  was  the  banquet  finished  before  every 
drum-head  became  a  gaming-table,  around  which  gath- 
ered groups  eager  to  sacrifice  in  a  moment  their  dearly 
bought  gold. 

The  fortunate  or  the  prudent  had  not  yet  succeeded  in 
entirely  plundering  their  companions  when  the  distant 
booming  of  cannon  was  heard  from  the  river.  Instantly, 
accoutred  as  they  were  in  their  holiday  and  fantastic  cos- 
tumes, the  soldiers,  no  longer  mutinous,  were  summoned 
from  banquet  and  gaming-table,  and  were  ordered  forth 
upon  the  dikes.  The  patriot  Admiral  Boisot,  who  had 
so  recently  defeated  the  fieet  of  Bergen,  under  the  eyes  of 
the  Grand  Commander,  had  unexpectedly  sailed  up  the 
Scheldt,  determined  to  destroy  the  fleet  of  Antwerp,  which 
upon  that  occasion  had  escaped.  Between  the  forts  of 
Lillo  and  Calloo  he  met  with  twenty-two  vessels  under 
the  command  of  Vice-Admiral  Haemstede.  After  a  short 
and  sharp  action  he  was  completely  victorious.  Four- 
teen of  the  enemy's  ships  were  burned  or  sunk,  with  all 
their  crews,  and  Admiral  Haemstede  was  taken  prisoner. 
The  soldiers  opened  a  brisk  fire  of  musketry  upon  Boisot 
from  the  dike,  to  which  he  responded  with  his  cannon. 
The  distance  of  the  combatants,  however,  made  the  action 
unimportant,  and  the  patriots  retired  down  the  river  af- 
ter achieving  a  complete  victory.  The  Grand  Commander 
was  farther  than  ever  from  obtaining  that  foothold  on  the 
sea  which,  as  he  had  informed  his  sovereign,  was  the  only 
means  by  which  the  Netherlands  could  be  reduced. 


CHAPTER  II 

SIEGE   AND   RELIEF   OF   LEYDEl^- 

The  invasion  of  Louis  of  Nassau  had  effected  the  rais- 
ing of  the  first  siege  of  Leyden.  That  leaguer  had  lasted 
from  the  31st  of  October,  1573,  to  the  21st  of  March,  1574, 
when  the  soldiers  were  summoned  away  to  defend  the 
frontier.  By  extraordinary  and  culpable  carelessness,  the 
citizens,  neglecting  the  advice  of  the  Prince,  had  not 
taken  advantage  of  the  breathing-time  thus  afforded  them 
to  revictual  the  city  and  strengthen  the  garrison.  They 
seemed  to  reckon  more  confidently  upon  the  success  of 
Count  Louis  than  he  had  even  done  himself ;  for  it  was 
very  probable  that,  in  case  of  his  defeat,  the  siege  would 
be  instantly  resumed.  This  natural  result  was  not  long  in 
following  the  battle  of  Mookerheyde. 

On  the  26th  of  May  Valdez  reappeared  before  the  place, 
at  the  head  of  eight  thousand  Walloons  and  Germans,  and 
Leyden  was  now  destined  to  pass  through  a  fiery  ordeal. 
This  city  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  the  Nether- 
lands. Placed  in  the  midst  of  broad  and  fruitful  pastures, 
which  had  been  reclaimed  by  the  hand  of  industry  from 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  it  was  fringed  with  smiling  villages, 
blooming  gardens,  fruitful  orchards.  The  ancient,  and 
at  last  decrepit,  Rhine,  flowing  languidly  towards  its 
sandy  death-bed,  had  been  multiplied  into  innumerable 
artificial  currents,  by  which  the  city  was  completely  in- 
terlaced. These  watery  streets  were  shaded  by  lime-trees, 
poplars,  and  willows,  and  crossed  by  one  hundred  and 
forty-five  bridges,  mostly  of  hammered  stone.  The  houses 
were  elegant,  the  squares  and  streets  spacious,  airy,  and 
clean,  the  churches  and  public  edifices  imposing,  while 


414  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1574 

the  whole  aspect  of  the  place  suggested  thrift,  industry, 
and  comfort.  Upon  an  artificial  elevation,  in  the  centre 
of  the  city,  rose  a  ruined  tower  of  unknown  antiquity. 
By  some  it  was  considered  to  be  of  Roman  origin,  while 
others  preferred  to  regard  it  as  a  work  of  the  Anglo-Sax- 
on Hengist,  raised  to  commemorate  his  conquest  of  Eng- 
land.* Surrounded  by  fruit  trees,  and  overgrown  in  the 
centre  with  oaks,  it  afforded  from  its  mouldering  battle- 
ments a  charming  prospect  over  a  wide  expanse  of  level 
country,  with  the  spires  of  neighboring  cities  rising  in 
every  direction.  It  was  from  this  commanding  height, 
during  the  long  and  terrible  summer  days  which  were  ap- 
proaching, that  many  an  eye  was  to  be  strained  anxiously 
seaward,  watching  if  yet  the  ocean  had  begun  to  roll  over 
the  land. 

Valdez  lost  no  time  in  securing  himself  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Maaslandsluis,  Vlaardingen,  and  The  Hague.  Five 
hundred  English,  under  command  of  Colonel  Edward 
Chester,  abandoned  the  fortress  of  Valkenburg,  and  fled 
towards  Leyden.  Refused  admittance  by  the  citizens, 
who  now,  with  reason,  distrusted  them,  they  surrendered 
to  Valdez,  and  were  afterwards  sent  back  to  England. 
In  the  course  of  a  few  days  Leyden  was  thoroughly  in- 
vested, no  fewer  than  sixty-two  redoubts,  some  of  them 
having  remained  undestroyed  from  the  previous  siege, 
now  girdling  the  city,  while  the  besiegers  already  num- 
bered nearly  eight  thousand — a  force  to  be  daily  increased. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  were  no  troops  in  the  town,  save 
a  small  corps  of  "  freebooters '^  and  five  companies  of  the 
burgher  guard.  John  Van  der  Does,  Seigneur  of  Nord- 
wyck,  a  gentleman  of  distinguished  family,  but  still  more 
distinguished  for  his  learning,  his  poetical  genius,  and  his 
valor,  had  accepted  the  office  of  military  commandant. 

The  main  reliance  of  the  city,  under  God,  was  on  the 
stout  hearts  of  its  inhabitants  within  the  walls,  and  on 

*  Excavations  have  shown  that  the  present  mound  is  the  accumulated 
result  of  Keltic,  Teutonic,  Roman,  and  Mediaeval  fortification,  which  com- 
manded the  two  branches  of  the  Rhine,  the  tower,  or  lookout,  giving  its 
name  to  Lugdunum,  the  first  syllable  of  which  name  is  of  the  same  root 
with  the  word  "  look." 


16Y4]  PRELIMINARIES  OF  THE  SIEGE  415 

the  sleepless  energy  of  William  the  Silent  without.  The 
Prince,  hastening  to  comfort  and  encourage  the  citizens, 
although  he  had  been  justly  irritated  by  their  negligence 
in  having  omitted  to  provide  more  sufficiently  against  the 
emergency  while  there  had  yet  been  time,  now  reminded 
them  that  they  were  not  about  to  contend  for  themselves 
alone,  but  that  the  fate  of  their  country  and  of  unborn 
generations  would,  in  all  human  probability,  depend  on 
the  issue  about  to  be  tried.  Eternal  glory  would  be  their 
portion  if  they  manifested  a  courage  worthy  of  their  race 
and  of  the  sacred  cause  of  religion  and  liberty.  He  im- 
plored them  to  hold  out  at  least  three  months,  assuring 
them  that  he  would,  within  that  time,  devise  the  means 
of  their  deliverance.  The  citizens  responded  courage- 
ously and  confidently  to  these  missives,  and  assured  the 
Prince  of  their  firm  confidence  in  their  own  fortitude  and 
his  exertions. 

And  truly  they  had  a  right  to  rely  on  that  calm  and  un- 
flinching soul  as  on  a  rock  of  adamant.  All  alone,  with- 
out a  being  near  him  to  consult,  his  right  arm  struck  from 
him  by  the  death  of  Louis,  with  no  brother  left  to  him 
but  the  untiring  and  faithful  John,  he  prepared  without 
delay  for  the  new  task  imposed  upon  him.  France,  since 
the  defeat  and  death  of  Louis,  and  the  busy  intrigues 
which  had  followed  the  accession  of  Henry  the  Third,  had 
but  small  sympathy  for  the  Netherlands.  The  English 
government,  relieved  from  the  fear  of  France,  was  more 
cold  and  haughty  than  ever.  An  Englishman  employed 
by  Requesens  to  assassinate  the  Prince  of  Orange  had 
been  arrested  in  Zeeland,  who  impudently  pretended  that 
he  had  undertaken  to  perform  the  same  office  for  Count 
John,  with  the  full  consent  and  privity  of  Queen  Elizabeth. 
The  provinces  of  Holland  and  Zeeland  were  stanch  and 
true,  but  the  inequality  of  the  contest  between  a  few 
brave  men  upon  that  hand-breadth  of  territory  and  the 
powerful  Spanish  Empire  seemed  to  render  the  issue 
hopeless. 

Moreover,  it  was  now  thought  expedient  to  publish  the 
amnesty  which  had  been  so  long  in  preparation,  and  this 
time  the  trap  was  more  liberally  baited.     The  pardon. 


416  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [ISH 

which  had  passed  the  seals  upon  the  8th  of  March,  was 
formally  issued  by  the  Grand  Commander  on  the  6th  of 
June. 

For  a  moment  the  Prince  feared  lest  the  pardon  might 
produce  some  effect  upon  men  wearied  by  interminable 
suffering,  but  the  event  proved  him  wrong.  It  was  re- 
ceived with  universal  and  absolute  contempt.  The  city 
of  Leyden  was  equally  cold  to  the  messages  of  mercy 
which  were  especially  addressed  to  its  population  by 
Valdez  and  his  agents. 

According  to  the  advice  early  given  by  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  the  citizens  had  taken  an  account  of  their  pro- 
visions of  all  kinds,  including  the  live-stock.  By  the  end 
of  June  the  city  was  placed  on  a  strict  allowance  of  food, 
all  the  provisions  being  purchased  by  the  authorities  at 
an  equitable  price.  Half  a  pound  of  meat  and  half  a 
pound  of  bread  were  allotted  to  a  full-grown  man,  and  to 
the  rest  a  due  proportion.  The  city  being  strictly  in- 
vested, no  communication,  save  by  carrier-pigeons,  and 
by  a  few  swift  and  skilful  messengers  called  jumpers,  was 
possible.  Sorties  and  fierce  combats  were,  however,  of 
daily  occurrence,  and  a  handsome  bounty  was  offered  to 
any  man  who  brought  into  the  city  gates  the  head  of  a 
Spaniard.  The  reward  was  paid  many  times,  but  the 
population  was  becoming  so  excited  and  so  apt  that 
the  authorities  felt  it  dangerous  to  permit  the  contin- 
uance of  these  conflicts.  Lest  the  city,  little  by  little, 
should  lose  its  few  disciplined  defenders,  it  was  now  pro- 
claimed, by  sound  of  church  bell,  that  in  future  no  man 
should  leave  the  gates. 

The  Prince  had  his  headquarters  at  Delft  and  at  Eot- 
terdam.  Between  those  two  cities  an  importanf  fortress, 
called  Polderwaert,  secured  him  in  the  control  of  the 
alluvial  quadrangle,  watered  on  two  sides  by  the  Yssel 
and  the  Meuse.  On  the  29th  of  June  the  Spaniards,  feel- 
ing its  value,  had  made  an  unsuccessful  effort  to  carry 
this  fort  by  storm.  They  had  been  beaten  off,  with  the 
loss  of  several  hundred  men,  the  Prince  remaining  in 
possession  of  the  position,  from  which  alone  he  could 
hope  to  relieve  Leyden.     He  still  held  in  his  hand  the 


1574]  THE  PRINCE'S  PLAN   OF  RELIEF  417 

keys  with  which  he  could  unlock  the  ocean  gates  and  let 
the  waters  in  upon  the  land,  and  he  had  long  been  con- 
vinced that  nothing  could  save  the  city  but  to  break  the 
dikes.  Leyden  was  not  upon  the  sea,  but  he  could  send 
the  sea  to  Leyden,  although  an  army  fit  to  encounter  the 
besieging  force  under  Valdez  could  not  be  levied.  The 
battle  of  Mookerheyde  had,  for  the  present,  quite  settled 
the  question  of  land  relief,  but  it  w^as  possible  to  besiege  the 
besiegers  with  the  waves  of  the  ocean.  The  Spaniards  oc- 
cupied the  coast  from  The  Hague  to  Vlaardingen,  but  the 
dikes  along  the  Meuse  and  Yssel  were  in  possession  of  the 
Prince.  He  determined  that  these  should  be  pierced, 
while,  at  the  same  time,  the  great  sluices  at  Kotterdam, 
Schiedam,  and  Delftshaven  should  be  opened.  The 
damage  to  the  fields,  villages,  and  growing  crops  would 
be  enormous,  but  he  felt  that  no  other  course  could  rescue 
Leyden,  and  with  it  the  whole  of  Holland,  from  destruc- 
tion. His  clear  expositions  and  impassioned  eloquence  at 
last  overcame  all  resistance.  By  the  middle  of  July  the 
estates  fully  consented  to  his  plan,  and  its  execution  was 
immediately  undertaken.  On  the  3d  of  August  the 
Prince,  accompanied  by  Paul  Buys,  chief  of  the  commis- 
sion appointed  to  execute  the  enterprise,  went  in  person 
along  the  Yssel,  as  far  as  Kappelle,  and  superintended 
the  rupture  of  the  dikes  in  sixteen  places.  The  gates  at 
Schiedam  and  Eotterdam  were  opened,  and  the  ocean  be- 
gan to  pour  over  the  land.  While  waiting  for  the  waters 
to  rise,  provisions  were  rapidly  collected,  according  to  an 
edict  of  the  Prince,  in  all  the  principal  towns  of  the 
neighborhood,  and  some  two  hundred  vessels  of  various 
sizes  had  also  been  got  ready  at  Eotterdam,  Delftshaven, 
and  other  ports. 

The  citizens  of  Leyden  were,  however,  already  becom- 
ing impatient,  for  their  bread  was  gone,  and  of  its  sub- 
stitute, malt-cake,  they  had  but  slender  provision.  On 
the  12th  of  August  they  received  a  letter  from  the  Prince, 
encouraging  them  to  resistance  and  assuring  them  of  a 
speedy  relief,  and  on  the  21st  they  addressed  a  despatch 
to  him  in  reply,  stating  that  they  had  now  fulfilled  their 
original  promise,  for  they  had  held  out  two  months  with 
27 


418  HISTORY  OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1574 

food  and  another  month  without  food.  If  not  soon  as- 
sisted, human  strength  could  do  no  more  ;  their  malt-cake 
would  last  but  four  days,  and  after  that  was  gone  there 
was  nothing  left  but  starvation.  Upon  the  same  day, 
however,  they  received  a  letter,  dictated  by  the  Prince, 
who  now  lay  in  bed  at  Rotterdam  with  a  violent  fever, 
assuring  them  that  the  dikes  were  all  pierced,  and  that 
the  water  was  rising  upon  the  *^  Land-scheiding,"  the 
great  outer  barrier  which  separated  the  city  from  the  sea. 
He  said  nothing,  however,  of  his  own  illness,  which  would 
have  cast  a  deep  shadow  over  the  joy  which  now  broke 
forth  among  the  burghers. 

The  letter  was  read  publicly  in  the  market-place,  and 
to  increase  the  cheerfulness.  Burgomaster  Van  der  Werf, 
knowing  the  sensibility  of  his  countrymen  to  music, 
ordered  the  city  musicians  to  perambulate  the  streets 
playing  lively  melodies  and  martial  airs.  Salvos  of  cannon 
were  likewise  fired,  and  the  starving  city  for  a  brief  space 
put  on  the  aspect  of  a  holiday,  much  to  the  astonish- 
ment of  the  besieging  forces,  who  were  not  yet  aware  of 
the  Prince's  efforts.  They  perceived  very  soon,  however, 
as  the  water  everywhere  about  Leyden  had  risen  to  the 
depth  of  ten  inches,  that  they  stood  in  a  perilous  position. 
It  was  no  trifling  danger  to  be  thus  attacked  by  the  waves 
of  the  ocean,  which  seemed  about  to  obey  with  docility 
the  command  of  William  the  Silent.  Valdez  became 
anxious  and  uncomfortable  at  the  strange  aspect  of  af- 
fairs ;  for  the  besieging  army  was  now  in  its  turn  beleag- 
ured,  and  by  a  stronger  power  than  man's.  He  consulted 
with  the  most  experienced  of  his  officers,  with  the  country 
pQople,  with  the  most  distinguished  among  the  Glip- 
pers,  or  Dutch  friends  of  the  King,  and  derived  encour- 
agement from  their  views  concerning  the  Prince's  plan. 
They  pronounced  it  utterly  futile  and  hopeless.  The 
Glippers  knew  the  country  well,  and  ridiculed  the  desper- 
ate project  in  unmeasured  terms. 

The  fever  of  the  Prince  had,  meanwhile,  reached  its 
height.  He  lay  at  Rotterdam,  utterly  prostrate  in  body, 
and  with  mind  agitated  nearly  to  delirium  by  the  per- 
petual and  almost  unassisted  schemes  which  he  was  con- 


1674]  WILD    ZEEL ANDERS  419 

structing.  Eelief,  not  only  for  Leyden  but  for  the  whole 
country,  now  apparently  sinking  into  the  abyss,  was  the 
vision  which  he  pursued  as  he  tossed  upon  his  restless 
couch.     Never  was  illness  more  unseasonable. 

Towards  the  end  of  August  a  vague  report  had  found 
its  way  into  his  sick  chamber  that  Leyden  had  fallen,  and 
although  he  refused  to  credit  the  tale,  yet  it  served  to 
harass  his  mind  and  to  heighten  the  fever.  Cornelius 
Mierop,  who  paid  a  timely  visit,  was  enabled  flatly  to  con- 
tradict the  fiction.  The  Prince  began  to  mend  from  that 
hour.  By  the  end  of  the  first  week  of  September  he 
wrote  a  long  letter  to  his  brother,  assuring  him  of  his 
convalescence  and  expressing,  as  usual,  a  calm  confidence 
in  the  divine  decrees — "  God  will  ordain  for  me,"  said  he, 
*'  all  which  is  necessary  for  my  good  and  my  salvation. 
He  will  load  me  with  no  more  afflictions  than  the  fra- 
gility of  this  nature  can  sustain." 

The  preparations  for  the  relief  of  Leyden,  which,  not- 
withstanding his  exertions,  had  grown  slack  during  his 
sickness,  were  now  vigorously  resumed.  On  the  1st  of 
September  Admiral  Boisot  arrived  out  of  Zeeland  with  a 
small  number  of  vessels  and  with  eight  hundred  veteran 
sailors.  A  wild  and  ferocious  crew  were  those  eight  hun- 
dred Zeelanders.  Scarred,  hacked,  and  even  maimed,  in 
the  unceasing  conflicts  in  which  their  lives  had  passed ; 
wearing  crescents  in  their  caps  with  the  inscription, 
"Rather  Turkish  than  Popish";  renowned  far  and  wide, 
as  much  for  their  ferocity  as  for  their  nautical  skill ;  the 
appearance  of  these  wildest  of  the  "sea-beggars"  was 
both  eccentric  and  terrific.  They  were  known  never  to 
give  nor  to  take  quarter,  for  they  went  to  mortal  combat 
only,  and  had  sworn  not  to  spare  noble  or  simple,  king, 
kaiser,  or  pope,  should  they  fall  into  their  power. 

More  than  two  hundred  vessels  had  been  now  assembled, 
carrying  generally  ten  pieces  of  cannon,  with  from  ten  to 
eighteen  oars,  and  manned  with  twenty-five  hundred  vet- 
erans, experienced  both  on  land  and  water.  The  work 
was  now  undertaken  in  earnest.  The  distance  from  Ley- 
den to  the  outer  dike,  over  whose  ruins  the  ocean  had  al- 
ready been  admitted,  was  nearly  fifteen  miles.     This  re- 


420  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1574 

claimed  territory,  however,  was  not  maintained  against 
the  sea  by  these  external  barriers  alone.  The  flotilla  made 
its  way  with  ease  to  the  Land-scheiding,  a  strong  dike 
within  five  miles  of  Leyden,  but  here  its  progress  was  ar- 
rested. The  approach  to  the  city  was  surrounded  by 
many  strong  ramparts,  one  within  the  other,  by  which  it 
was  defended  against  its  ancient  enemy,  the  ocean,  pre- 
cisely like  the  circumvallations  by  means  of  which  it 
was  now  assailed  by  its  more  recent  enemy,  the  Spaniard. 
To  enable  the  fleet,  however,  to  sail  over  the  land,  it  was 
necessary  to  break  through  this  twofold  series  of  defences. 
Between  the  Land  -  scheiding  and  Leyden  were  several 
dikes  which  kept  out  the  water;  upon  the  level  terri- 
tory thus  encircled  were  many  villages,  together  with  a 
chain  of  sixty-two  forts,  which  completely  occupied  the 
land.  All  these  villages  and  fortresses  were  held  by  the 
veteran  troops  of  the  King  —  the  besieging  force  being 
about  four  times  as  strong  as  that  which  was  coming  to 
the  rescue. 

The  Prince  had  given  orders  that  the  Land-scheiding, 
which  was  still  one  and  a  half  feet  above  water,  should  be 
taken  possession  of  at  every  hazard.  On  the  night  of  the 
10th  and  11th  of  September  this  was  accomplished  by 
surprise  and  in  a  masterly  manner.  Then  followed  nearly 
a  fortnight  of  fighting  on  dike  and  deck,  the  forcing  of 
barriers,  the  driving  of  the  ships  over  the  water  through 
the  gaps,  alternate  victory  and  defeat,  the  rise  and  fall 
of  hopes  with  the  ebb  and  swell  of  the  borrowed  ocean 
flood,  the  burning  of  villages,  and  the  contraction  of  the 
Spaniards  into  an  ever  -  narrowing  circle  of  land  and 
forts. 

The  rescuing  fleet  was  delayed  at  North  Aa  by  barrier, 
called  the  '*  Kirk-way. ''  The  waters,  too,  spreading  once 
more  over  a  wider  space,  and  diminishing  under  an  east 
wind,  which  had  again  arisen,  no  longer  permitted  their 
progress,  so  that  very  soon  the  whole  armada  was  stranded 
anew.  The  waters  fell  to  the  depth  of  nine  inches,  while 
the  vessels  required  eighteen  and  twenty.  Day  after  day 
the  fleet  lay  motionless  upon  the  shallow  sea.  Orange, 
rising  froin  \ii^  sick-bed  as  soou  aa  be  could  stand,  now 


1674]  STARVATION  421 

came  on  board  the  fleet.  His  presence  diffused  universal 
joy;  his  words  inspired  his  desponding  army  with  fresh 
hope.  He  rebuked  the  impatient  spirits  who,  weary  of  their 
compulsory  idleness,  had  shown  symptoms  of  ill-timed 
ferocity,  and  those  eight  hundred  mad  Zeelanders,  so 
frantic  in  their  hatred  to  the  foreigners,  who  had  so  long 
profaned  their  land,  were  as  docile  as  children  to  the 
Prince.  He  reconnoitred  the  whole  ground,  and  issued 
orders  for  the  immediate  destruction  of  the  Kirk-way,  the 
last  important  barrier  which  separated  the  fleet  from  Ley- 
den.  Then,  after  a  long  conference  with  Admiral  Boisot, 
he  returned  to  Delft. 

Meantime  the  besieged  city  was  at  its  last  gasp.  Bread, 
malt -cake,  horse-flesh,  had  entirely  disappeared;  dogs, 
cats,  rats,  and  other  vermin,  were  esteemed  luxuries.  A 
small  number  of  cows,  kept  as  long  as  possible  for  their 
milk,  still  remained ;  but  a  few  were  killed  from  day  to 
day  and  distributed  in  minute  proportions,  hardly  suf- 
ficient to  support  life  among  the  famishing  population. 
Starving  wretches  swarmed  daily  around  the  shambles 
where  these  cattle  were  slaughtered,  contending  for  any 
morsel  which  might  fall,  and  lapping  eagerly  the  blood  as 
it  ran  along  the  pavement ;  while  the  hides,  chopped  and 
boiled,  were  greedily  devoured.  Women  and  children,  all 
day  long,  were  seen  searching  gutters  and  dunghills  for 
morsels  of  food,  which  they  disputed  fiercely  with  the  fam- 
ishing dogs.  The  green  leaves  were  stripped  from  the 
trees,  every  living  herb  was  converted  into  human  food, 
but  these  expedients  could  not  avert  starvation.  The  daily 
mortality  was  frightful — infants  starved  to  death  on  the 
maternal  breasts,  which  famine  had  parched  and  withered  ; 
mothers  dropped  dead  in  the  streets,  with  their  dead  chil- 
dren in  their  arms.  In  many  a  house  the  watchmen,  in 
their  rounds,  found  a  whole  family  of  corpses — father, 
mother,  and  children — side  by  side ;  for  a  disorder  called 
the  plague,  naturally  engendered  of  hardship  and  famine, 
now  came,  as  if  in  kindness,  to  abridge  the  agony  of  the 
people.  The  pestilence  stalked  at  noonday  through  the 
city,  and  the  doomed  inhabitants  fell  like  grass  beneath 
its  scythe.     From  six  thousand  to  eight  thousand  human 


422  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1574 

beings  sank  before  this  scourge  alone ;  yet  the  people  reso- 
lutely held  out — women  and  men  mutually  encouraging 
one  another  to  resist  the  entrance  of  their  foreign  foe — an 
evil  more  horrible  than  pest  or  famine. 

The  missives  from  Valdez,  who  saw  more  vividly  than 
the  besieged  could  do  the  uncertainty  of  his  own  position, 
now  poured  daily  into  the  city,  the  enemy  becoming  more 
prodigal  of  his  vows  as  he  felt  that  the  ocean  might  yet 
save  the  victims  from  his  grasp.  The  inhabitants,  in  their 
ignorance,  had  gradually  abandoned  all  hope  of  relief, 
but  they  spurned  the  summons  to  surrender.  Leyden  was 
sublime  in  its  despair.  A  few  murmurs  were,  however, 
occasionally  heard  at  the  steadfastness  of  the  magistrates, 
and  a  dead  body  was  placed  at  the  door  of  the  burgomas- 
ter, as  a  silent  witness  against  his  inflexibility.  A  party 
of  the  more  faint-hearted  even  assailed  the  heroic  Adrian 
Van  der  Werf  with  threats  and  reproaches  as  he  passed 
through  the  streets.  A  crowd  had  gathered  around  him 
as  he  reached  a  triangular  place  in  the  centre  of  the  town, 
into  which  many  of  the  principal  streets  emptied  them- 
selves, and  upon  one  side  of  which  stood  the  church  of 
St.  Pancras,  with  its  high  brick  tower  surmounted  by  two 
pointed  turrets,  and  with  two  ancient  lime-trees  at  its  en- 
trance. There  stood  the  burgomaster,  a  tall,  haggard,  im- 
posing figure,  with  dark  visage  and  a  tranquil  but  com- 
manding eye.  He  waved  his  broad -leafed  felt -hat  for 
silence,  and  then  exclaimed,  in  language  which  has  been 
almost  literally  preserved,  "  What  would  ye,  my  friends  ? 
Why  do  ye  murmur  that  we  do  not  break  our  vows  and 
surrender  the  city  to  the  Spaniards  ? — a  fate  more  horrible 
than  the  agony  which  she  now  endures.  I  tell  you  I  have 
made  an  oath  to  hold  the  city,  and  may  God  give  me 
strength  to  keep  my  oath  !  I  can  die  but  once  ;  whether  by 
your  hands,  the  enemy%  or  by  the  hand  of  God.  My  own 
fate  is  indifferent  to  me;  not  so  that  of  the  city  entrusted 
to  my  care.  I  know  that  we  shall  starve  if  not  soon  re- 
lieved, but  starvation  is  preferable  to  the  dishonored  death 
which  is  the  only  alternative.  Your  menaces  move  me 
not ;  my  life  is  at  your  disposal ;  here  is  my  sword,  plunge 
it  into  my  breast,  and  divide  my  flesh  among  you.     Take 


1674]  FORTITUDE— MIDNIGHT  BATTLES  423 

my  body  to  appease  your  hunger,  but  expect  no  surrender 
so  long  as  I  remain  alive/^ 

The  words  of  the  stout  burgomaster  inspired  a  new  cour- 
age in  the  hearts  of  those  who  heard  him,  and  a  shout  of 
applause  and  defiance  arose  from  the  famishing  but  en- 
thusiastic crowd.  They  left  the  place,  after  exchanging 
new  vows  of  fidelity  with  their  magistrate,  and  again  as- 
cended tower  and  battlement  to  watch  for  the  coming 
fleet.  From  the  ramparts  they  hurled  renewed  defiance 
at  the  enemy. 

On  the  28th  of  September  a  dove  flew  into  the  city, 
bringing  a  letter  from  Admiral  Boisot.  In  this  despatch 
the  position  of  the  fleet  at  North  Aa  was  described  in  en- 
couraging terms,  and  the  inhabitants  were  assured  that, 
in  a  very  few  days  at  furthest,  the  long-expected  relief 
would  enter  their  gates.  The  letter  was  read  publicly  upon 
the  market-place,  and  the  bells  were  rung  for  joy.  Nev- 
ertheless, on  the  morrow,  the  vanes  pointed  to  the  east, 
the  waters,  so  far  from  rising,  continued  to  sink,  and 
Admiral  Boisot  was  almost  in  despair.  He  wrote  to  the 
Prince  that  if  the  spring  tide,  now  to  be  expected,  should 
not,  together  with  a  strong  and  favorable  wind,  come  im- 
mediately to  their  relief,  it  would  be  in  vain  to  attempt 
anything  further,  and  that  the  expedition  would,  of  neces- 
sity, be  abandoned.  The  tempest  came  to  their  relief.  A 
violent  equinoctial  gale,  on  the  night  between  the  1st  and 
2d  of  October,  came  storming  from  the  northwest,  shift- 
ing after  a  few  hours  fully  eight  points,  and  then  blowing 
still  more  violently  from  the  southwest.  The  waters  of 
the  North  Sea  were  piled  in  vast  masses  upon  the  south- 
ern coast  of  Holland,  and  then  dashed  furiously  landward, 
the  ocean  rising  over  the  earth  and  sweeping  with  unre- 
strained power  across  the  ruined  dikes. 

In  the  course  of  twenty -four  hours  the  fleet  at  North 
Aa,  instead  of  nine  inches,  had  more  than  two  feet  of  wa- 
ter. No  time  was  lost.  The  Kirk-way,  which  had  been 
broken  through,  according  to  the  Prince's  instructions,  was 
now  completely  overflowed,  and  the  fleet  sailed  at  mid- 
night, in  the  midst  of  the  storm  and  darkness.  A  few 
sentinel  vessels  of  the  enemy  challenged  them  as  they  stead- 


424  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1574 

ily  rowed  towards  Zoeterwonde.  The  answer  was  a  flash 
from  Boisot's  cannon,  lighting  up  the  black  waste  of  wa- 
ters. There  was  a  fierce  naval  midnight  battle  :  a  strange 
spectacle  among  the  branches  of  those  quiet  orchards,  and 
with  the  chimney-stacks  of  half-submerged  farm-houses 
rising  around  the  contending  vessels.  The  neighboring 
village  of  Zoeterwonde  shook  with  the  discharges  of  the 
Zeelanders'  cannon,  and  the  Spaniards  assembled  in  that 
fortress  knew  that  the  rebel  Admiral  was  at  last  afloat  and 
on  his  course.  The  enemy^s  vessels  were  soon  sunk,  their 
crews  hurled  into  the  waves.  On  went  the  fleet,  sweeping 
over  the  broad  waters  which  lay  between  Zoeterwonde  and 
Zwieten.  As  they  approached  some  shallows,  which  led 
into  the  great  mere,  the  Zeelanders  dashed  into  the  sea, 
and  with  sheer  strength  shouldered  every  vessel  through. 
Two  obstacles  lay  still  in  their  path — the  forts  of  Zoeter- 
wonde and  Lammen,  distant  from  the  city  five  hundred 
and  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards  respectively.  Strong  re- 
doubts, both  well  supplied  with  troops  and  artillery,  they 
were  likely  to  give  a  rough  reception  to  the  light  flotilla, 
but  the  panic,  which  had  hitherto  driven  their  foes  before 
the  advancing  patriots,  had  reached  Zoeterwonde.  Hard- 
ly was  the  fleet  in  sight  when  the  Spaniards,  in  the  early 
morning,  poured  out  from  the  fortress  and  fled  precipi- 
tately to  the  left,  along  a  road  which  led  in  a  westerly  di- 
rection towards  The  Hague.  Their  narrow  path  was  rapid- 
ly vanishing  in  the  waves,  and  hundreds  sank  beneath  the 
constantly  deepening  and  treacherous  flood.  The  wild 
Zeelanders,  too,  sprang  from  their  vessels  upon  the  crum- 
bling dike  and  drove  their  retreating  foes  into  the  sea. 
They  hurled  their  harpoons  at  them  with  an  accuracy 
acquired  in  many  a  polar  chase  ;  they  plunged  into  the 
waves  in  keen  pursuit,  attacking  them  with  boat-hook  and 
dagger.  The  numbers  who  thus  fell  beneath  these  cor- 
sairs, who  neither  gave  nor  took  quarter,  were  never  count- 
ed, but  probably  not  less  than  a  thousand  perished.  The 
rest  effected  their  escape  to  The  Hague. 

The  first  fortress  was  thus  seized,  dismantled,  set  on 
fire,  and  passed,  and  a  few  strokes  of  the  oars  brought  the 
whole  fleet  close  to  Lammen.     This  last  obstacle  rose  for- 


1574]  BOISOT   DESPONDENT  425 

midable  and  frowning  directly  across  their  path.  Swarm- 
ing as  it  was  with  soldiers,  and  bristling  with  artillery, 
it  seemed  to  defy  the  armacja  either  to  carry  it  by  storm 
or  to  pass  under  its  guns  into  the  city.  It  appeared  that 
the  enterprise  was,  after  all,  to  founder  within  sight  of 
the  long  expecting  and  expected  haven.  Boisot  anchored 
his  fleet  within  a  respectful  distance,  and  spent  what  re- 
mained of  the  day  in  carefully  reconnoitring  the  fort,  which 
seemed  only  too  strong.  In  conjunction  with  Leyderdorp, 
the  headquarters  of  Valdez,  a  mile  and  a  half  distant  on 
the  right,  and  within  a  mile  of  the  city,  it  seemed  so  in- 
superable an  impediment  that  Boisot  wrote  in  despond- 
ent tone  to  the  Prince  of  Orange.  He  announced  his 
intention  of  carrying  the  fort,  if  it  were  possible,  on  the 
following  morning,  but  if  obliged  to  retreat,  he  observed, 
with  something  like  despair,  that  there  would  be  nothing 
for  it  but  to  wait  for  another  gale  of  wind.  If  the  waters 
should  rise  sufficiently  to  enable  them  to  make  a  wide 
detour,  it  might  be  possible,  if,  in  the  mean  time,  Leyden 
did  not  starve  or  surrender,  to  enter  its  gates  from  the 
opposite  side. 

Meantime,  the  citizens  had  grown  wild  with  expecta- 
tion. A  dove  had  been  despatched  by  Boisot  informing 
them  of  his  precise  position,  and  a  number  of  citizens 
accompanied  the  burgomaster,  at  nightfall,  towards  the 
tower  of  Hengist.  "Yonder,''  cried  the  magistrate, 
stretching  out  his  hand  towards  Lammen — "yonder,  be- 
hind that  fort,  are  bread  and  meat,  and  brethren  in  thou- 
sands. Shall  all  this  be  destroyed  by  the  Spanish  guns, 
or  shall  we  rush  to  the  rescue  of  our  friends  ?"  "We  will 
tear  the  fortress  to  fragments  with  our  teeth  and  nails," 
was  the  reply,  "before  the  relief,  so  long  expected,  shall 
be  wrested  from  us.''  It  was  resolved  that  a  sortie,  in 
conjunction  with  the  operations  of  Boisot,  should  be  made 
against  Lammen  with  the  earliest  dawn.  Night  descend- 
ed upon  the  scene,  a  pitch-dark  night,  full  of  anxiety  to 
the  Spaniards,  to  the  armada,  to  Leyden.  Strange  sights 
and  sounds  occurred  at  different  moments  to  bewilder 
the  anxious  sentinels.  A  long  procession  of  lights  issuing 
from  the  fort  was  seen  to  flit  across  the  black  face  of  the 


426  HISTORY  OP  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1574 

waters  in  the  dead  of  night,  and  the  whole  of  the  city 
wall  between  the  Cow  Gate  and  the  Tower  of  Burgun- 
dy fell  with  a  loud  crash.  The  horror-struck  citizens 
thought  that  the  Spaniards  were  upon  them  at  last ;  the 
Spaniards  imagined  the  noise  to  indicate  a  desperate 
sortie  of  the  citizens.  Everything  was  vague  and  myste- 
rious. 

Day  dawned  at  length  after  the  feverish  night,  and 
the  Admiral  prepared  for  the  assault.  Within  the  fortress 
reigned  a  death-like  stillness,  which  inspired  a  sickening 
suspicion.  Had  the  city,  indeed,  been  carried  in  the  night; 
had  the  massacre  already  commenced*;  had  all  this  labor 
and  audacity  been  expended  in  vain  ?  Suddenly  a  man 
was  descried  wading  breast-high  through  the  water  from 
Lammen  towards  the  fleet,  while  at  the  same  time  a 
solitary  boy  was  seen  to  wave  his  cap  from  the  summit  of 
the  fort.  After  a  moment  of  doubt  the  happy  mystery 
was  solved.  The  Spaniards  had  fled,  panic  struck,  during 
the  darkness.  Their  position  would  still  have  enabled 
them,  with  firmness,  to  frustrate  the  enterprise  of  the 
patriots,  but  the  hand  of  God,  which  sent  the  ocean  and 
the  tempest  to  the  deliverance  of  Leyden,  had  struck  her 
enemies  with  terror  likewise.  The  lights  which  had  been 
seen  moving  during  the  night  were  the  lanterns  of  the  re- 
treating Spaniards,  and  the  boy,  Gisbert  Cornellisen,  now 
waving  his  cap  from  the  battlements  had  alone  witnessed 
the  spectacle.  So  confident  was  he  in  the  conclusion  to 
which  it  led  him  that  he  had  volunteered  at  daybreak 
to  go  thither  all  alone.  The  magistrates,  fearing  a  trap, 
hesitated  for  a  moment  to  believe  the  truth,  which  soon, 
however,  became  quite  evident.  Valdez,  himself  flying 
from  Leyderdorp,  had  ordered  Colonel  Borgia  to  retire 
with  all  his  troops  from  Lammen.  Thus,  the  Spaniards 
had  retreated  at  the  very  moment  that  an  extraordinary 
accident  had  laid  bare  a  whole  side  of  the  city  for  their 
entrance.  The  noise  of  the  wall,  as  it  fell,  only  inspired 
them  with  fresh  alarm  ;  for  they  believed  that  the  citizens 
had  sallied  forth  in  the  darkness  to  aid  the  advancing 
flood  in  the  work  of  destruction.  All  obstacles  being 
now  removed,  the  fleet  of  Boisot  swept  by  Lammen  and 


16'74]  DELIVERANCE  427 

entered  the  city  on  the  morning  of  the  3d  of  October. 
Leyden  was  relieved. 

The  quays  were  lined  with  the  famishing  population 
as  the  fleet  rowed  through  the  canals,  every  human  being 
who  could  stand  coming  forth  to  greet  the  preservers  of 
the  city.  Bread  was  thrown  from  every  vessel  among  the 
crowd.  The  poor  creatures  who  for  two  months  had  tasted 
no  wholesome  human  food,  and  who  had  literally  been 
living  within  the  jaws  of  death,  snatched  eagerly  the 
blessed  gift,  at  last  too  liberally  bestowed.  Many  choked 
themselves  to  death  in  the  greediness  with  which  they 
devoured  their  bread ;  others  became  ill  with  the  effects 
of  plenty  thus  suddenly  succeeding  starvation  ;  but  these 
were  isolated  cases,  a  repetition  of  which  was  prevented. 
The  Admiral,  stepping  ashore,  was  welcomed  by  the  mag- 
istracy, and  a  solemn  procession  was  immediately  form- 
ed. Magistrates  and  citizens,  wild  Zeelanders,  emaciated 
burgher  guards,  sailors,  soldiers,  women,  children — nearly 
every  living  person  within  the  walls — all  repaired  without 
delay  to  the  great  church,  stout  Admiral  Boisot  leading 
the  way.  The  starving  and  heroic  city,  which  had  been 
so  firm  in  its  resistance  to  an  earthly  king,  now  bent  it- 
self in  humble  gratitude  before  the  King  of  kings.  After 
prayers,  the  whole  vast  congregation  joined  in  the  thanks- 
giving hymn.  Thousands  of  voices  raised  the  song,  but 
few  were  able  to  carry  it  to  its  conclusion,  for  the  uni- 
versal emotion,  deepened  by  the  music,  became  too  full 
for  utterance.  The  hymn  was  abruptly  suspended,  while 
the  multitude  wept  like  children.  This  scene  of  honest 
pathos  terminated,  the  necessary  measures  for  distribut- 
ing the  food  and  for  relieving  the  sick  were  taken  by  the 
magistracy.  A  note  despatched  to  the  Prince  of  Orange 
was  received  by  him  at  two  o'clock,  as  he  sat  in  church  at 
Delft.  It  was  of  a  somewhat  different  purport  from  that 
of  the  letter  which  he  had  received  early  in  the  same  day 
from  Boisot — the  letter  in  which  the  Admiral  had  in- 
formed him  that  the  success  of  the  enterprise  depended, 
after  all,  upon  the  desperate  assault  upon  a  nearly  impreg- 
nable fort.  The  joy  of  the  Prince  may  be  easily  imagined, 
and  so  soon  as  the  sermon  was  concluded,  he  handed  the 


438  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS  [1674 

letter  just  received  to  the  minister  to  be  read  to  the  con- 
gregation. Thus,  all  participated  in  his  joy  and  united 
with  him  in  thanksgiving. 

The  next  day,  notwithstanding  the  urgent  entreaties  of 
his  friends,  who  were  anxious  lest  his  life  should  be  en- 
dangered by  breathing,  in  his  scarcely  convalescent  state, 
the  air  of  the  city  where  so  many  thousand  had  been  dy- 
ing of  the  pestilence,  the  Prince  repaired  to  Leyden.  He, 
at  least,  had  never  doubted  his  own  or  his  country's  forti- 
tude. 

On  the  4th  of  October,  the  day  following  that  on  which 
the  relief  of  the  city  was  effected,  the  wind  shifted  to  the 
northeast,  and  again  blew  a  tempest.  It  was  as  if  the 
waters,  having  now  done  their  work,  had  been  rolled  back 
to  the  ocean  by  an  omnipotent  hand,  for  in  the  course  of 
a  few  days  the  land  was  bare  again  and  the  work  of  recon- 
structing the  dikes  commenced. 

After  a  brief  interval  of  repose,  Leyden  had  regained  its 
former  position.  The  Prince,  with  the  advice  of  the  es- 
tates, had  granted  the  city,  as  a  reward  for  its  sufferings, 
a  ten  days'  annual  fair,  without  tolls  or  taxes,  and  as  a 
further  manifestation  of  the  gratitude  entertained  by  the 
people  of  Holland  and  Zeeland  for  the  heroism  of  the  cit- 
izens, it  was  resolved  that  an  academy  or  university  should 
be  forthwith  established  within  their  walls.  The  Uni- 
versity of  Leyden,  afterwards  so  illustrious,  was  thus 
founded  in  the  very  darkest  period  of  the  country's  strug- 
gle. 

The  university  was  endowed  with  a  handsome  revenue, 
principally  derived  from  the  ancient  abbey  of  Egmont, 
and  was  provided  with  a  number  of  professors,  selected 
for  their  genius,  learning,  and  piety  among  all  the  most 
distinguished  scholars  of  the  Netherlands.  The  docu- 
ment by  which  the  institution  was  founded  was  certainly 
a  masterpiece  of  ponderous  irony,  for  as  the  fiction  of  the 
King's   sovereignty    was   still    maintained,*    Philip   was 

*  Under  this  same  fiction  of  the  royal  sovereignty,  the  English  Parlia- 
raent  issued  commissions  in  the  name  of  Charles  the  First  to  the  soldiers 
who  fought  against  the  King,  and  the  battle  of  Lexington  was  fought  and 

ovcl§r8,  m^W  Jwl^  4,  IW^  w§r§  isawed  m  the  mm^  Qf  George  the  Third, 


UNIVERSITY    OF    LKYDEN 


1574]  FOUNDATION   OF  THE   UNIVERSITY  429 

gravely  made  to  establish  the  university  as  a  reward  to 
Leyden  for  rebellion  to  himself.  ''  Considering,"  said 
this  wonderful  charter,  '^  that  during  these  present  weari- 
some wars  within  our  provinces  of  Holland  and  Zeeland, 
all  good  instruction  of  youth  in  the  sciences  and  liberal 
arts  is  likely  to  come  into  oblivion.  .  .  .  Considering 
the  differences  of  religion — considering  that  we  are  in- 
clined to  gratify  our  city  of  Leyden,  ivith  its  hurghers,  on 
account  of  the  heavy  burthens  sustained  hy  them  during 
this  war  with  such  faithfulness — we  have  resolved,  after 
ripely  deliberating  with  our  dear  cousin,  William,  Prince 
of  Orange,  stadholder,  to  erect  a  free  public  school  and 
university,"  etc.,  etc.,  etc.  So  ran  the  document  estab- 
lishing this  famous  academy,  all  needful  regulations  for 
the  government  and  police  of  the  institution  being  en- 
trusted by  Philip  to  his  "above-mentioned  dear  cousin 
of  Orange." 

The  university  having  been  founded,  endowed,  and  sup- 
plied with  its  teachers,  it  was  solemnly  consecrated  in  the 
following  winter,  and  it  is  agreeable  to  contemplate  this 
scene  of  harmless  pedantry,  interposed,  as  it  was,  be- 
tween the  acts  of  the  longest  and  dreariest  tragedy  of 
modern  time.  On  the  5th  of  February,  1575,  the  city  of 
Leyden,  so  lately  the  victim  of  famine  and  pestilence, 
crowned  itself  with  flowers.  At  seven  in  the  morning, 
after  a  solemn  religious  celebration  in  the  church  of  St. 
Peter,  a  grand  procession  was  formed.  It  was  preceded 
by  a  military  escort,  consisting  of  the  burgher  militia  and 
the  five  companies  of  infantry  stationed  in  the  city.  Then 
came,  drawn  by  four  horses,  a  splendid  triumphal  chariot, 
on  which  sat  a  female  figure  arrayed  in  snow-white  gar- 
ments. This  was  the  Holy  Gospel.  She  was  attended  by 
the  Four  Evangelists,  who  walked  on  foot  at  each  side  of 
her  chariot.  Next  followed  Justice,  with  sword  and  scales, 
mounted,  blindfold,  upon  a  unicorn,  while  those  learned 
doctors,  Julian,  Papinian,  ITlpian,  and  Tribonian,  rode 
on  each  side,  attended  by  two  lackeys  and  four  men-at- 
arms.  After  these  came  Medicine,  on  horseback,  holding 
in  one  hand  a  treatise  of  the  healing  art,  in  the  other  a 
garland  of  drugs.     The  curative  goddess  rode  between  the 


430  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  ^        [1574 

four  eminent  physicians,  Hippocrates,  Galen,  Dioscorides, 
and  Theoplirastus,  and  was  attended  by  two  footmen  and 
four  pike  -  bearers.  Last  of  the  allegorical  personages 
came  Minerva,  prancing  in  complete  steel,  with  lance  in 
rest,  and  bearing  her  Medusa  shield.  Aristotle  and  Plato, 
Cicero  and  Virgil,  all  on  horseback,  with  attendants  in 
antique  armor  at  their  back,  surrounded  the  daughter  of 
Jupiter,  while  the  city  band,  discoursing  eloquent  music 
from  hautboy  and  viol,  came  upon  the  heels  of  the  alle- 
gory. Then  followed  the  mace-bearers  and  other  officials, 
escorting  the  orator  of  the  day,  the  newly  appointed  pro- 
fessors and  doctors,  the  magistrates  and  dignitaries,  and 
the  body  of  the  citizens  generally  completing  the  proces- 
sion. 

Marshalled  in  this  order,  through  triumphal  arches 
and  over  a  pavement  strewed  with  flowers,  the  procession 
moved  slowly  up  and  down  the  different  streets  and  along 
the  quiet  canals  of  the  city.  As  it  reached  the  Nuns' 
Bridge,  a  barge  of  triumph,  gorgeously  decorated,  came 
floating  slowly  down  the  sluggish  Ehine.  Upon  its  deck, 
under  a  canopy  enwreathed  with  laurels  mid  oranges,  and 
adorned  with  tapestry,  sat  Apollo,  attended  by  the  Nine 
Muses,  all  in  classical  costume ;  at  the  helm  stood  Nep- 
tune with  his  trident.  The  Muses  executed  some  beauti- 
ful concerted  pieces ;  Apollo  twanged  his  lute.  Having 
reached  the  landing-place,  this  deputation  from  Parnas- 
sus stepped  on  shore,  and  stood  awaiting  the  arrival  of 
the  procession.  Each  professor,  as  he  advanced,  was 
gravely  embraced  and  kissed  by  Apollo  and  all  the  Nine 
Muses  in  turn,  who  greeted  their  arrival,  besides,  with  the 
recitation  of  an  elegant  Latin  poem.  This  classical  cere- 
mony terminated,  the  whole  procession  marched  together 
to  the  cloister  of  St.  Barbara,  the  place  prepared  for  the 
new  university,  where  they  listened  to  an  eloquent  oration 
by  the  Eev.  Caspar  Kolhas,  after  which  they  partook  of  a 
magnificent  banquet.  With  this  memorable  feast,  in  the 
place  where  famine  had  so  lately  reigned,  the  ceremonies 
were  concluded. 


CHAPTER  m 
THE  FIRST  UNION  OF  THE  DUTCH  STATES 

The  Coancil  of  Troubles,  or,  as  it  will  be  forever  de- 
nominated in  history,  the  Council  of  Blood,  still  existed, 
although  the  Grand  Commander,  upon  his  arrival  in  the 
Netherlands,  had  advised  his  sovereign  to  consent  to  the 
immediate  abolition  of  so  odious  an  institution.  Philip, 
accepting  the  advice  of  his  governor  and  his  cabinet,  had 
accordingly  authorized  him,  by  a  letter  of  the  10th  of 
March,  1574,  to  take  that  step  if  he  continued  to  believe 
it  advisable. 

Requesens  had  made  use  of  this  permission  to  extort 
money  from  the  obedient  portion  of  the  provinces.  An 
assembly  of  deputies  was  held  at  Brussels  on  the  7th  of 
June,  1574,  and  there  was  a  tedious  interchange  of  pro- 
tocols, reports,  and  remonstrances.  The  estates,  not  sat- 
isfied with  the  extinction  of  a  tribunal  which  had  at  last 
worn  itself  out  by  its  own  violence,  and  had  become  in- 
active through  lack  of  victims,  insisted  on  greater  con- 
cessions. They  demanded  the  departure  of  the  Spanish 
troops,  the  establishment  of  a  council  of  Netherlanders 
in  Spain  for  Netherland  affairs,  the  restoration  to  offices 
in  the  provinces  of  natives  and  natives  only ;  for  these 
drawers  of  documents  thought  it  possible  at  that  epoch 
to  recover  by  pedantry  what  their  brethren  of  Holland 
and  Zeeland  were  maintaining  with  the  sword.  It  was 
not  the  moment  for  historical  disquisition,  citations  from 
Solomon,  nor  chopping  of  logic ;  yet  with  such  lucubra- 
tions were  reams  of  paper  filled  and  days  and  weeks 
occupied.  The  result  was  what  might  have  been  ex- 
pected.     The    Grand    Commander   obtained   but   little 


433  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1574 

money  ;  the  estates  obtained  none  of  their  demands  ;  and 
the  Council  of  Blood  remained,  as  it  were,  suspended  in 
mid-air.  It  continued  to  transact  business  at  intervals 
during  the  administration  of  Requesens,  and  at  last,  after 
nine  years  of  existence,  was  destroyed  by  the  violent  im- 
prisonment of  the  Council  of  State  at  Brussels.  This 
event,  however,  belongs  to  a  subsequent  page  of  this  his- 
tory. 

Noircarmes  had  argued,  from  the  tenor  of  Sainte-Alde- 
gonde's  letters,  that  the  Prince  would  be  ready  to  accept 
his  pardon  upon  almost  any  terms.  Several  envoys  from 
the  Grand  Commander  met  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  dis- 
cussed the  matter.  Breath,  time,  and  paper  were  wasted, 
and  nothing  was  gained.  The  proceedings  on  the  part 
of  Sainte-Aldegonde,  Champagny,  Junius,  and  Elbertus 
Leoninus  extended  through  the  whole  summer  and  autumn 
of  1574,  and  were  not  terminated  until  January  of  the 
following  year. 

Changes,  fast  becoming  necessary  in  the  internal  govern- 
ment of  the  provinces,  were  also  undertaken  during  this 
year.  Hitherto  the  Prince  had  exercised  his  power  under 
the  convenient  fiction  of  the  King's  authority,  systemati- 
cally conducting  the  rebellion  in  the  name  of  his  Majesty, 
and  as  his  Majesty's  stadholder.  By  this  process  an  im- 
mense power  was  lodged  in  his  hands ;  nothing  less,  in- 
deed, than  the  supreme  executive  and  legislative  func- 
tions of  the  land ;  while,  since  the  revolt  had  become,  as 
it  were,  perpetual,  ample  but  anomalous  functions  had 
been  additionally  thrust  upon  him  by  the  estates  and  by 
the  general  voice  of  the  people. 

The  two  provinces,  even  while  deprived  of  Haarlem  and 
Amsterdam,  now  raised  two  hundred  and  ten  thousand 
florins  monthly,  whereas  Alva  had  never  been  able  to  ex- 
tract from  Holland  more  than  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
one  thousand  florins  yearly.  They  paid  all  rather  than 
pay  a  tenth.  In  consequence  of  this  liberality  the  cities 
insensibly  acquired  a  greater  influence  in  the  government. 
The  coming  contest  between  the  centrifugal  aristocratic 
principle,  represented  by  these  corporations,  and  the  cen- 
tral, popular  authority  of  the  stadholder  was  already  fore- 


1574]  DISCUSSIONS  433 

shadowed,  but  at  first  the  estates  were  in  perfect  harmony 
with  the  Prince.  They  even  urged  upon  him  more  power 
than  he  desired,  and  declined  functions  which  he  wished 
them  to  exercise.  On  the  7th  of  September,  1573,  it  had 
been  formally  proposed  by  the  general  council  to  confer  a 
regular  and  unlimited  dictatorship  upon  him,  but  in  the 
course  of  a  year  from  that  time  the  cities  had  begun  to 
feel  their  increasing  importance.  Moreover,  while  grow- 
ing more  ambitious,  they  became  less  liberal. 

The  Prince,  dissatisfied  with  the  conduct  of  the  cities, 
brought  the  whole  subject  before  an  assembly  of  the  estates 
of  Holland  on  the  20th  of  October,  1574.  He  stated  the  in- 
conveniences produced  by  the  anomalous  condition  of  the 
government.  He  complained  that  the  common  people 
had  often  fallen  into  the  error  that  the  money  raised  for 
public  purposes  had  been  levied  for  his  benefi.t  only,  and 
that  they  had,  therefore,  been  less  willing  to  contribute 
to  the  taxes.  As  the  only  remedy  for  these  evils,  he  ten- 
dered his  resignation  of  all  the  powers  with  which  he  was 
clothed,  so  that  the  estates  might  then  take  the  govern- 
ment, which  they  could  exercise  without  conflict  or  con- 
trol. For  himself,  he  had  never  desired  power,  except  as 
a  means  of  being  useful  to  his  country,  and  he  did  not 
offer  his  resignation  from  unwillingness  to  stand  by  the 
cause,  but  from  a  hearty  desire  to  save  it  from  disputes 
among  its  friends.  He  was  ready,  now  as  ever,  to  shed 
the  last  drop  of  his  blood  to  maintain  the  freedom  of  the 
land. 

This  straightforward  language  produced  an  instantane- 
ous effect.  The  estates  knew  that  they  were  dealing  with 
a  man  whose  life  was  governed  by  lofty  principles,  and 
they  felt  that  they  were  in  danger  of  losing  him  through 
their  own  selfishness  and  low  ambition.  They  were  em- 
barrassed, for  they  did  not  like  to  relinquish  the  authority 
which  they  had  begun  to  relish,  nor  to  accept  the  resigna- 
tion of  a  man  who  was  indispensable.  They  felt  that  to 
give  up  William  of  Orange  at  that  time  was  to  accept  the 
Spanish  yoke  forever.  At  an  assembly  held  at  Delft  on 
the  12th  of  November,  1574,  they  accordingly  requested 
him  ''to  continue  in  his  blessed  government,  with  the 

28 


434  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1574 

council  established  near  him/^  and  for  this  end  they 
formally  offered  to  him,  ^'  under  the  name  of  Governor  or 
'Regent,"  absolute  power,  authority,  and  sovereign  com- 
mand. In  particular  they  conferred  on  him  the  entire 
control  of  all  the  ships  of  war,  hitherto  reserved  to  the 
different  cities,  together  with  the  right  to  dispose  of  all 
prizes  and  all  moneys  raised  for  the  support  of  fleets.  They 
gave  him  also  unlimited  power  over  the  domains ;  they 
agreed  that  all  magistracies,  militia  bands,  guilds,  and 
communities,  should  make  solemn  oath  to  contribute  taxes 
and  to  receive  garrisons,  exactly  as  the  Prince,  with  his 
council,  should  ordain  ;  but  they  made  it  a  condition  that 
the  estates  should  be  convened  and  consulted  upon  re- 
quests, impositions,  and  upon  all  changes  in  the  governing 
body.  It  was  also  stipulated  that  the  judges  of  the  su- 
preme court  and  of  the  exchequer,  with  other  high  officers, 
should  be  appointed  by  and  with  the  consent  of  the  estates. 
The  Prince  expressed  himself  willing  to  accept  the  gov- 
ernment upon  these  terms.  He,  however,  demanded  an 
allowance  of  forty -five  thousand  florins  monthly  for  the 
army  expenses  and  other  current  outlays.  Here,  however, 
the  estates  refused  their  consent.  In  a  mercantile  spirit, 
unworthy  the  occasion  and  the  man  with  whom  they  were 
dealing,  they  endeavored  to  chaffer  where  they  should 
have  been  only  too  willing  to  comply,  and  they  attempted 
to  reduce  the  reasonable  demand  of  the  Prince  to  thirty 
thousand  florins.  The  Prince,  who  had  poured  out  his 
own  wealth  so  lavishly  in  the  cause,  who,  together 
with  his  brothers — particularly  the  generous  John  of 
Nassau — had  contributed  all  which  they  could  raise  by 
mortgage,  sales  of  jewelry  and  furniture,  and  by  exten- 
sive loans,  subjecting  themselves  to  constant  embarrass- 
ment and  almost  to  penury,  felt  himself  outraged  by  the 
paltriness  of  this  conduct.  He  expressed  his  indignation 
and  denounced  the  niggardliness  of  the  estates  in  the 
strongest  language,  and  declared  that  he  would  rather 
leave  the  country  forever,  with  the  maintenance  of  his 
own  honor,  than  accept  the  government  upon  such  dis- 
graceful terms.  The  estates,  disturbed  by  his  vehemence, 
and  struck  with  its  justice,  instantly,  and  without  further 


1674J  ASSEMBLY  AT   DORT  435 

deliberation,  consented  to  his  demand.  They  granted 
the  forty -five  thousand  florins  monthly,  and  the  Prince 
assumed  the  government,  thus  remodelled. 

During  the  autumn  and  early  winter  of  the  year  1574 
the  Emperor  Maximilian  had  been  actively  exerting  himself 
to  bring  about  a  pacification  of  the  Netherlands.  He  was 
certainly  sincere,  for  an  excellent  reason.  The  mediator 
was  anxious  for  a  settlement  because  the  interests  of  the 
imperial  house  required  it.  The  King  of  Spain  was  desir- 
ous of  peace,  but  was  unwilling  to  concede  a  hair.  The 
Prince  of  Orange  was  equally  anxious  to  terminate  the 
war,  but  was  determined  not  to  abandon  the  objects  for 
which  it  had  been  undertaken.  A  favorable  result,  there- 
fore, seemed  hardly  possible.  A  whole  people  claimed  the 
liberty  to  stay  at  home  and  practise  the  Protestant  re- 
ligion, while  their  King  asserted  the  right  to  banish  them 
forever,  or  to  burn  them  if  they  remained.  The  parties 
seemed  too  far  apart  to  be  brought  together  by  the  most 
elastic  compromise.  The  Prince  addressed  an  earnest  ap- 
peal to  the  assembly  of  Holland,  then  in  session  at  Dort, 
reminding  them  that  although  peace  was  desirable  it 
might  be  more  dangerous  than  war,  and  entreating  them, 
therefore,  to  conclude  no  treaty  which  should  be  incon- 
sistent with  the  privileges  of  the  country  and  their  duty 
to  God. 

It  was  now  resolved  that  all  the  votes  of  the  assembly 
should  consist  of  five  :  one  for  the  nobles  and  large  cities 
of  Holland,  one  for  the  estates  of  Zeeland,  one  for  the 
small  cities  of  Holland,  one  for  the  cities  Bommel  and 
Buren,  and  the  fifth  for  William  of  Orange.  The  Prince 
thus  effectually  held  in  his  hands  three  votes  :  his  own, 
that  of  the  small  cities — which  through  his  means  only 
had  been  admitted  to  the  assembly — and,  thirdly,  that  of 
Buren,  the  capital  of  his  son's  earldom.  He  thus  exer- 
cised a  controlling  influence  over  the  coming  deliberations. 
The  ten  commissioners  who  were  appointed  by  the  estates 
for  the  peace  negotiations  were  all  his  friends.  Among 
^them  were  Saint -Aldegonde,  Paul  Buys,  Charles  Boisot, 
and  Dr.  Junius.  The  plenipotentiaries  of  the  Spanish 
government  were  Leoninus,  the  Seigneur  de  Kassinghem, 


436  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1575 

Cornelins  Suis,  and  Arnold  Sasbout.  The  proceedings 
were  opened  at  Breda  upon  the  3d  of  March,  1575.  Lit- 
tle, if  anything,  new  was  developed  during  the  various 
sessions.  The  same  old  demands  were  insisted  upon  in 
substance  by  the  King  of  Spain.  The  provincial  pleni- 
potentiaries took  their  leave,  in  a  paper  dated  the  13th  of 
July,  1575. 

The  internal  government  of  the  insurgent  provinces  had 
remained  upon  the  footing  which  we  have  seen  established 
in  the  autumn  of  1574,  but  in  the  course  of  this  summer 
(1575),  however,  the  foundation  was  laid  for  the  union 
of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  under  the  authority  of  Orange. 
The  selfish  principle  of  municipal  aristocracy,  which  had 
tended  to  keep  asunder  these  various  groups  of  cities, 
was  now  repressed  by  the  energy  of  the  Prince  and  the 
strong  determination  of  the  people. 

In  April,  1575,  certain  articles  of  union  between  Hol- 
land and  Zeeland  were  proposed,  and  six  commissioners 
appointed  to  draw  up  an  ordinance  for  the  government  of 
the  two  provinces.  This  ordinance  was  accepted  in  gen- 
eral assembly  of  both.  It  was  in  twenty  articles.  It  de- 
clared that,  during  the  war,  the  Prince,  as  sovereign, 
should  have  absolute  power  in  all  matters  concerning  the 
defence  of  the  country.  He  was  to  appoint  military  offi- 
cers, high  and  low,  establish  and  remove  garrisons,  punish 
offenders  against  the  laws  of  war.  He  was  to  regulate 
the  expenditure  of  all  money  voted  by  the  estates.  He 
was  to  maintain  the  law,  in  the  King's  name,  as  Count  of 
Holland,  and  to  appoint  all  judicial  officers  upon  nomina- 
tions by  the  estates.  He  was,  at  the  usual  times,  to  ap- 
point and  renew  the  magistracies  of  the  cities,  according 
to  their  constitutions.  He  was  to  protect  the  exercise  of 
the  Evangelical  Eeformed  religion,  and  to  suppress  the 
exercise  of  the  Roman  religion^  without  permitting,  how- 
ever, that  search  should  be  made  into  the  creed  of  any 
person.  A  deliberative  and  executive  council,  by  which 
the  jealousy  of  the  corporations  had  intended  to  hamper 
his  government,  did  not  come  into  more  than  nominal 
existence. 

The  articles-  of  union  having  been  agreed  upon,  the 


15V6]  CHARLOTTE   OF  BOURBON  437 

Prince,  desiring  an  unfettered  expression  of  the  national 
will,  wished  the  ordinance  to  be  laid  before  the  people  in 
their  primary  assemblies.  The  estates,  however,  were  op- 
posed to  this  democratic  proceeding.  They  represented 
that  it  had  been  customary  to  consult,  after  the  city  mag- 
istracies, only  the  captains  of  companies  and  the  deans  of 
guilds  on  matters  of  government.  The  Prince,  yielding 
the  point,  the  captains  of  companies  and  deans  of  guilds 
accordingly  alone  united  with  the  aristocratic  boards  in 
ratifying  the  instrument  by  which  his  authority  over  the 
two  united  provinces  was  established.  On  the  4th  of 
June  this  first  union  was  solemnized. 

Upon  the  11th  of  July,  the  Prince  formally  accepted 
the  government.  He,  however,  made  an  essential  change 
in  a  very  important  clause  of  the  ordinance.  In  place  of 
the  words  the  '^Koman  religion,'^  he  insisted  that  the 
words,  ''  religion  at  variance  with  the  Gospel,"  should  be 
substituted  in  the  article  by  which  he  was  enjoined  to 
prohibit  the  exercise  of  such  religion.  This  alteration 
rebuked  the  bigotry  which  had  already  grown  out  of  the 
successful  resistance  to  bigotry,  and  left  the  door  open 
for  a  general  religious  toleration. 

Early  in  this  year  the  Prince  had  despatched  Sainte- 
Aldegonde  on  a  private  mission  to  the  Elector  Palatine. 
During  some  of  his  visits  to  that  potentate  he  had  seen  at 
Heidelberg  the  Princess  Charlotte  of  Bourbon.  That  lady 
was  daughter  of  the  Due  de  Montpensier,  the  most  ardent 
of  the  Catholic  Princes  of  France,  and  the  one  who  at  the 
conferences  of  Bayonne  had  been  most  indignant  at  the 
Queen  Dowager's  hesitation  to  unite  heartily  with  the 
schemes  of  Alva  and  Philip  for  the  extermination  of  the 
Huguenots.  His  daughter,  a  woman  of  beauty,  intelli- 
gence, and  virtue,  forced  before  the  canonical  age  to  take 
the  religious  vows,  had  been  placed  in  the  convent  of 
Jouarre,  of  which  she  had  become  Abbess.  Always  secretly 
inclined  to  the  Reformed  religion,  she  had  fled  secretly 
from  her  cloister,  in  the  year  of  horrors  1572,  and  had 
found  refuge  at  the  court  of  the  Elector  Palatine,  after 
which  step  her  father  refused  to  receive  her  letters,  to 
contribute  a  farthing  to  her  support,  or  even  to  acknowl- 


438  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1575 

edge  her  claims  upon  him  by  a  single  line  or  message  of 
affection. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  outcast  Princess,  who 
had  arrived  at  years  of  maturity,  might  be  considered  her 
own  mistress,  and  she  was  neither  morally  nor  legally 
bound,  when  her  hand  was  sought  in  marriage  by  the 
great  champion  of  the  Reformation,  to  ask  the  consent  of 
a  parent  who  loathed  her  religion  and  denied  her  existence. 
The  legality  of  the  divorce  from  Anne  of  Saxony  had  been 
settled  by  a  full  expression  of  the  ecclesiastical  authority 
which  she  most  respected ;  the  facts  upon  which  the  di- 
vorce had  been  founded  having  been  proved  beyond  per- 
adventure. 

So  far,  therefore,  as  the  character  of  Mademoiselle  de 
Bourbon  and  the  legitimacy  of  her  future  offspring  were 
concerned,  she  received  ample  guarantees.  For  the  rest, 
the  Prince,  in  a  simple  letter,  informed  her  that  he  was 
already  past  his  prime,  having  reached  his  forty-second 
year,  and  that  his  fortune  was  encumbered  not  only  with 
settlements  for  his  children  by  previous  marriages,  but 
by  debts  contracted  in  the  cause  of  his  oppressed  country. 
A  convention  of  doctors  and  bishops  of  France,  sum- 
moned by  the  Due  de  Montpensier,  afterwards  confirmed 
the  opinion  that  the  conventual  vows  of  the  Princess 
Charlotte  had  been  conformable  neither  to  the  laws  of 
France  nor  to  the  canons  of  the  Council  of  Trent.  She 
was  conducted  to  Brill  by  Sainte  -  Aldegonde,  where  she 
was  received  by  her  bridegroom,  to  whom  she  was  united 
on  the  12th  of  June.  The  wedding  festival  was  held  at 
Dort  with  much  revelry  and  holiday-making,  ^^  but  with- 
out dancing." 

In  this  connection,  no  doubt,  the  Prince  consulted  his 
inclination  only.  Eminently  domestic  in  his  habits,  he 
required  the  relief  of  companionship  at  home  to  the  ex- 
hausting affairs  which  made  up  his  life  abroad.  For 
years  he  had  never  enjoyed  social  converse,  except  at  long 
intervals,  with  man  or  woman ;  it  was  natural,  therefore, 
that  he  should  contract  this  marriage.  It  was  equally 
natural  that  he  should  make  many  enemies  by  so  impoli- 
tic a  match. 


1575]  PUNISHMENT  OF  TRAITORS  439 

While  important  affairs,  public  and  private,  had  been 
occurring  in  the  south  of  Holland  and  in  Germany,  a  very 
nefarious  transaction  had  disgraced  the  cause  of  the  pa- 
triot party  in  the  northern  quarter.  Diedrich  Sonoy, 
governor  of  that  portion  of  Holland,  a  man  of  great  brav- 
ery but  of  extreme  ferocity  of  character,  had  discovered 
an  extensive  conspiracy  among  certain  of  the  inhabitants 
in  aid  of  an  approaching  Spanish  invasion.  Bands  of 
landloupers  had  been  employed,  according  to  the  inti- 
mation which  he  had  received,  or  affected  to  have  re- 
ceived, to  set  fire  to  villages  and  towns  in  every  direc- 
tion, to  set  up  beacons,  and  to  conduct  a  series  of  signals 
by  which  the  expeditions  about  to  be  organized  were  to 
be  furthered  in  their  objects.  The  governor,  determined 
to  show  that  the  Duke  of  Alva  could  not  be  more  prompt 
nor  more  terrible  than  himself,  improvised,  of  his  own 
authority,  a  tribunal  in  imitation  of  the  infamous  Council 
of  Blood.  Fortunately  for  the  character  of  the  country, 
Sonoy  was  not  a  Hollander,  nor  was  the  jurisdiction  of 
this  newly  established  court  allowed  to  extend  beyond 
very  narrow  limits.  He  proceeded  to  torture,  burn,  and 
flay  two  men,  father  and  son,  in  a  manner  quite  like  that 
of  the  church  discipline  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition.  The 
father  died  upon  the  bed  of  torture.  When  led  to  the 
stake  the  son  exonerated  the  persons  whom  he  under  stress 
of  anguish  had  falsely  accused. 

Notwithstanding  this  solemn  recantation,  the  persons 
accused  were  arrested,  and  in  their  turn  subjected  to  tor- 
ture, but  the  affair  now  reached  the  ears  of  Orange.  His 
peremptory  orders,  with  the  universal  excitement  produced 
in  the  neighborhood,  at  last  checked  the  course  of  the 
outrage,  and  the  accused  persons  were  remanded  to 
prison,  where  they  remained  till  liberated  by  the  Pacifica- 
tion of  Ghent.  After  their  release  they  commenced  legal 
proceedings  against  Sonoy,  with  a  view  of  establishing 
their  own  innocence,  and  of  bringing  the  inhuman  func- 
tionary to  justice.  The  process  languished,  however,  and 
was  finally  abandoned,  for  the  powerful  governor  had  ren- 
dered such  eminent  service  in  the  cause  of  liberty  that  it 
was  thought  unwise  to  push  him  to  extremity.     It  is  no 


440  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1575 

impeachment  upon  the  character  of  the  Prince  that  these 
horrible  crimes  were  not  prevented.  It  was  impossible 
for  him  to  be  omnipresent.  Neither  is  it  just  to  con- 
sider the  tortures  and  death  thus  inflicted  upon  innocent 
men  an  indelible  stain  upon  the  cause  of  liberty.  They 
were  the  crimes  of  an  individual  who  had  been  useful,  but 
who,  like  the  Count  Van  der  Marck,  had  now  contaminated 
his  hand  with  the  blood  of  the  guiltless.  The  new  tribu- 
nal never  took  root,  and  was  abolished  as  soon  as  its  initia- 
tory horrors  were  known. 

On  the  19th  of  July,  Oudewater,  entirely  unprepared 
for  such  an  event,  was  besieged  by  Hierges,  but  the  garri- 
son and  the  population,  although  weak,  were  brave.  The 
town  resisted  eighteen  days,  and  on  the  7th  of  August 
was  carried  by  assault,  after  which  the  usual  horrors 
were  fully  practised,  and  the  garrison  was  put  to  the 
sword,  the  townspeople  faring  little  better.  Men,  wom- 
en, and  children  were  murdered  in  cold  blood,  or  obliged 
to  purchase  their  lives  by  heavy  ransoms,  while  matrons 
and  maids  were  sold  by  auction  to  the  soldiers  at  two  or 
three  dollars  each.  Almost  every  house  in  the  city  was 
burned  to  the  ground,  and  these  horrible  but  very  cus- 
tomary scenes  having  been  enacted,  the  army  of  Hierges 
took  its  way  to  Schoonhoven.  That  city,  not  defending 
itself,  secured  tolerable  terms  of  capitulation,  and  sur- 
rendered on  the  24th  of  August. 

The  Grand  Commander  had  not  yet  given  up  the  hope 
of  naval  assistance  from  Spain,  notwithstanding  the  abrupt 
termination  to  the  last  expedition  which  had  been  organ- 
ized. It  was,  however,  necessary  that  a  foothold  should  be 
recovered  upon  the  seaboard  before  a  descent  from  with- 
out could  be  met  with  proper  co-operation  from  the  land 
forces  within,  and  he  was  most  anxious,  therefore,  to 
effect  the  reconquest  of  Schouwen  in  Zeeland,  fronting 
directly  upon  the  ocean,  fortified  by  its  strong  capital 
city,  Zierik  Zee,  and  containing  numerous  villages. 

After  patiently  completing  his  elaborate  preparations,  in 
which  he  was  aided  by  traitors,  Requesens  came  to  Tholen, 
at  which  rendezvous  were  assembled  three  thousand  in- 
fantry— partly  Spaniards,  partly  Germans,  partly  Walloons. 


1575]       EXPEDITION  TO  DUIVELAND  AND  SCHOUWEN         441 

Besides  these,  a  picked  corps  of  two  hundred  sappers  and 
miners  was  to  accompany  the  expedition,  in  order  that 
no  time  might  be  lost  in  fortifying  themselves  as  soon  as 
they  had  seized  possession  of  Schouwen.  Four  hundred 
mounted  troopers  were,  moreover,  stationed  in  the  town 
of  Tholen,  while  the  little  fleet,  which  had  been  prepared 
at  Antwerp,  lay  near  that  city,  ready  to  co-operate  with 
the  land  force  as  soon  as  they  should  complete  their  en- 
terprise. The  G-rand  Commander  now  divided  the  whole 
force  into  two  parts.  One  half  was  to  remain  in  the  boats, 
under  the  command  of  Mondragon  ;  the  other  half,  ac- 
companied by  the  two  hundred  pioneers,  were  to  wade 
through  the  sea  from  Philipsland  to  Duiveland  and 
Schouwen.  Each  soldier  of  this  detachment  was  pro- 
vided with  a  pair  of  shoes,  two  pounds  of  powder,  and 
rations  for  three  days  in  a  canvas  bag  suspended  at  his 
neck.  The  leader  of  this  expedition  was  Don  Osorio 
d'Ulloa,  an  officer  distinguished  for  his  experience  and 
bravery. 

On  the  night  selected  for  the  enterprise,  that  of  the 
27th  of  September,  the  moon  was  a  day  old  in  its  fourth 
quarter,  and  rose  a  little  before  twelve.  It  was  low  water 
at  between  four  and  five  in  the  morning.  The  Grand  Com- 
mander, at  the  appointed  hour  of  midnight,  crossed  to 
Philipsland,  and  stood  on  the  shore  to  watch  the  setting 
forth  of  the  little  army.  He  addressed  a  short  harangue 
to  them,  in  which  he  skilfully  struck  the  chords  of  Span- 
ish chivalry  and  the  national  love  of  glory,  and  was  an- 
swered with  load  and  enthusiastic  cheers.  Don  Osorio 
d'Ulloa  then  stripped  and  plunged  into  the  sea  immediate- 
ly after  the  guides.  He  was  followed  by  the  Spaniards, 
after  whom  came  the  Germans,  and  then  the  Walloons.  The 
two  hundred  sappers  and  miners  came  next,  and  Don  Ga- 
briel Peralta,  with  his  Spanish  company,  brought  up  the 
rear.  It  was  a  wild  night.  Incessant  lightning  alternately 
revealed  and  obscured  the  progress  of  the  midnight  march 
through  the  black  waters  as  the  anxious  Commander 
watched  the  expedition  from  the  shore,  but  the  soldiers 
were  quickly  swallowed  up  in  the  gloom.  As  they  ad- 
vanced cautiously,  two  by  two,  the  daring  adventurers 


442  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1575 

found  themselves  soon  nearly  np  to  their  necks  in  the 
waves,  while  so  narrow  was  the  submerged  bank  along 
which  they  were  marching,  that  a  misstep  to  the  right  or 
left  was  fatal.  Luckless  individuals  repeatedly  sank  to 
rise  no  more.  Meantime,  as  the  sickly  light  of  the  waning 
moon  came  forth  at  intervals  through  the  stormy  clouds, 
the  soldiers  could  plainly  perceive  the  files  of  Zeeland 
vessels  through  which  they  were  to  march,  and  which 
were  anchored  as  close  to  the  flat  as  the  water  would  allow. 
Some  had  recklessly  stranded  themselves,  in  their  eagerness 
to  interrupt  the  passage  of  the  troops,  and  the  artillery 
played  unceasingly  from  the  larger  vessels.  Discharges 
of  musketry  came  continually  from  all,  but  the  fitful 
lightning  rendered  the  aim  difficult  and  the  fire  compara- 
tively harmless,  while  the  Spaniards  were,  moreover,  pro- 
tected, as  to  a  large  part  of  their  bodies,  by  the  water  in 
which  they  were  immersed. 

At  times  they  halted  for  breath,  or  to  engage  in  fierce 
skirmishes  with  their  nearest  assailants.  Standing  breast- 
high  in  the  waves,  and  surrounded  at  intervals  by  total 
darkness,  they  were  yet  able  to  pour  an  occasional  well- 
directed  volley  into  the  hostile  ranks.  The  Zeelanders,  how- 
ever, did  not  assail  them  with  fire-arms  alone.  They  trans- 
fixed some  with  their  fatal  harpoons  ;  they  dragged  others 
from  the  path  with  boat-hooks ;  they  beat  out  the  brains 
of  others  with  heavy  flails. 

The  night  wore  on,  and  the  adventurers  still  fought  it 
out  manfully  but  very  slowly,  the  main  body  of  Span- 
iards, Germans,  and  Walloons,  soon  after  daylight,  reaching 
the  opposite  shore,  having  sustained  considerable  losses, 
but  in  perfect  order.  The  pioneers  were  not  so  fortunate. 
The  tide  rose  over  them  before  they  could  effect  their 
passage,  and  swept  nearly  every  one  away.  The  rear- 
guard, under  Peralta,  not  surprised,  like  the  pioneers,  in 
the  middle  of  their  passage,  by  the  rising  tide,  but  pre- 
vented, before  it  was  too  late,  from  advancing  far  beyond 
the  shore  from  which  they  had  departed,  were  fortunately 
enabled  to  retrace  their  steps. 

Don  Osorio,  at  the  head  of  the  successful  adventurers, 
now  effected  his  landing  upon  Duiveland.    Resting  them- 


16Y6]  SUCCESSFUL  ISSUE  443 

selves  but  for  an  instant  after  this  unparalleled  march 
of  more  than  six  hours  through  the  water,  they  took 
a  slight  refreshment,  prayed  to  the  Virgin  Mary  and  to 
St.  James,  and  then  prepared  to  meet  their  new  enemies 
on  land.  Ten  companies  of  French,  Scotch,  and  English 
auxiliaries  lay  in  Duiveland,  under  the  command  of  Charles 
van  Boisot.  Strange  to  relate,  by  an  inexplicable  accident, 
or  by  treason,  that  general  was  slain  by  his  own  soldiers 
at  the  moment  when  the  royal  troops  landed.  The  panic 
created  by  this  event  became  intense,  as  the  enemy  rose 
suddenly,  as  it  were,  out  of  the  depths  of  the  ocean  to  at- 
tack them.  They  magnified  the  numbers  of  their  assail- 
ants, and  fled  terror-stricken  in  every  direction.  Some 
swam  to  the  Zeeland  vessels  which  lay  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, others  took  refuge  in  the  forts  which  had  been  con- 
structed on  the  island  ;  but  these  were  soon  carried  by  the 
Spaniards,  and  the  conquest  of  Duiveland  was  effected. 

The  enterprise  was  not  yet  completed,  but  the  remainder 
was  less  difficult  and  not  nearly  so  hazardous,  for  the  creek 
which  separated  Duiveland  from  Schouwen  was  much  nar- 
rower than  the  estuary  which  they  had  just  traversed.  It 
was  less  than  a  league  in  width,  but  so  encumbered  by 
rushes  and  briers  that,  although  difficult  to  wade,  it  was 
not  navigable  for  vessels  of  any  kind.  This  part  of  the 
expedition  was  accomplished  with  equal  resolution,  so 
that,  after  a  few  hours'  delay,  the  soldiers  stood  upon  the 
much -coveted  island  of  Schouwen.  Five  companies  of 
states  troops,  placed  to  oppose  their  landing,  fled  in  the 
most  cowardly  manner  at  the  first  discharge  of  the  Spanish 
muskets,  and  took  refuge  in  the  city  of  Zierik  Zee,  which 
was  soon  afterwards  beleaguered. 

The  troops  had  been  disembarked  upon  Duiveland  from 
the  armada,  which  had  made  its  way  to  the  scene  of  ac- 
tion, after  having  received,  by  signal,  information  that 
the  expedition  through  the  water  had  been  successful. 
Brouwershaven,  on  the  northern  side  of  Schouwen,  was 
immediately  reduced,  but  Bommenede  resisted  till  the  25th 
of  October,  when  it  was  at  last  carried  by  assault  and  de- 
livered over  to  fire  and  sword.  Of  the  whole  population 
and  garrison  not  twenty  were  left  alive.     Siege  was  then 


444  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1575 

laid  to  Zierik  Zee,  and  Colonel  Mondragon  was  left  in 
charge  of  the  operations.  Requesens  himself  came  to 
Schouwen  to  give  directions  concerning  this  important  en- 
terprise. The  cruel  and  corpulent  Chiapin  Vitelli  also  came 
thither  in  the  middle  of  the  winter,  but  was  so  much  in- 
jured by  a  fall  from  his  litter,  while  making  the  tour  of 
the  island,  that  he  died  on  shipboard  during  his  return 
to  Antwerp. 

The  siege  of  Zierik  Zee  was  protracted  till  the  following 
June,  the  city  holding  out  with  firmness.  Want  of  funds 
caused  the  operations  to  be  conducted  with  languor,  but 
the  same  cause  prevented  the  Prince  from  accomplishing 
its  relief.  Thus  the  expedition  from  Philipsland,  the 
most  brilliant  military  exploit  of  the  whole  war,  was  at- 
tended with  important  results.  Communication  between 
Walcheren  and  the  rest  of  Zeeland  was  interrupted,  the 
province  cut  in  two,  and  a  foothold  on  the  ocean,  for 
a  brief  interval  at  least,  acquired  by  Spain.  The  Prince 
was  inexpressibly  chagrined  by  these  circumstances,  and 
felt  that  the  moment  had  arrived  when  all  honorable 
means  were  to  be  employed  to  obtain  foreign  assistance. 
It  was  necessary,  in  short,  to  look  directly  in  the  face  the 
great  question  of  formally  renouncing  Philip. 

Hitherto  the  fiction  of  allegiance  had  been  preserved, 
and,  even  by  the  enemies  of  the  Prince,  it  was  admitted 
that  it  had  been  retained  with  no  disloyal  intent.  The 
time,  however,  had  come  when  it  was  necessary  to  throw 
off  allegiance,  provided  another  could  be  found  strong 
enough  and  frank  enough  to  accept  the  authority  which 
Philip  had  forfeited.  The  question  was,  naturally,  be- 
tween France  and  England,  unless  the  provinces  could 
effect  their  readmission  into  the  body  of  the  Germanic 
Empire.  Already  in  June  the  Prince  had  laid  the  prop- 
osition formally  before  the  states  *' whether  they  should 
not  negotiate  with  the  empire  on  the  subject  of  their  ad- 
mission, with  maintenance  of  their  own  constitutions,'' 
but  it  was  understood  that  this  plan  was  not  to  be  carried 
out  if  the  protection  of  the  empire  could  be  obtained 
under  easier  conditions. 

Nothing  came  of  the  proposition  at  that  time.      The 


U15]  POLITICAL  SCHEMES  OF  ORANGE  445 

nobles  and  the  deputies  of  South  Holland  now  voted,  in 
the  beginning  of  the  ensuing  month,  "  that  it  was  their 
duty  to  abandon  the  King,  as  a  tyrant  who  sought  to  op- 
press and  destroy  his  subjects ;  and  that  it  behoved  them 
to  seek  another  protector."  This  was  while  the  Breda 
negotiations  were  still  pending,  but  when  their  inevitable 
result  was  very  visible.  There  was  still  a  reluctance  at 
taking  the  last  and  decisive  step  in  the  rebellion,  so  that 
the  semblance  of  loyalty  was  still  retained  ;  that  ancient 
scabbard,  in  which  the  sword  might  yet  one  day  be 
sheathed.  The  proposition  was  not  adopted  at  the  diet. 
A  committee  of  nine  was  merely  appointed  to  deliberate 
with  the  Prince  upon  the  ^^  means  of  obtaining  foreign 
assistance,  without  accepting  foreign  authority,  or  sever- 
ing their  connection  with  his  Majesty."  The  estates  were, 
however,  summoned  a  few  months  later,  by  the  Prince,  to 
deliberate  at  Rotterdam  on  this  important  matter.  On 
the  1st  of  October  he  formally  proposed  either  to  make 
terms  with  the  enemy,  and  that  the  sooner  the  better,  or 
else,  once  for  all,  to  separate  entirely  from  the  King  of 
Spain,  and  to  change  their  sovereign,  in  order,  with  the 
assistance  and  under  the  protection  of  another  Christian 
potentate,  to  maintain  the  provinces  against  their  enemies. 
Orange,  moreover,  expressed  the  opinion  that  upon  so 
important  a  subject  it  was  decidedly  incumbent  upon 
them  all  to  take  the  sense  of  the  city  governments.  The 
members  for  the  various  municipalities  acquiesced  in  the 
propriety  of  this  suggestion,  and  resolved  to  consult  their 
constituents,  while  the  deputies  of  the  nobility  also  de- 
sired to  consult  with  their  whole  body.  After  an  adjourn- 
ment of  a  few  days,  the  diet  again  assembled  at  Delft,  and  it 
was  then  unanimously  resolved  by  the  nobles  and  the 
cities,  ''that  they  would  forsake  the  King  and  seek  foreign 
assistance,  referring  the  choice  to  the  Prince,  who,  in 
regard  to  the  government,  was  to  take  the  opinion  of  the 
estates.'' 

Thus  the  great  step  was  taken  by  which  two  little 
provinces  declared  themselves  independent  of  their  an- 
cient master.  That  declaration,  although  taken  in  the  midst 
of  doubt  aftd  darkness,  was  not  destined  to  be  cancelled. 


44f>  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1576 

and  the  germ  of  a  new  and  powerful  commonwealth  was 
planted.  So  little,  hoAvever,  did  these  republican  fathers 
foresee  their  coming  republic,  that  the  resolution  to  re- 
nounce one  king  was  combined  with  a  proposition  to  ask 
for  the  authority  of  another.  It  was  not  imagined  that 
those  two  slender  columns,  which  were  all  that  had  yet 
been  raised  of  the  future  stately  peristyle,  would  be  strong 
enough  to  stand  alone. 

It  having  been  determined  to  send  an  embassy  to  Eng- 
land, Advocate  Buys  and  Dr.  Prancis  Maalzon  were  nom- 
inated by  the  estates,  and  Sainte-Aldegonde,  chief  of  the 
mission,  was  appointed  by  the  Prince.  They  arrived  in 
England  at  Christmas-tide,  and  remained  until  April, 
1576,  but  accomplished  nothing.  The  envoys,  on  parting, 
made  a  strenuous  effort  to  negotiate  a  loan,  but  the  frugal 
Queen  considered  the  proposition  quite  inadmissible.  She 
granted  them  liberty  to  purchase  arms  and  ammunition, 
and  to  levy  a  few  soldiers  with  their  own  money,  and  this 
was  accordingly  done  to  a  limited  extent.  As  it  was  not 
difficult  to  hire  soldiers  or  to  buy  gunpowder  anywhere, 
in  that  warlike  age,  provided  the  money  was  ready,  the. 
states  had  hardly  reason  to  consider  themselves  under 
deep  obligation  for  this  concession.  Yet  this  was  the 
whole  result  of  the  embassy.  Plenty  of  fine  words  had 
been  bestowed,  which  might  or  might  not  have  meaning, 
according  to  the  turns  taken  by  coming  events.  Besides 
these  cheap  and  empty  civilities,  they  received  permission 
to  defend  Holland  at  their  own  expense,  with  the  priv- 
ilege of  surrendering  its  sovereignty,  if  they  liked,  to 
Queen  Elizabeth — and  this  was  all.  On  the  19th  of  April 
the  envoys  returned  to  their  country,  and  laid  before  the 
estates  the  meagre  result  of  their  negotiations. 

Meantime,  the  important  siege  of  Zierik  Zee  continued, 
and  it  was  evident  that  the  city  must  fall.  There  was  no 
money  at  the  disposal  of  the  Prince.  Count  John,  who 
was  seriously  embarrassed  by  reason  of  the  great  obliga- 
tions in  money  which  he,  with  the  rest  of  his  family,  had 
incurred  on  behalf  of  the  estates,  had  recently  made  appli- 
cation to  the  Prince  for  his  influence  towards  procuring 
him  relief.     He  had  forwarded  an  account  of  the  great  ad- 


1576J  A  DESPERATE   RESOLVE  447 

vances  made  by  himself  and  his  brethren  in  money,  plate, 
furniture,  and  indorsements  of  various  kinds,  for  which  a 
partial  reimbursement  was  almost  indispensable  to  save 
him  from  serious  difficulties.  The  Prince,  however,  un- 
able to  procure  him  any  assistance,  had  been  obliged  once 
more  to  entreat  him  to  display  the  generosity  and  the  self- 
denial  which  the  country  had  never  found  wanting  at  his 
hands  or  at  those  of  his  kindred.  The  appeal  had  not 
been  in  vain  ;  but  the  Count  was  obviously  not  in  a  con- 
dition to  effect  anything  more  at  that  moment  to  relieve 
the  financial  distress  of  the  states.  The  exchequer  was 
crippled.  Holland  and  Zeeland  were  cut  in  twain  by  the 
occupation  of  Schouwen  and  the  approaching  fall  of  its 
capital.  Germany,  England,  France,  all  refused  to  stretch 
out  their  hands  to  save  the  heroic  but  exhaustless  little 
provinces.  It  was  at  this  moment  that  a  desperate  but 
sublime  resolution  took  possession  of  the  Prince's  mind. 
There  seemed  but  one  way  left  to  exclude  the  Spaniards 
for  ever  from  Holland  and  Zeeland,  and  to  rescue  the  in- 
habitants from  impending  ruin.  The  Prince  had  long 
brooded  over  the  scheme,  and  the  hour  seemed  to  have 
struck  for  its  fulfilment.  His  project  was  to  collect  all 
the  vessels,  of  every  description,  which  could  be  obtained 
'throughout  the  Netherlands.  The  whole  population  of 
•the  two  provinces,  men,  women,  and  children,  together 
with  all  the  movable  property  of  the  country,  were  then 
to  be  embarked  on  board  this  numerous  fleet,  and  to  seek 
a  new  home  beyond  the  seas.  ^  The  windmills  were  then 
to  be  burned,  the  dikes  pierced,  the  sluices  opened  in 
every  direction,  and  the  country  restored  forever  to  the 
ocean,  from  which  it  had  sprung. 

The  unexpected  death  of  Requesens  suddenly  dispelled 
these  schemes.  The  siege  of  Zierik  Zee  had  occupied 
much  of  the  governor's  attention,  but  he  had  recently 
written  to  his  sovereign  that  its  reduction  was  now  cer- 
tain. He  had  added  an  urgent  request  for  money,  with 
a  sufficient  supply  of  which  he  assured  Philip  that  he 
should  be  able  to  bring  the  war  to  an  immediate  conclu- 
sion. While  awaiting  for  these  supplies  he  had,  contrary 
to  all  law  or  reason,  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  con- 


448  HISTORY  OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1576 

quer  the  post  of  Embden,  in  Germany.  A  mutiny  had, 
at  about  the  same  time,  broken  out  among  his  troops  in 
Haarlem,  and  he  had  furnished  the  citizens  with  arms  to  de- 
fend themselves,  giving  free  permission  to  use  them  against 
the  insurgent  troops.  By  this  means  the  mutiny  had  been 
quelled,  but  a  dangerous  precedent  established.  Anxiety 
concerning  this  rebellion  is  supposed  to  have  hastened  the 
Grand  Commander's  death.  A  violent  fever  seized  him 
on  the  1st  and  terminated  his  existence  on  the  5th  of 
March,  in  the  fifty-first  year  of  his  life. 


CHAPTER  IV 
OBANGE'S  TOLERATIO]^ — SPANISH  MUTIN^Y 

The  death  of  Eeqnesens,  notwithstanding  his  four  days' 
illness,  occurred  so  suddenly  that  he  had  not  had  time  to 
appoint  his  successor.  Had  he  exercised  this  privilege, 
which  his  patent  conferred  upon  him,  it  was  supposed 
that  he  would  nominate  Count  Mansfeld  to  exercise 
the  functions  of  governor-general  until  the  King  should 
otherwise  ordain.  In  the  absence  of  any  definite  arrange- 
ment, the  Council  of  State,  according  to  a  right  which 
that  body  claimed  from  custom,  assumed  the  reins  of  gov- 
ernment. Peter  Ernest  Mansfeld  was  entrusted  with  the 
supreme  military  command,  including  the  government  of 
Brussels  ;  and  the  Spanish  commanders,  although  dissatis- 
fied that  any  but  a  Spaniard  should  be  thus  honored,  were 
for  a  time  quiescent. 

Certainly  the  Prince  of  Orange  did  not  sleep  upon  this 
or  any  other  great  occasion  of  his  life.  In  his  own  vigor- 
ous language,  used  to  stimulate  his  friends  in  various  parts 
of  the  country,  he  seized  the  swift  occasion  by  the  fore- 
lock. He  opened  a  fresh  correspondence  with  many 
leading  gentlemen  in  Brussels  and  other  places  in  the 
Netherlands ;  persons  of  influence,  who  now,  for  the  first 
time,  showed  a  disposition  to  side  with  their  country 
against  its  tyrants.  Hitherto  the  land  had  been  divided 
into  two  very  unequal  portions.  Holland  and  Zeeland 
were  devoted  to  the  Prince  ;  their  whole  population,  with 
hardly  an  individual  exception,  converted  to  the  Kef ormed 
religion.  The  other  fifteen  provinces  were,  on  the  whole, 
loyal  to  the  King ;  while  the  old  religion  had,  of  late 
years,  taken  root  so  rapidly  again  that  perhaps  a  moiety 
29  449 


450  HISTORY  OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [ISTO 

of  their  population  might  be  considered  as  Catholic.  At 
the  same  time,  the  reign  of  terror  under  Alva,  the  paler 
but  not  less  distinct  tyranny  of  Eequesens,  and  the  intol- 
erable excesses  of  the  foreign  soldiery,  by  which  the  gov- 
ernment of  foreigners  was  supported,  had  at  last  mad- 
dened all  the  inhabitants  of  the  seventeen  provinces. 
Notwithstanding,  therefore,  the  fatal  difference  of  relig- 
ious opinion,  they  were  all  drawn  into  closer  relations  with 
one  another;  to  regain  their  ancient  privileges,  and  to 
expel  the  detested  foreigners  from  the  soil,  being  objects 
common  to  all.  The  provinces  were  united  in  one  great 
hatred  and  one  great  hope. 

The  Hollanders  and  Zeelanders,  under  their  heroic 
leader,  had  wellnigh  accomplished  both  tasks,  so  far  as 
those  little  provinces  were  concerned.  Never  had  a  con- 
test, however,  seemed  more  hopeless  at  its  commence- 
ment. Cast  a  glance  at  the  map.  Look  at  Holland — 
not  the  Republic,  with  its  sister  provinces  beyond  the 
Zuyder  Zee,  but  Holland  only,  with  the  Zeeland  archi- 
pelago. Look  at  that  narrow  tongue  of  half-submerged 
earth.  Who  could  suppose  that  upon  that  slender  sand- 
bank, one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  in  length  and  vary- 
ing in  breadth  from  four  miles  to  forty,  one  man,  backed 
by  the  population  of  a  handful  of  cities,  could  do  battle 
nine  years  long  with  the  master  of  two  worlds,  the  ''  Domi- 
nator  of  Asia,  Africa,  and  America" — the  despot  of  the 
fairest  realms  of  Europe — and  conquer  him  at  last.  Nor 
was  William  even  entirely  master  of  that  narrow  shoal 
where  clung  the  survivors  of  a  great  national  shipwreck. 
North  and  South  Holland  were  cut  in  two  by  the  loss  of 
Haarlem,  while  the  enemy  was  in  possession  of  the  natural 
capital  of  the  little  country,  Amsterdam.  The  Prince 
affirmed  that  the  cause  had  suffered  more  from  the  dis- 
loyalty of  Amsterdam  than  from  all  the  efforts  of  the 
enemy. 

Moreover,  the  country  was  in  a  most  desolate  condition. 
It  was  almost  literally  a  sinking  ship.  The  destruction 
of  the  bulwarks  against  the  ocean  had  been  so  extensive, 
in  consequence  of  the  voluntary  inundations  which  have 
been  described  in  previous  pages,  and  by  reason  of  the 


15Y6]  STATE   OF  THE  COUNTRY  451 

general  neglect  which  more  vital  occupations  had  necessi- 
tated, that  an  enormons  outlay,  both  of  labor  and  money, 
was  now  indispensable  to  save  the  physical  existence  of 
the  country.  The  labor  and  the  money,  notwithstanding 
the  crippled  and  impoverished  condition  of  the  nation, 
were,  however,  freely  contributed ;  a  wonderful  example 
of  energy  and  patient  heroism  was  again  exhibited.  The 
dikes  which  had  been  swept  away  in  every  direction  were 
renewed  at  a  vast  expense.  Moreover,  the  country,  in 
the  course  of  recent  events,  had  become  almost  swept 
bare  of  its  cattle,  and  it  was  necessary  to  pass  a  law  for- 
bidding, for  a  considerable  period,  the  slaughter  of  any 
animals,  *^oxen,  cows,  calves,  sheep,  or  poultry."  It  was, 
unfortunately,  not  possible  to  provide  by  law  against  that 
extermination  of  the  human  population  which  had  been 
decreed  by  Philip  and  the  Pope. 

Such  was  the  physical  and  moral  condition  of  the  prov- 
inces of  Holland  and  Zeeland.  The  political  constitution 
of  both  assumed  at  this  epoch  a  somewhat  altered  aspect. 
The  union  between  the  two  states,  effected  in  June, 
1575,  required  improvement.  The  administration  of  jus- 
tice, the  conflict  of  laws,  and,  more  particularly,  the  levy- 
ing of  moneys  and  troops  in  equitable  proportions,  had  not 
been  adjusted  with  perfect  smoothness.  The  estates  of 
the  two  provinces,  assembled  in  congress  at  Delft,  con- 
cluded therefore  a  new  act  of  union,  which  was  duly 
signed  upon  the  25th  of  April,  1576.  Those  estates,  con- 
sisting of  the  knights  and  nobles  of  Holland,  with  the  dep- 
uties from  the  cities  and  countships  of  Holland  and  Zee- 
land,  had  been  duly  summoned  by  the  Prince  of  Orange. 
They  as  fairly  included  all  the  political  capacities  and 
furnished  as  copious  a  representation  of  the  national  will 
as  could  be  expected,  for  it  is  apparent  upon  every  page  of 
his  history  that  the  Prince,  upon  all  occasions,  chose  to 
refer  his  policy  to  the  approval  and  confirmation  of  as  large 
a  portion  of  the  people  as  any  man  in  those  days  consid- 
ered capable  or  desirous  of  exercising  political  functions. 

The  new  union  consisted  of  eighteen  articles.  It  was 
established  that  deputies  from  all  the  estates  should  meet 
when  summoned  by  the  Prince  of  Orange  or  otherwise,  on 


452  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1576 

penalty  of  fine,  and  at  the  risk  of  measures  binding  upon 
them  being  passed  by  the  rest  of  the  congress.  Freshly 
arising  causes  of  litigation  were  to  be  referred  to  the 
Prince.  Free  intercourse  and  traffic  through  the  united 
provinces  were  guaranteed.  The  confederates  were  mutu- 
ally to  assist  one  another  in  preventing  all  injustice,  wrong, 
or  violence,  even  towards  an  enemy.  The  authority  of 
law  and  the  pure  administration  of  justice  were  mutually 
promised  by  the  contracting  states.  The  common  ex- 
penses were  to  be  apportioned  among  the  different  prov- 
inces, ^^as  if  they  were  all  included  in  the  republic  of  a 
single  city."  Nine  commissioners,  appointed  by  the  Prince 
on  nomination  by  the  estates,  were  to  sit  permanently,  as 
his  advisers,  and  as  assessors  and  collectors  of  the  taxes. 
The  tenure  of  the  union  was  from  six  months  to  six 
months,  with  six  weeks'  notice. 

The  framers  of  this  compact  having  thus  defined  the 
general  outlines  of  the  confederacy,  declared  that  the  gov- 
ernment thus  constituted  should  be  placed  under  a  sin- 
gle head.  They  accordingly  conferred  supreme  authority 
on  the  Prince,  defining  his  powers  in  eighteen  articles. 
He  was  declared  chief  commander  by  land  and  by  sea.  He 
was  to  appoint  all  officers,  from  generals  to  subalterns,  and 
to  pay  them  at  his  discretion.  The  whole  protection  of 
the  land  was  devolved  upon  him.  He  was  to  send  garri- 
sons or  troops  into  every  city  and  village  at  his  pleasure, 
without  advice  or  consent  of  the  estates,  magistrates  of 
the  cities,  or  any  other  persons  whatsoever.  He  was,  in 
behalf  of  the  King,  as  Count  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  to 
cause  justice  to  be  administered  by  the  supreme  court.  In 
the  same  capacity  he  was  to  provide  for  vacancies  in  all 
political  and  judicial  offices  of  importance,  choosing,  with 
the  advice  of  the  estates,  one  officer  for  each  vacant  post  out 
of  three  candidates  nominated  to  him  by  that  body.  He 
was  to  appoint  and  renew,  at  the  usual  times,  the  magis- 
tracies in  the  cities,  according  to  the  ancient  constitutions. 
He  was  to  make  changes  in  those  boards,  if  necessary,  at 
unusual  times,  with  consent  of  the  majority  of  those  rep- 
resenting the  great  council  and  corpus  of  the  said  cities. 
He  was  to  uphold  the  authority  and  pre-eminence  of  all 


1576]  THE  NEW  UNION  453 

civil  functionaries,  and  to  prevent  governors  and  military- 
officers  from  taking  any  cognizance  of  political  or  judicial 
affairs.  With  regard  to  religion,  he  was  to  maintain  the 
practice  of  the  Reformed  Evangelical  religion,  amd  to 
cause  to  surcease  the  exe^rcise  of  all  other  religions  contrari/ 
to  the  Gospel.  He  was,  however,  not  to  permit  that  m- 
quisition  should  he  made  into  any  man's  heliefor  conscience, 
or  that  any  man  ly  cause  thereof  should  suffer  trouhle,  in- 
jury,  or  hinderance. 

The  league  thus  concluded  was  a  confederation  between 
a  group  of  virtually  independent  little  republics.  Each 
municipality  was,  as  it  were,  a  little  sovereign,  sending 
envoys  to  a  congress  to  vote  and  to  sign  as  plenipotenti- 
aries. The  vote  of  each  city  was,  therefore,  indivisible, 
and  it  mattered  little,  practically,  whether  there  were  one 
deputy  or  several.  The  nobles  represented  not  only  their 
own  order,  but  were  supposed  to  act  also  in  behalf  of  the 
rural  population.  On  the  whole,  there  was  a  tolerably  fair 
representation  of  the  whole  nation.  The  people  were  well 
and  worthily  represented  in  the  government  of  each  city, 
and,  therefore,  equally  so  in  the  assembly  of  the  estates. 
It  was  not  till  later  that  the  corporations,  by  the  extinc- 
tion of  the  popular  element,  and  by  the  usurpation  of  the 
right  of  self-election,  were  thoroughly  stiffened  into  ficti- 
tious personages  who  never  died,  and  who  were  never 
thoroughly  alive. 

At  this  epoch  the  provincial  liberties,  so  far  as  they 
could  maintain  themselves  against  Spanish  despotism, 
were  practical  and  substantial.  The  government  was  a 
representative  one,  in  which  all  those  who  had  the  in- 
clination possessed,  in  one  mode  or  another,  a  voice. 
Although  the  various  members  of  the  confederacy  were 
locally  and  practically  republics  or  self  -  governed  little 
commonwealths,  the  general  government  which  they  es- 
tablished was,  in  form,  monarchical.  The  powers  con- 
ferred upon  Orange  constituted  him  a  sovereign  ad  interim, 
for  while  the  authority  of  the  Spanish  monarch  remained 
suspended,  the  Prince  was  invested  not  only  with  the 
whole  executive  and  appointing  power,  but  even  with  a 
very  large  share  in  the  legislative  functions  of  the  state. 


454  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1576 

The  whole  system  was  rather  practical  than  theoretical, 
without  any  accurate  distribution  of  political  powers.  In 
living,  energetic  communities,  where  the  blood  of  the 
body  politic  circulates  swiftly,  there  is  an  inevitable  ten- 
dency of  the  different  organs  to  sympathize  and  commingle 
more  closely  than  a  priori  philosophy  would  allow.  It 
is  usually  more  desirable  than  practicable  to  keep  the 
executive,  legislative,  and  judicial  departments  entirely 
independent  of  one  another. 

Certainly  the  Prince  of  Orange  did  not  at  that  moment 
indulge  in  speculations  concerning  the  nature  and  origin 
of  government.  He  was  the  father  of  his  country,  and  its 
defender.  The  people,  from  highest  to  lowest,  called  him 
''Father  William,"  and  the  title  was  enough  for  him. 
The  question  with  him  was  not  what  men  should  call 
him,  but  how  he  should  best  accomplish  his  task. 

So  little  was  he  inspired  by  the  sentiment  of  self-eleva- 
tion that  he  was  anxiously  seeking  for  a  fitting  person — 
strong,  wise,  and  willing  enough — to  exercise  the  sover- 
eignty which  was  thrust  upon  himself,  but  which  he  de- 
sired to  exchange  for  an  increased  power  to  be  actively 
useful  to  his  country.  To  expel  the  foreign  oppressor ; 
to  strangle  the  inquisition  ;  to  maintain  the  ancient  liber- 
ties of  the  nation  —  here  was  labor  enough  for  his,  own 
hands.  The  vulgar  thought  of  carving  a  throne  out  of 
the  misfortunes  of  his  country  seems  not  to  have  entered 
his  mind.  Upon  one  point,  however,  the  Prince  had 
been  peremptory.  He  would  have  no  persecution  of  the 
opposite  creed.  He  was  requested  to  suppress  the  Catho- 
lic religion  in  terms.  As  we  have  seen,  he  caused  the  ex- 
pression to  be  exchanged  for  the  words,  "  religion  at  vari- 
ance with  the  Gospel."  He  resolutely  stood  out  against 
all  meddling  with  men's  consciences,  or  inquiring  into 
their  thoughts.  While  smiting  the  Spanish  inquisition 
into  the  dust,  he  would  have  no  Calvinist  inquisition  set 
up  in  its  place.  Earnestly  a  convert  to  the  Eeformed 
religion,  but  hating  and  denouncing  only  what  was  corrupt 
in  the  ancient  Church,  he  would  not  force  men,  with 
fire  and  sword,  to  travel  to  heaven  upon  his  own  road. 
Thought  should  be  toll-free.     Neither  monk  nor  minis- 


1576]  FRUITLESS   NEGOTIATIONS  455 

ter  should  burn,  drown,  or  hang  his  fellow  -  creatures 
when  argument  or  expostulation  failed  to  redeem  them 
from  error.  It  was  no  small  virtue,  in  that  age,  to  rise 
to  such  a  height. 

The  death  of  Requesens  had  offered  the  first  opening 
through  which  the  watchful  Prince  could  hope  to  inflict 
a  wound  in  the  vital  part  of  Spanish  authority  in  the 
Netherlands.  The  languor  of  Philip  and  the  procrastinat- 
ing counsel  of  the  dull  Hopper  unexpectedly  widened  the 
opening.  On  the  24th  of  March  letters  were  written  by 
his  Majesty  to  the  states-general,  to  the  provincial  estates, 
and  to  the  courts  of  justice,  instructing  them  that,  until 
further  orders,  they  were  all  to  obey  the  council  of  state. 
The  King  was  confident  that  all  would  do  their  utmost 
to  assist  that  body  in  securing  the  holy  Catholic  faith 
and  the  implicit  obedience  of  the  country  to  its  sovereign. 
He  would,  in  the  mean  time,  occupy  himself  with  the 
selection  of  a  new  governor  -  general,  who  should  be  of 
his  family  and  blood.  This  uncertain  and  perilous  con- 
dition of  things  was  watched  with  painful  interest  in 
neighboring  countries. 

The  fate  of  all  nations  was  more  or  less  involved  in  the 
development  of  the  great  religious  contest  now  being  waged 
in  the  Netherlands.  Nevertheless,  during  the  spring  of 
1576  the  negotiations  of  the  Prince  with  England,  France, 
and  Germany  bore  little  fruit.  The  situation  at  the  end 
of  May  was  much  the  same  as  at  the  opening  of  the  year. 
The  prospect  was  black  in  Germany,  more  encouraging  in 
France,  dubious,  or  worse,  in  England.  More  work,  more 
anxiety,  more  desperate  struggles  than  ever,  devolved  upon 
the  Prince.  Secretary  Bruyninck  wrote  that  his  illustri- 
ous chief  was  tolerably  well  in  health,  but  so  loaded  with 
affairs,  sorrows,  and  travails,  that,  from  morning  till 
night,  he  had  scarcely  leisure  to  breathe.  Besides  his 
multitudinous  correspondence  with  the  public  bodies, 
whose  labors  he  habitually  directed ;  with  the  various 
estates  of  the  provinces,  which  he  was  gradually  mould- 
ing into  an  organized  and  general  resistance  to  the  Span- 
ish power ;  with  public  envoys  and  with  secret  agents  to 
foreign  cabinets,  all  of  whom  received  their  instructions 


456  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1576 

from,  him  alone ;  with  individuals  of  eminence  and  influ- 
ence, whom  he  was  eloquently  urging  to  abandon  their 
hostile  position  to  their  fatherland,  and  to  assist  him  in 
the  great  work  which  he  was  doing  :  besides  these  numer- 
ous avocations,  he  was  actively  and  anxiously  engaged, 
during  the  spring  of  1576,  with  the  attempt  to  relieve 
the  city  of  Zierik  Zee. 

That  important  place,  the  capital  of  Schouwen,  and  the 
key  to  half  Zeeland,  had  remained  closely  invested  since 
the  memorable  expedition  to  Duiveland.  The  Prince  had 
passed  much  of  his  time  in  the  neighborhood  during  the 
month  of  May,  in  order  to  attend  personally  to  the  con- 
templated relief,  and  to  correspond  daily  with  the  belea- 
guered garrison.  At  last,  on  the  25th  of  May,  a  vigorous 
effort  was  made  to  throw  in  succor  by  sea.  The  brave 
Admiral  Boisot,  hero  of  the  memorable  relief  of  Leyden, 
had  charge  of  the  expedition.  Mondragon  had  surround- 
ed the  shallow  harbor  with  hulks  and  chains,  and  with 
a  loose,  submerged  dike  of  piles  and  rubbish.  Against 
this  obstacle  Boisot  drove  his  ship,  the  Red  Lion,  with  his 
customary  audacity,  but  did  not  succeed  in  cutting  it 
through.  His  vessel,  the  largest  of  the  fleet,  became  en- 
tangled ;  he  was  at  the  same  time  attacked  from  a  dis- 
tance by  the  besiegers.  The  tide  ebbed  and  left  his  ship 
aground,  while  the  other  vessels  had  been  beaten  back  by  the 
enemy.  Night  approached,  and  there  was  no  possibility 
of  accomplishing  the  enterprise.  His  ship  was  hopelessly 
stranded.  With  the  morning^s  sun  his  captivity  was  cer- 
tain. Kather  than  fall  into  the  hands  of  his  enemy,  he 
sprang  into  the  sea,  followed  by  three  hundred  of  his  com- 
panions, some  of  whom  were  fortunate  enough  to  effect 
their  escape.  The  gallant  Admiral  swam  a  long  time,  sus- 
tained by  a  broken  spar.  Night  and  darkness  came  on 
before  assistance  could  be  rendered,  and  he  perished. 
Thus  died  Louis  Boisot,  one  of  the  most  enterprising  of 
the  early  champions  of  Netherland  freedom  —  one  of  the 
bravest  precursors  of  that  race  of  heroes,  the  commanders 
of  the  Holland  navy.  The  Prince  deplored  his  loss  deeply 
as  that  of  a  ^  Valiant  gentleman,  and  one  well  affectioned 
to  the  common  cause."    His  brother,  Charles  Boisot,  as 


-  o 
2   W 


1576]  FALL   OF  ZIERIK   ZEE  457 

will  be  remembered,  had  perished  by  treachery  at  the  first 
landing  of  the  Spanish  troops,  after  their  perilous  passage 
from  Duiveland.  Thus  both  the  brethren  had  laid  down 
their  lives  for  their  country,  on  this  its  outer  barrier,  and 
in  the  hour  of  its  utmost  need.  The  fall  of  the  beleaguered 
town  could  no  longer  be  deferred.  The  Spaniards  were 
at  last  to  receive  the  prize  of  that  romantic  valor  which 
had  led  them  across  the  bottom  of  the  sea  to  attack  the 
city.  Nearly  nine  months  had  however  elapsed  since 
that  achievement,  and  the  Grand  Commander,  by  whose 
orders  it  had  been  undertaken,  had  been  four  months  in 
his  grave.  He  was  permitted  to  see  neither  the  long- 
delayed  success  which  crowned  the  enterprise,  nor  the 
procession  of  disasters  and  crimes  which  was  to  mark  it 
as  a  most  fatal  success. 

On  the  21st  of  June,  1576,  Zierik  Zee,  instructed  by  the 
Prince  of  Orange  to  accept  honorable  terms,  if  offered, 
agreed  to  surrender.  Mondragon,  whose  soldiers  were  in 
a  state  of  suffering  and  ready  to  break  out  in  mutiny, 
was  but  too  happy  to  grant  an  honorable  capitulation. 
The  garrison  were  allowed  to  go  out  with  their  arms  and 
personal  baggage.  The  citizens  were  permitted  to  retain 
or  resume  their  privileges  and  charters,  on  payment  of 
two  hundred  thousand  guldens.  Of  sacking  and  burning 
there  was,  on  this  occasion,  fortunately,  no  question ;  but 
the  first  half  of  the  commutation  money  was  to  be  paid  in 
cash.  There  was  but  little  money  in  the  impoverished 
little  town,  but  mint-masters  were  appointed  by  the  magis- 
trates to  take  their  seats  at  once  in  the  H6tel  de  Ville. 
The  citizens  brought  their  spoons  and  silver  dishes,  one 
after  another,  which  were  melted  and  coined  into  dollars 
and  half-dollars,  until  the  payment  was  satisfactorily  ad- 
justed. Thus  fell  Zierik  Zee,  to  the  deep  regret  of  the 
Prince.  '•  Had  we  received  the  least  succor  in  the  world 
from  any  side,"  he  wrote,  "the  poor  city  should  never 
have  fallen.  I  could  get  nothing  from  France  or  England, 
with  all  my  efforts.  Nevertheless,  we  do  not  lose  courage, 
but  hope  that,  although  abandoned  by  all  the  world,  the 
Lord  God  will  extend  His  right  hand  over  us." 

The  enemies  were  not  destined  to  go  farther.     From 


458  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1576 

their  own  hand  now  came  the  blow  which  was  to  expel 
them  from  the  soil  which  they  had  so  long  polluted.  No 
sooner  was  Zierik  Zee  captured  than  a  mutiny  broke  forth 
among  several  companies  of  Spaniards  and  Walloons  be- 
longing to  the  army  in  Schouwen.  A  large  number  of  the 
most  influential  officers  had  gone  to  Brussels,  to  make  ar- 
rangements, if  possible,  for  the  payment  of  the  troops. 
In  their  absence  there  was  more  scope  for  the  arguments 
of  the  leading  mutineers  —  arguments  assuredly  not  en- 
tirely destitute  of  justice  or  logical  precision. 

It  was  in  vain  that  arguments  and  expostulations  were 
addressed  to  soldiers  who  were  suffering  from  want  and 
maddened  by  injustice.  They  determined  to  take  their 
cause  into  their  own  hands,  as  they  had  often  done  before. 

By  the  15th  of  July  the  mutiny  was  general  on  the  isle 
of  Schouwen.  Promises  were  freely  offered,  both  of  pay 
and  pardon  ;  appeals  were  made  to  their  old  sense  of  honor 
and  loyalty ;  but  they  had  had  enough  of  promises,  of 
honor,  and  of  work.  What  they  wanted  now  were  shoes 
and  jerkins,  bread  and  meat  and  money.  Money  they 
would  have,  and  that  at  once.  The  King  of  Spain  was 
their  debtor.  The  Netherlands  belonged  to  the  King  of 
Spain.  They  would,  therefore,  levy  on  the  Netherlands 
for  payment  of  their  debt. 

The  rebel  regiments  entered  Brabant.  They  alighted 
upon  Alost,  using  this  little  city  as  their  perch  while  they 
made  ready  to  swoop  upon  Brussels.  The  state  council 
fulminated  edicts  against  the  mutineers.  In  Antwerp  and 
the  capital  the  burghers  armed  and  became  garrisons. 
The  King  continued  to  procrastinate.  On  the  last  day  of 
July  the  Marquis  of  Havre  arrived  from  Madrid,  bearing 
conciliatory  but  unmeaning  messages  from  the  King,  which 
had  little  effect. 

Jerome  de  Koda  had  been  fortunate  enough  to  make  his 
escape  out  of  Brussels,  and  now  claimed  to  be  sole  gov- 
ernor of  the  Netherlands,  as  the  only  remaining  repre- 
sentative of  the  state  council.  His  colleagues  were  in 
durance  at  the  capital.  Their  authority  was  derided. 
Although  not  yet  actually  imprisoned,  they  were  in  reali- 
ty bound  hand  and  foot,  and  compelled  to  take  their  or- 


1576]  GOVERNOR  RODA  459 

ders  either  from  the  Brabant  estates  or  from  the  burghers 
of  Brussels.  It  was  not  an  illogical  proceeding,  therefore, 
that  Roda,  under  the  shadow  of  the  Antwerp  citadel, 
should  set  up  his  own  person  as  all  that  remained  of  the 
outraged  majesty  of  Spain.  Till  the  new  governor,  Don 
John,  should  arrive,  whose  appointment  the  King  had  al- 
ready communicated  to  the  government,  and  who  might 
be  expected  in  the  Netherlands  before  the  close  of  the 
autumn,  the  solitary  councillor  claimed  to  embody  the 
whole  council.  He  caused  a  new  seal  to  be  struck — a 
proceeding  very  unreasonably  charged  as  forgery  by  the 
provincials — and  forthwith  began  to  thunder  forth  procla- 
mations and  counter-proclamations  in  the  King's  name  and 
under  the  royal  seal.  It  is  difficult  to  see  any  technical 
crime  or  mistake  in  such  a  course.  As  a  Spaniard,  and 
a  representative  of  his  Majesty,  he  could  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  take  any  other  view  of  his  duty.  At  any  rate, 
being  called  upon  to  choose  between  rebellious  Nether- 
landers  and  mutinous  Spaniards,  he  was  not  long  in  making 
up  his  mind. 

By  the  beginning  of  September  the  mutiny  was  general. 
All  the  Spanish  army,  from  general  to  pioneer,  were 
united.  The  most  important  German  troops  had  taken 
side  with  them.  Sanclio  d'Avila  held  the  citadel  of  Ant- 
werp, vowing  vengeance,  and  holding  open  communica- 
tion with  the  soldiers  at  Alost.  The  council  of  state  re- 
monstrated with  him  for  his  'disloyalty.  He  replied  by 
referring  to  his  long  years  of  service,  and  by  reproving 
them  for  affecting  an  authority  which  their  imprisonment 
rendered  ridiculous.  The  Spaniards  were  securely  estab- 
lished. The  various  citadels  which  had  been  built  by 
Charles  and  Philip  to  curb  the  country  now  effectually 
did  their  work.  With  the  castles  of  Antwerp,  Valen- 
ciennes, Ghent,  Utrecht,  Culemburg,  Vianen,  and  Alost  in 
the  hands  of  six  thousand  veteran  Spaniards,  the  country 
seemed  chained  in  every  limb.  The  foreigner's  foot  was 
on  its  neck.  Brussels  was  almost  the  only  considerable 
town  out  of  Holland  and  Zeeland  which  was  even  tempo- 
rarily safe.  The  important  city  of  Maastricht  was  held  by 
a  Spanish  garrison,  while  other  capital  towns  and  stations 


460  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1576 

were  in  the  power  of  the  Walloon  and  German  mutineers. 
The  depredations  committed  in  the  villages,  the  open 
country,  and  the  cities  were  incessant  —  the  Spaniards 
treating  every  Netherlander  as  their  foe.  Gentleman  and 
peasant,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  priest  and  layman,  all 
were  plundered,  maltreated,  outraged.  The  indignation 
became  daily  more  general  and  more  intense.  There 
were  frequent  skirmishes  between  the  soldiery  and  pro- 
miscuous bands  of  peasants,  citizens,  and  students — con- 
flicts in  which  the  Spaniards  were  invariably  victorious. 
What  could  such  half-armed  and  wholly  untrained  parti- 
sans effect  against  the  bravest  and  most  experienced  troops 
in  the  whole  world  ?  Such  results  only  increased  the  gen- 
eral exasperation,  while  they  impressed  upon  the  whole 
people  the  necessity  of  some  great  and  general  effort  to 
throw  off  the  incubus. 


CHAPTER    V 
THE  PACIFICATION  OF   GHENT 

Meantime  the  Prince  of  Orange  sat  at  Middelburg 
watching  the  storm.  The  position  of  Holland  and  Zee- 
land  with  regard  to  the  other  fifteen  provinces  was  dis- 
tinctly characterized.  Upon  certain  points  there  was  an 
absolute  sympathy,  while  upon  others  there  was  a  grave 
and  almost  fatal  difference.  It  was  the  task  of  the  Prince 
to  deepen  the  sympathy,  to  extinguish  the  difference. 

In  Holland  and  Zeeland  there  was  a  warm  and  nearly 
universal  adhesion  to  the  Reformed  religion,  a  passionate 
attachment  to  the  ancient  political  liberties.  The  Prince, 
although  an  earnest  Calvinist  himself,  did  all  in  his  pow- 
er to  check  the  growing  spirit  of  intolerance  towards  the 
old  religion,  and  omitted  no  opportunity  of  strengthening 
the  attachment  which  the  people  justly  felt  for  their  lib- 
eral institutions.  v 

On  the  other  hand,  in  most  of  the  other  provinces  the 
Catholic  religion  had  been  regaining  its  ascendency. 
Even  in  1574,  the  estates  assembled  at  Brussels  declared 
to  Requesens  *'  that  they  would  rather  die  the  death  than 
see  any  change  in  their  religion."  That  feeling  had  rath- 
er increased  than  diminished.  Although  there  was  a 
strong  party  attached  to  the  new  faith,  there  was  per- 
haps a  larger,  certainly  a  more  influential,  body  which  re- 
garded the  ancient  Church  with  absolute  fidelity.  Owing 
partly  to  the  persecution  which  had,  in  the  course  of 
years,  banished  so  many  thousands  of  families  from  the 
soil ;  partly  to  the  coercion,  which  was  more  stringent  in 
the  immediate  presence  of  the  crown's  representative; 
partly  to  the  stronger  infusion  of  the  Celtic  element. 


462  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS  [1676 

which  from  the  earliest  ages  had  always  been  so  keenly 
alive  to  the  more  sensuous  and  splendid  manifestations  of 
the  devotional  principle — owing  to  these  and  many  other 
causes,  the  old  religion,  despite  of  all  the  outrages  which 
had  been  committed  in  its  name,  still  numbered  a  host  of 
zealous  adherents  in  the  fifteen  provinces.  Attempts 
against  its  sanctity  were  regarded  with  jealous  eyes.  It 
was  believed,  and  with  reason,  that  there  was  a  disposi- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  Eeformers  to  destroy  it  root  and 
branch.  It  was  suspected  that  the  same  enginery  of  per- 
secution would  be  employed  in  its  extirpation,  should  the 
opposite  party  gain  the  supremacy,  which  the  papists 
had  so  long  employed  against  the  converts  to  the  new  re- 
ligion. 

As  to  political  convictions,  the  fifteen  provinces  differed 
much  less  from  their  two  sisters.  There  was  a  strong  at- 
tachment to  their  old  constitutions  ;  a  general  inclination 
to  make  use  of  the  present  crisis  to  effect  their  restora- 
tion. At  the  same  time  it  had  not  come  to  be  the  gen- 
eral conviction,  as  in  Holland  and  Zeeland,  that  the  main- 
tenance of  those  liberties  was  incompatible  with  the  con- 
tinuance of  Philip's  authority.  There  was,  moreover,  a 
strong  aristocratic  faction  which  was  by  no  means  disposed 
to  take  a  liberal  view  of  government  in  general,  and  regard- 
ed with  apprehension  the  simultaneous  advance  of  heretical 
notions  both  in  Church  and  State.  Still  there  were,  on  the 
whole,  the  elements  of  a  controlling  constitutional  party 
throughout  the  fifteen  provinces.  The  great  bond  of 
sympathy,  however,  between  all  the  seventeen  was  their 
common  hatred  to  the  foreign  soldiery.  Upon  this  deep- 
ly embedded,  immovable  fulcrum  of  an  ancient  national 
hatred,  the  sudden  mutiny  of  the  whole  Spanish  army 
served  as  a  lever  of  incalculable  power.  The  Prince 
seized  it  as  from  the  hand  of  God.  Thus  armed,  he  pro- 
posed to  himself  the  task  of  upturning  the  mass  of  op- 
pression under  which  the  old  liberties  of  the  country  had 
so  long  been  crushed.  To  effect  this  object,  adroitness 
was  as  requisite  as  courage.  Expulsion  of  the  foreign 
soldiery ;  union  of  the  seventeen  provinces  ;  a  representa- 
tive constitution,  according  to  the  old  charters,  by  the 


1676]        LETTERS  OF  ORANGE— NECESSITY  OF  UNION  463 

states-general,  under  an  hereditary  chief ;  a  large  religious 
toleration ;  suppression  of  all  inquisition  into  men's  con- 
sciences— these  were  the  great  objects  to  which  the  Prince 
now  devoted  himself  with  renewed  energy. 

To  bring  about  a  general  organization  and  a  general 
union,  much  delicacy  of  handling  was  necessary.  The 
sentiment  of  extreme  Catholicism  and  monarchism  was 
not  to  be  suddenly  scared  into  opposition.  The  Prince, 
therefore,  in  all  his  addresses  and  documents,  was  careful 
to  disclaim  any  intention  of  disturbing  the  established  re- 
ligion, or  of  making  any  rash  political  changes.  While, 
however,  careful  to  offend  no  man's  religious  convictions, 
to  startle  no  man's  loyalty,  he  made  skilful  use  of  the 
general  indignation  felt  at  the  atrocities  of  the  mutinous 
army.  This  chord  he  struck  boldly,  powerfully,  passion- 
ately, for  he  felt  sure  of  the  depth  and  strength  of  its 
vibrations. 

Day  after  day,  in  almost  countless  addresses  to  public 
bodies  and  private  individuals,  he  made  use  of  the  crisis 
to  pile  fresh  fuel  upon  the  flames.  At  the  same  time, 
while  thus  fanning  the  general  indignation,  he  had  the 
adroitness  to  point  out  that  the  people  had  already  com- 
mitted themselves.  lie  represented  to  them  that  the 
edict  by  which  they  had  denounced  his  Majesty's  veterans 
as  outlaws,  and  had  devoted  them  to  the  indiscriminate 
destruction  which  such  brigands  deserved,  was  likely  to 
prove  an  unpardonable  crime  in  the  eyes  of  majesty.  In 
short,  they  had  entered  the  torrent.  If  they  would  avoid 
being  dashed  over  the  precipice,  they  must  struggle  man- 
fully with  the  mad  waves  of  civil  war  into  which  they  had 
plunged. 

Having  upon  various  occasions  sought  to  impress  upon 
his  countrymen  the  gravity  of  the  position,  he  led  them 
to  seek  the  remedy  in  audacity  and  in  union.  He  famil- 
iarized them  with  his  theory,  that  the  legal,  historical  gov- 
ernment of  the  provinces  belonged  to  the  states-general — 
to  a  congress  of  nobles,  clergy,  and  commons,  appointed 
from  each  of  the  seventeen  provinces.  He  maintained, 
with  reason,  that  the  government  of  the  Netlierlands  was 
a  representative,  constitutional  government,  under  the  he- 


464  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1576 

reditary  anthority  of  the  King.  To  recover  this  constitu- 
tion, to  lift  up  these  down-trodden  rights,  he  set  before 
them  most  vividly  the  necessity  of  union.  "'Tis  impos- 
sible/^ he  said,  ^^that  a  chariot  should  move  evenly  having 
its  wheels  unequally  proportioned  ;  and  so  must  a  con- 
federation be  broken  to  pieces  if  there  be  not  an  equal 
obligation  on  all  to  tend  to  a  common  purpose."  Union — 
close,  fraternal,  such  as  became  provinces  of  a  common 
origin  and  with  similar  laws — could  alone  save  them  from 
their  fate.  Union  against  a  common  tyrant  to  save  a 
common  fatherland.  Union,  by  which  differences  of  opin- 
ion should  be  tolerated  in  order  that  a  million  of  hearts 
should  beat  for  a  common  purpose,  a  million  hands  work 
out,  invincibly,  a  common  salvation.  ''Tis  hardly  neces- 
sary," he  said,  ''to  use  many  words  in  recommendation 
of  union.  Disunion  has  been  the  cause  of  all  our  woes. 
There  is  no  remedy,  no  hope,  save  in  the  bonds  of  friend- 
ship. Let  all  particular  disagreements  be  left  to  the  de- 
cision of  the  states-general,  in  order  that  with  one  heart 
and  one  will  we  may  seek  the  disenthralment  of  the  father- 
land from  the  tyranny  of  strangers." 

His  eloquence  and  energy  were  not  without  effect.  In 
the  course  of  the  autumn,  deputies  were  appointed  from 
the  greater  number  of  the  provinces  to  confer  with  the 
representatives  of  Holland  and  Zeeland  in  a  general  con- 
gress. The  place  appointed  for  the  deliberations  was  the 
city  of  Ghent.  Here,  by  the  middle  of  October,  a  large 
number  of  delegates  were  already  assembled. 

Events  were  rapidly  rolling  together  from  every  quarter, 
and  accumulating  to  a  crisis.  A  congress — a  rebellious 
congress,  as  the  King  might  deem  it — was  assembling  at 
Ghent;  the  Spanish  army — proscribed,  lawless,  and  ter- 
rible— was  strengthening  itself  daily  for  some  dark  and 
mysterious  achievement ;  Don  John  of  Austria,  the  King's 
natural  brother,  was  expected  from  Spain  to  assume  the 
government,  which  the  state  council  was  too  timid  to 
wield  and  too  loyal  to  resign ;  while,  meantime,  the  whole 
population  of  the  Netherlands,  with  hardly  an  exception, 
was  disposed  to  see  the  great  question  of  the  foreign  sol- 
diery settled  before  the  chaos  then  existing  should  be 


167«]  DISASTROUS  ENCOUNTERS  465 

superseded  by  a  more  definite  authority.  Everywhere, 
men  of  all  ranks  and  occupations — the  artisan  in  the  city, 
the  peasant  in  the  fields — were  deserting  their  daily  oc- 
cupations to  furbish  helmets,  handle  muskets,  and  learn 
the  trade  of  war.  Skirmishes,  sometimes  severe  and  bloody, 
were  of  almost  daily  occurrence.  In  these  the  Spaniards 
were  invariably  successful,  for  whatever  may  be  said  of 
their  cruelty  and  licentiousness,  it  cannot  be  disputed  that 
their  prowess  was  worthy  of  their  renown.  Romantic 
valor,  unflinching  fortitude,  consummate  skill,  character- 
ized them  always.  What  could  half-armed  artisans  achieve 
in  the  open  plain  against  such  accomplished  foes  ?  At 
Tisnacq,  between  Louvain  and  Tirlemont,  a  battle  was 
attempted  by  a  large  miscellaneous  mass  of  students,  peas- 
antry, and  burghers,  led  by  country  squires.  It  soon 
changed  to  a  carnage,  in  which  the  victims  were  all  on 
one  side.  A  small  number  of  veterans,  headed  by  Var-  \ 
gas,  Mendoza,  Tassis,  and  other  chivalrous  command- 
ers, routed  the  undisciplined  thousands  at  a  single 
charge.  The  rude  militia  threw  away  their  arms,  and  fled 
panic  -  struck  in  all  directions  at  the  first  sight  of  their 
terrible  foe.  Two  Spaniards  lost  their  lives  and  two  thou- 
sand Netherlanders.  It  was  natural  that  these  consummate 
warriors  should  despise  such  easily  slaughtered  victims. 
A  single  stroke  of  the  iron  flail,  and  the  chaff  was  scat- 
tered to  the  four  winds  ;  a  single  sweep  of  the  disciplined 
scythe,  and  countless  acres  were  in  an  instant  mown. 
Nevertheless,  although  beaten  constantly,  the  Nether- 
landers  were  not  conquered.  Holland  and  Zeeland  had 
read  the  foe  a  lesson  which  he  had  not  forgotten,  and  al- 
though on  the  open  fields  and  against  the  less  vigorous 
population  of  the  more  central  provinces  his  triumphs 
had  been  easier,  yet  it  was  obvious  that  the  spirit  of  re- 
sistance to  foreign  oppression  was  growing  daily  stronger 
notwithstanding  daily  defeats. 

Meantime,  while  these  desultory  but  deadly  combats 
were  in  daily  progress,  the  council  of  state  was  looked 
upon  with  suspicion  by  the  mass  of  the  population.  That 
body,  in  which  resided  provisionally  the  powers  of  govern- 
ment, was  believed  to  be  desirous  of  establishing  relations 
30 


466  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1576 

with  the  mutinous  army.  It  was  suspected  of  insidiously 
provoking  the  excesses  which  it  seemed  to  denounce.  The 
capital  was  insufi&ciently  garrisoned,  yet  troops  were  not 
enrolling  for  its  protection.  The  state  councillors  obvi- 
ously omitted  to  provide  for  defence,  and  it  was  supposed 
that  they  were  secretly  assisting  the  attack.  It  was 
thought  important,  therefore,  to  disarm,  or  at  least  to 
control,  this  body,  which  was  impotent  for  protection  and 
seemed  powerful  only  for  mischief.  It  was  possible  to 
make  it  as  contemptible  as  it  was  believed  to  be  malicious. 
An  unexpected  stroke  was,  therefore,  suddenly  levelled 
against  the  council  in  full  session.  On  the  5tli  of  Sep- 
tember the  Seigneur  de  Heze,  a  young  gentleman  of  a 
bold  but  unstable  character,  then  entertaining  close  but 
secret  relations  with  the  Prince  of  Orange,  appeared  be- 
fore the  doors  of  the  palace.  He  was  attended  by  about 
five  hundred  troops,  under  the  immediate  command  of 
the  Seigneur  de  Glimes,  bailiff  of  Walloon  Brabant.  He 
demanded  admittance,  in  the  name  of  the  Brabant  estates, 
to  the  presence  of  the  state  council,  and  was  refused. 
The  doors  were  closed  and  bolted.  Without  further  cere- 
mony the  soldiers  produced  iron  bars,  brought  with  them 
for  the  purpose,  forced  all  the  gates  from  the  hinges,  en- 
tered the  hall  of  session,  and,  at  a  word  from  their  com- 
mander, laid  hands  upon  the  councillors  and  made  every 
one  prisoner.  The  Duke  of  Aerschot,  president  of  the 
council,  who  was  then  in  close  alliance  with  the  Prince, 
was  not  present  at  the  meeting,  but  lay,  forewarned,  at 
home,  confined  to  his  couch  by  a  sickness  assumed  for 
the  occasion.  Viglius,  who  rarely  participated  in  the  de- 
liberations of  the  board,  being  already  afflicted  with  the 
chronic  malady  under  which  he  was  ere  long  to  succumb, 
also  escaped  the  fate  of  his  fellow-senators.  The  others 
were  carried  into  confinement.  Berlaymont  and  Mans- 
feld  were  imprisoned  in  the  Broodhuis,  where  the  last 
mortal  hours  of  Egmont  and  Horn  had  been  passed. 
Others  were  kept  strictly  guarded  in  their  own  houses. 
After  a  few  weeks  most  of  them  were  liberate^J.  Coun- 
cillor Del  Rio  was,  however,  retained  in  confinement,  and 
sent  to  Holland,  where  he  was  subjected  to  a  severe  ex- 


1576]  ^  CONGRESS   OF  GHENT  467 

amination  by  the  Prince  of  Orange,  touching  his  past 
career,  particularly  concerning  the  doings  of  the  famous 
Council  of  Blood.  The  others  were  set  free,  and  even  per- 
mitted to  resume  their  functions,  but  their  dignity  was 
gone,  their  authority  annihilated.  Thenceforth  the  states 
of  Brabant  and  the  community  of  Brussels  were  to  govern 
for  an  interval,  for  it  was  in  their  name  that  the  daring 
blow  against  the  council  had  been  struck. 

All  individuals  and  bodies,  however,  although  not  dis- 
pleased with  the  result,  clamorously  disclaimed  responsi- 
bility for  the  deed.  Men  were  appalled  at  the  audacity 
of  the  transaction,  and  dreaded  the  vengeance  of  the  King. 
The  Abbot  Van  Perch,  one  of  the  secret  instigators  of 
the  act,  actually  died  of  anxiety  for  its  possible  conse- 
quences. There  was  a  mystery  concerning  the  affair. 
They  in  whose  name  it  had  been  accomplished  denied 
having  given  any  authority  to  the  perpetrators.  Men 
asked  each  other  what  unseen  agency  had  been  at  work, 
what  secret  spring  had  been  adroitly  touched.  There 
is  but  little  doubt,  however,  that  the  veiled  but  skil- 
ful hand  which  directed  the  blow  was  the  same  which 
had  so  long  been  guiding  the  destiny  of  the  Nether- 
lands. ^ 

It  had  been  settled  that  the  congress  was  to  hold  its 
sessions  in  Ghent,  although  the  citadel  commanding  that 
city  was  held  by  the  Spaniards.  The  garrison  was  not 
very  strong,  and  Mondragon,  its  commander,  was  absent 
in  Zeeland,  but  the  wife  of  the  veteran  ably  supplied  his 
place,  and  stimulated  the  slender  body  of  troops  to  hold 
out  with  heroism,  under  the  orders  of  his  lieutenant, 
Avilos  Maldonado.  The  mutineers,  after  having  accom- 
plished their  victory  at  Tisnacq,  had  been  earnestly  so- 
licited to  come  to  the  relief  of  this  citadel.  They  had 
refused,  and  returned  to  Alost.  Meantime  the  siege  was 
warmly  pressed  by  the  states,  and  the  deliberations  of  the 
congress  were  opened  under  the  incessant  roar  of  cannon. 
"While  the  attack  was  thus  earnestly  maintained  upon  the 
important  castle  of  Ghent,  a  courageous  effort  was  made 
by  the  citizens  of  Maastricht  to  wrest  their  city  from  the 
hands  of  the  Spaniards.     The  German  garrison  having 


468  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1516 

been  gained  by  the  burghers,  the  combined  force  rose 
upon  the  Spanish  troops  and  drove  them  from  the  city. 
Montesdoca,  the  commander,  was  arrested  and  impris- 
oned, but  the  triumph  was  only  temporary.  Don  Francis 
d'Ayala,  Montesdoca^s  lieutenant,  made  a  stand  with  a 
few  companies  in  Wyk,  a  village  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  Mouse,  and  connected  with  the  city  by  a  massive 
bridge  of  stone.  From  this  point  he  sent  information 
to  other  commanders  in  the  neighborhood.  Don  Ferdi- 
nand de  Toledo  soon  arrived  with  several  hundred  troops 
from  Dalem.  The  Spaniards,  eager  to  wipe  out  the  dis- 
grace to  their  arms,  loudly  demanded  to  be  led  back  to 
the  city.  The  head  of  the  bridge,  however,  over  which 
they  must  pass  was  defended  by  a  strong  battery,  and 
the  citizens  were  seen  clustering  in  great  numbers  to  de- 
fend their  firesides  against  a  foe  whom  they  had  once 
expelled.  To  advance  across  the  bridge  seemed  certain 
destruction  to  the  little  force.  Even  Spanish  bravery  re- 
coiled at  so  desperate  an  undertaking,  but  unscrupulous 
ferocity  supplied  an  expedient  where  courage  was  at  fault. 
There  were  few  fighting  men  present  among  the  popula- 
tion of  Wieck,  but  there  were  many  females.  Each  sol- 
dier was  commanded  to  seize  a  woman,  and,  placing  her 
before  his  own  body,  to  advance  across  the  bridge.  The 
column  thus  bucklered,  to  the  shame  of  Spanish  chivalry, 
by  female  bosoms,  moved  in  good  order  towards  the  bat- 
tery. The  soldiers  levelled  their  muskets  with  steady 
aim  over  the  shoulders  or  under  the  arms  of  the  women 
whom  they  thus  held  before  them.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  citizens  dared  not  discharge  their  cannon  at  their 
own  townswomen,  among  whose  numbers  many  recognized 
mothers,  sisters,  or  wives.  The  battery  was  soon  taken, 
while  at  the  same  time  Alonzo  Vargas,  who  had  effected 
his  entrance  from  the  land  side  by  burning  down  the 
Brussels  Gate,  now  entered  the  city  at  the  head  of  a  band 
of  cavalry.  Maastricht  was  recovered,  and  an  indiscrim- 
inate slaughter  instantly  avenged  its  temporary  loss.  The 
plundering,  stabbing,  drowning,  burning,  ravishing  were 
so  dreadful  that,  in  the  words  of  a  contemporary  historian, 
"  the  burghers  who  had  escaped  the  fight  had  reason  to 


16'?6]  THE  STORM  GATHERING  469 

think  themselves  less  fortunate  than  those  who  had  died 
with  arms  in  their  hands."         ^t^ 

This  was  the  lot  of  Maastricht  on  the  20th  of  October* 
It  was  instinctively  felt  to  be  the  precursor  of  fresh  dis- 
asters. Vague,  incoherent,  but  widely  disseminated  ru- 
mors had  long  pointed  to  Antwerp  and  its  dangerous 
situation.  The  Spaniards,  foiled  in  their  views  upon 
Brussels,  had  recently  avowed  an  intention  of  avenging 
themselves  in  the  commercial  capital.  They  had  waited 
long  enough  and  accumulated  strength  enough.  Such  a 
trifling  city  as  Alost  could  no  longer  content  their  cu- 
pidity, but  in  Antwerp  there  was  gold  enough  for  the 
gathering.  There  was  reason  in  the  fears  of  the  inhab- 
itants for  the  greedy  longing  of  their  enemy.  Probably 
no  city  in  Christendom  could  at  that  day  vie  with  Ant- 
werp in  wealth  and  splendor.  Its  merchants  lived  in  regal 
pomp  and  luxury.  In  its  numerous,  massive  warehouses 
were  the  treasures  of  every  clime.  Still  serving  as  the 
main  entrepot  of  the  world's  traffic,  the  Brabantine  capi- 
tal was  the  centre  of  that  commercial  system  which  was 
soon  to  be  superseded  by  a  larger  international  life.  In 
the  midst  of  the  miseries  which  had  so  long  b^en  raining 
upon  the  Netherlands,  the  stately  and  egotistical  city 
seemed  to  take  stronger  root  and  to  flourish  more  fresh- 
ly than  ever.  It  was  not  wonderful  that  its  palaces  and 
its  magazines,  glittering  with  splendor  and  bursting  with 
treasure,  should  arouse  the  avidity  of  a  reckless  and  fam- 
ishing soldiery.  Had  not  a  handful  of  warriors  of  their 
own  race  rifled  the  golden  Indies  ?  Had  not  their  fath- 
ers, few  in  number  but  strong  in  courage,  revelled  in  the 
plunder  of  a  new  world?  Here  were  the  Indies  in  a  single 
city.  Here  were  gold  and  silver,  pearls  and  diamonds, 
ready  and  portable  ;  the  precious  fruit  dropping,  ripened, 
from  the  bough.  Was  it  to  be  tolerated  that  base,  pacific 
burghers  should  monopolize  the  treasure  by  which  a  band 
of  heroes  might  be  enriched  ? 

A  sense  of  coming  evil  diffused  itself  through  the  at- 
mosphere. The  air  seemed  lurid  with  the  impending 
storm,  for  the  situation  was  one  of  peculiar  horror. 
The  wealthiest  city  in  Christendom  lay  at  the  mercy  of 


470  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [161& 

the  strongest  fastness  in  the  world ;  a  castle  which  had 
been  built  to  curb,  not  to  protect,  the  town.  It  was  now 
inhabited  by  a  band  of  brigands,  outlawed  by  govern- 
ment, strong  in  discipline,  furious  from  penury,  reckless 
by  habit,  desperate  in  circumstance — a  crew  which  feared 
not  God  nor  man  nor  devil.  The  palpitating  quarry 
lay  expecting  hourly  the  swoop  of  its  trained  and  pitiless 
enemy.  Sancho  d'Avila,  castellan  of  the  citadel,  was  re- 
cognized as  the  chief  of  the  whole  mutiny,  the  army  and 
the  mutiny  being  now  one.  The  band  intrenched  at  Alost 
were  upon  the  best  possible  understanding  with  their 
brethren  in  the  citadel,  and  accepted  without  hesitation 
the  arrangements  of  their  superior.  On  the  side  of  the 
Scheldt,  opposite  Antwerp,  a  fortification  had  been  thrown 
up  by  Don  Sancho's  orders,  and  held  by  Julian  Romero. 
Lier,  Breda,  as  well  as  Alost,  were  likewise  ready  to  throw 
their  reinforcements  into  the  citadel  at  a  moment's  warn- 
ing. At  the  signal  of  their  chief,  the  united  bands  might 
sweep  from  their  impregnable  castle  with  a  single  impulse. 

The  story  of  The  Spanish  Fury  in  Antwerp  is  easily 
told.  The  three  chief  elements  in  it  are  the  treachery  of 
the  German  mercenaries  and  the  unsteadiness  of  the 
Walloon  troops  expected  to  defend  the  city,  and  the  Con- 
summate craft,  discipline,  valor,  and  brutality  of  the 
Spaniards.  On  the  3d  of  November  the  Spanish  mutineers 
arrived  from  Alost.  The  united  forces  of  Spaniard  and 
German  carried  the  barricades  erected  for  defence,  and 
then  for  three  days  the  butchery  of  human  bodies  con- 
tinued. It  is  believed  that  eight  thousand  people  were 
murdered. 

On  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  November  Antwerp  pre- 
sented a  ghastly  sight.  The  magnificent  marble  Town- 
house, celebrated  as  a  '^world's  wonder, '*  even  in  that 
age  and  country,  in  which  so  much  splendor  was  lavished 
on  municipal  palaces,  stood  a  blackened  ruin — all  but  the 
walls  destroyed,  while  its  archives,  accounts,  and  other 
valuable  contents  had  perished.  The  more  splendid 
portion  of  the  city  had  been  consumed,  at  least  five 
hundred  palaces,  mostly  of  marble  or  hammered  stone, 
being  a  smouldering  mass  of  destruction.      The  dead 


1576]  THE  SPANISH  FURY  471 

bodies  of  those  fallen  in  the  massacre  were  on  every  side, 
in  greatest  profusion  around  the  Place  de  Meer,  among 
the  Gothic  pillars  of  the  Exchange,  and  in  the  streets 
near  the  Town-house.  The  German  soldiers  lay  in  their 
armor,  some  with  their  heads  burned  from  their  bodies, 
some  with  legs  and  arms  consumed  by  the  flames  through 
which  they  had  fought.  The  Margrave  Goswyn  Verreyck, 
the  burgomaster  Van  der  Meere,  the  magistrates  Lancelot 
van  Urselen,  Nicholas  van  Boekholt,  and  other  leading 
citizens,  lay  among  piles  of  less  distinguished  slain.  They 
remained  unburied  until  the  overseers  of  the  poor,  on 
whom  the  living  had  then  more  importunate  claims  than 
the  dead,  were  compelled  by  Roda  to  bury  them  out  of 
the  pauper  fund.  The  murderers  were  too  thrifty  to  be 
at  funeral  charges  for  their  victims.  The  ceremony  was 
not  hastily  performed,  for  the  number  of  corpses  had  not 
been  completed.  Two  days  longer  the  havoc  lasted  in 
the  city.  Of  all  the  crimes  which  men  can  commit, 
whether  from  deliberate  calculation  or  in  the  frenzy  of 
passion,  hardly  one  was  omitted,  for  riot,  gaming,  rape, 
which  had  been  postponed  to  the  more  stringent  claims 
of  robbery  and  murder,  were  now  rapidly  added  to  the 
sum  of  atrocities.  History  has  recorded  the  account  in- 
delibly on  her  brazen  tablets ;  it  can  be  adjusted  only 
at  the  judgment-seat  above. 

Of  all  the  deeds  of  darkness  yet  compassed  in  the  Neth- 
erlands, this  was  the  worst.  The  city  which  had  been  a 
world  of  wealth  and  splendor  was  changed  to  a  charnel- 
house,  and  from  that  hour  its  commercial  prosperity  was 
blasted.  Other  causes  had  silently  girdled  the  yet  green 
and  flourishing  tree,  but  The  Spanish  Fury  was  the  fire 
which  consumed  it  to  ashes.  Three  thousand  dead  bodies 
were  discovered  in  the  streets,  as  many  more  were  esti- 
mated to  have  perished  in  the  Scheldt,  and  nearly  an 
equal  number  were  burned  or  destroyed  in  other  ways. 
Eight  thousand  persons  undoubtedly  were  put  to  death. 
Six  millions  of  property  were  destroyed  by  the  fire,  and 
at  least  as  much  more  was  obtained  by  the  Spaniards.  In 
this  enormous  robbery  no  class  of  people  was  respected. 
Foreign  merchants,  living  under  the  express  sanction  and 


47^  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [ISYS 

protection  of  the  Spanish  monarch,  were  plundered  with 
as  little  reserve  as  Flemings.  Ecclesiastics  of  the  Roman 
Church  were  compelled  to  disgorge  their  wealth  as  freely 
as  Calvinists.  The  rich  were  made  to  contribute  all  their 
abundance,  and  the  poor  what  could  be  wrung  from  their 
poverty.  Neither  paupers  nor  criminals  were  safe.  Cap- 
tain Casper  Ortis  made  a  brilliant  speculation  by  taking 
possession  of  the  Steen,  or  city  prison,  whence  he  ransomed 
all  the  inmates  who  could  find  means  to  pay  for  their  lib- 
erty. Robbers,  murderers,  even  Anabaptists,  were  thus 
again  let  loose.  Rarely  has  so  small  a  band  obtained  in 
three  days^  robbery  so  large  an  amount  of  wealth.  Four 
or  five  millions  divided  among  five  thousand  soldiers  made 
up  for  long  arrearages,  and  the  Spaniards  had  reason  to 
congratulate  themselves  upon  having  thus  taken  the  duty 
of  payment  into  their  own  hands.  It  is  true  that  the 
wages  of  iniquity  were  somewhat  unequally  distributed, 
somewhat  foolishly  squandered.  A  private  trooper  was 
known  to  lose  ten  thousand  crowns  in  one  day  in  a  gam- 
bling transaction  at  the  Bourse,  for  the  soldiers,  being 
thus  handsomely  in  funds,  became  desirous  of  aping  the 
despised  and  plundered  merchants,  and  resorted  daily  to 
the  Exchange,  like  men  accustomed  to  affairs.  The 
dearly  purchased  gold  was  thus  lightly  squandered  by 
many,  while  others,  more  prudent,  melted  their  portion 
into  sword-hilts,  into  scabbards,  even  into  whole  suits  of 
armor,  darkened,  by  precaution,  to  appear  made  entirely 
of  iron.  The  brocades,  laces,  and  jewelry  of  Antwerp 
merchants  were  converted  into  coats  of  mail  for  their  de- 
stroyers. The  goldsmiths,  however,  thus  obtained  an  op- 
portunity to  outwit  their  plunderers,  and  mingled  in  the 
golden  armor  which  they  were  forced  to  furnish  much 
more  alloy  than  their  employers  knew.  A  portion  of  the 
captured  booty  was  thus  surreptitiously  redeemed. 

Marvellously  few  Spaniards  were  slain  in  these  eventful 
days.  Two  hundred  killed  is  the  largest  number  stated. 
The  discrepancy  seems  monstrous,  but  it  is  hardly  more 
than  often  existed  between  the  losses  inflicted  and  sus- 
tained by  the  Spaniards  in  such  combats.  Their  prowess 
was  equal  to  their  ferocity,  and  this  was  enough  to  make 


1676]  ORANGE'S  APPEAL  473 

them  seem  endowed  with  preterhuman  powers.  When  it 
is  remembered,  also,  that  the  burghers  were  insufficiently 
armed,  that  many  of  their  defenders  turned  against  them, 
that  many  thousands  fled  in  the  first  moments  of  the  en- 
counter, and  when  the  effect  of  a  sudden  and  awful  panic 
is  duly  considered,  the  discrepancy  between  the  number 
of  killed  on  the  two  sides  will  not  seem  so  astonishing. 

A  shiver  ran  through  the  country  as  the  news  of  the 
horrible  crime  was  spread,  but  it  was  a  shiver  of  indig- 
nation, not  of  fear.  Already  the  negotiations  at  Ghent 
between  the  representatives  of  the  Prince  and  of  Holland 
and  Zeeland  with  the  deputies  of  the  other  provinces  were 
in  a  favorable  train,  and  the  effect  of  this  event  upon 
their  counsels  was  rather  quickening  than  appalling. 

At  about  the  same  time  the  Prince  of  Orange  addressed 
a  remarkable  letter  to  the  states-general  then  assembled  at 
Ghent,  urging  them  to  hasten  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty. 
The  news  of  the  massacre,  which  furnished  an  additional 
and  most  vivid  illustration  of  the  truth  of  his  letter,  had 
not  then  reached  him  at  Middelburg,  but  the  earnestness 
of  his  views,  taken  in  connection  with  this  last  dark  deed, 
exerted  a  powerful  and  indelible  effect.  The  letter  was  a 
masterpiece,  because  it  was  necessary,  in  his  position,  to 
inflame  without  alarming  ;  to  stimulate  the  feelings  which 
were  in  unison,  without  shocking  those  which,  if  aroused, 
might  prove  discordant.  Without,  therefore,  alluding  in 
terms  to  the  religious  question,  he  dwelt  upon  the  neces- 
sity of  union,  firmness,  and  wariness.  If  so  much  had 
been  done  by  Holland  and  Zeeland,  how  much  more  might 
be  hoped  when  all  the  provinces  were  united  ?  He  warned 
the  states  of  the  necessity  of  showing  a  strong  and  united 
front ;  the  King  having  been  ever  led  to  consider  the 
movement  in  the  Netherlands  a  mere  conspiracy  of  indi- 
viduals. It  was,  therefore,  necessary  to  show  that  pre- 
lates, abbots,  monks,  seigneurs,  gentlemen,  burghers,  and 
peasants,  the  whole  people,  in  short,  now  cried  with  one 
voice,  and  desired  with  one  will.  To  such  a  demonstra- 
tion the  King  would  not  dare  oppose  himself.  By  thus 
preserving  a  firm  and  united  front,  sinking  all  minor  dif- 
ferences, they  would,  moreover,  inspire  their  friends  and 


474  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1616 

foreign  princes  with  confidence.  The  princes  of  Ger- 
many, the  lords  and  gentlemen  of  France,  the  Queen  of 
England,  although  sympathizing  with  the  misfortunes  of 
the  Netherlanders,  had  been  unable  effectually  to  help  them 
so  long  as  their  disunion  prevented  them  from  helping 
themselves ;  so  long  as  even  their  appeal  to  arms  seemed 
merely  *^a  levy  of  bucklers,  an  emotion  of  the  populace, 
which,  like  a  wave  of  the  sea,  rises  and  sinks  again  as 
soon  as  risen." 

The  massacre  at  Antwerp  and  the  eloquence  of  the 
Prince  produced  a  most  quickening  effect  upon  the  con- 
gress at  Ghent.  Their  deliberations  had  proceeded  with 
decorum  and  earnestness,  in  the  midst  of  the  cannonading 
against  the  citadel,  and  the  fortress  fell  on  the  same  day 
which  saw  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty. 

This  important  instrujnent,  by  which  the  sacrifices  and 
exertions  of  the  Prince  were,  for  a  brief  season  at  least, 
rewarded,  contained  twenty-five  articles.  The  Prince  of 
Orange,  with  the  estates  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  on  the 
one  side,  and  the  provinces  signing  or  thereafter  to  sign 
the  treaty  on  the  other,  agreed  that  there  should  be  a 
mutual  forgiving  and  forgetting,  as  regarded  the  past. 
They  vowed  a  close  and  faithful  friendship  for  the  future. 
They  plighted  a  mutual  promise  to  expel  the  Spaniards 
from  the  Netherlands  without  delay.  As  soon  as  this 
great  deed  should  be  done  there  was  to  be  a  convocation 
of  the  states-general,  on  the  basis  of  that  assembly  before 
which  the  abdication  of  the  Emperor  had  taken  place. 
By  this  congress  the  affairs  of  religion  in  Holland  and 
Zeeland  should  be  regulated,  as  well  as  the  surrender  of 
fortresses  and  other  places  belonging  to  his  Majesty. 
There  was  to  be  full  liberty  of  communication  and  traffic 
between  the  citizens  of  the  one  side  and  the  other.  It 
should  not  be  legal,  however,  for  those  of  Holland  and 
Zeeland  to  attempt  anything  outside  their  own  territory 
against  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  nor  for  cause  thereof 
to  injure  or  irritate  any  one,  by  deed  or  word.  All  the 
placards  and  edicts  on  the  subject  of  heresy,  together  with 
the  criminal  ordinances  made  by  the  Duke  of  Alva,  were 
suspended  until  the  states  -  general  should  otherwise  or- 


1576]  THE  GHENT  PACIFICATION  475 

dain.  The  Prince  was  to  remain  lieutenant,  admiral,  and 
general  for  liis  Majesty  in  Holland,  Zeeland,  and  the  as- 
sociated places,  till  otherwise  provided  by  the  states-gen- 
eral, after  the  departure  of  the  Spaniards.  The  cities 
and  places  included  in  the  Prince's  commission,  but  not 
yet  acknowledging  his  authority,  should  receive  satis- 
faction from  him,  as  to  the  point  of  religion  and  other 
matters,  before  subscribing  to  the  union.  All  prisoners, 
and  particularly  the  Comte  de  Bossu,  should  be  released 
without  ransom.  All  estates  and  other  property  not  al- 
ready alienated  should  be  restored,  all  confiscations  since 
15G6  being  declared  null  and  void.  The  Countess  Pala- 
tine, widow  of  Brederode,  and  Count  de  Buren,  son  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  were  expressly  named  in  this  pro- 
vision. Prelates  and  ecclesiastical  persons  having  prop- 
erty in  Holland  and  Zeeland  should  be  reinstated,  if 
possible  ;  but  in  case  of  alienation,  which  was  likely  to 
be  generally  the  case,  there  should  be  reasonable  compen- 
sation. It  was  to  be  decided  by  the  states-general  whether 
the  provinces  should  discharge  the  debts  incurred  by  the 
Prince  of  Orange  in  his  two  campaigns.  Provinces  and 
cities  should  not  have  the  benefit  of  this  union  until  they 
had  signed  the  treaty,  but  they  should  be  permitted  to 
sign  it  when  they  chose. 

This  memorable  document  was  subscribed  at  Ghent,  on 
the  8th  of  November,  by  Sainte-Aldegonde,  with  eight 
other  commissioners  appointed  by  the  Prince  of  Orange 
and  the  estates  of  Holland  on  the  one  side,  and  by  El- 
bertus  Leoninus  and  other  deputies  appointed  by  Brabant, 
Flanders,  Artois,  Hainault,  Valenciennes,  Lille,  Douai, 
Orchies,  Namur,  Tournai,  Utrecht,  and  Mechlin  on  the 
other  side. 

The  arrangement  was  a  masterpiece  of  diplomacy  on 
the  part  of  the  Prince,  for  it  was  as  effectual  a  provision 
for  the  safety  of  the  Reformed  religion  as  could  be  ex- 
pected under  the  circumstances.  It  was  much,  consider- 
ing the  change  which  had  been  wrought  of  late  years  in 
the  fifteen  provinces,  that  they  should  consent  to  any 
treaty  with  their  two  heretic  sisters.  It  was  much  more 
that  the  Pacification  should  recognize  the  new  religion  as 


476  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [U16 

the  established  creed  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  while  at 
the  same  time  the  infamous  edicts  of  Charles  were  for- 
mally abolished.  In  the  fifteen  Catholic  provinces  there 
was  to  be  no  prohibition  of  private  Keformed  worship, 
and  it  might  be  naturally  expected  that  with  time  and 
the  arrival  of  the  banished  religionists,  a  firmer  stand 
would  be  taken  in  favor  of  the  Eeformation.  Meantime, 
the  new  religion  was  formally  established  in  two  provinces, 
and  tolerated,  in  secret,  in  the  other  fifteen  ;  the  inquisi- 
tion was  forever  abolished,  and  the  whole  strength  of  the 
nation  enlisted  to  expel  the  foreign  soldiery  from  the 
soil. 

This  was  the  work  of  William  the  Silent,  and  the  great 
Prince  thus  saw  the  labor  of  years  crowned  with,  at  least, 
a  momentary  success.  His  satisfaction  was  very  great 
when  it  was  announced  to  him,  many  days  before  the  ex- 
change of  the  signatures,  that  the  treaty  had  been  con- 
cluded. He  was  desirous  that  the  Pacification  should  be 
referred  for  approval,  not  to  the  municipal  magistrates 
only,  but  to  the  people  themselves.  In  all  great  emergen- 
cies the  man  who,  in  his  whole  character,  least  resembled 
a  demagogue,  either  of  antiquity  or  of  modern  times,  was 
eager  for  a  fresh  expression  of  the  popular  will.  On^  this 
occasion,  however,  the  demand  for  approbation  was  super- 
fluous. The  whole  country  thought  with  his  thoughts 
and  spoke  with  his  words,  and  the  Pacification,  as  soon 
as  published,  was  received  with  a  shout  of  joy.  Proclaimed 
in  the  market-place  of  every  city  and  village,  it  was  rati- 
fied, not  by  votes,  but  by  hymns  of  thanksgiving,  by  tri- 
umphal music,  by  thundering  of  cannon,  and  by  the  blaze 
of  beacons  throughout  the  Netherlands.  Another  event 
added  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  hour.  The  country  so 
recently,  and  by  deeds  of  such  remarkable  audacity,  con- 
quered by  the  Spaniards  in  the  north,  was  recovered  al- 
most simultaneously  with  the  conclusion  of  the  Ghent 
treaty.  It  was  a  natural  consequence  of  the  great  mutiny. 
The  troops  having  entirely  deserted  Mondragon,  it  became 
necessary  for  that  officer  to  abandon  Zierik  Zee,  the  city 
which  had  been  won  with  so  much  valor.  In  the  begin- 
ning of  November,  the  capital,  and  with  it  the  whole  isl- 


1676]  A  TARDY  ARRIVAL  AT   LUXEMBURG  477 

and  of  Schouwen,  together  with  the 'rest  of  Zeeland,  ex- 
cepting Tholen,  was  recovered  by  Count  Hohenlo,  lieu- 
tenant-general of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  acting  accord- 
ing to  his  instructions. 

Thus,  on  this  particular  point  of  time  many  great  events 
had  been  crowded.  At  the  very  same  moment  Zeeland 
had  been  redeemed,  Antwerp  ruined,  and  the  league  of  all 
the  Netherlands  against  the  Spaniards  concluded.  It  now 
became  known  that  another  and  most  important  event 
had  occurred  at  the  same  instant.  On  the  day  before  the 
Antwerp  massacre,  four  days  before  the  publication  of 
the  Ghent  treaty,  a  foreign  cavalier,  attended  by  a  Moor- 
ish slave  and  by  six  men-at-arms,  rode  into  the  streets  of 
Luxemburg.  The  cavalier  was  Don  Ottavio  Gonzaga, 
brother  of  the  Prince  of  Melfi.  The  Moorish  slave  was 
Don  John  of  Austria,  the  son  of  the  Emperor,  the  con- 
queror of  Granada,  the  hero  of  Lepanto.  The  new  gov- 
ernor-general had  traversed  Spain  and  France  in  disguise 
with  great  celerity,  and  in  the  romantic  manner  which 
belonged  to  his  character.  He  stood  at  last  on  the  thresh- 
old of  the  Netherlands,  but  with  all  his  speed  he  had  ar- 
rived a  few  days  too  late. 


part  V) 

DON  JOHN  OF  AUSTRIA 

1576-1578 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  HERO   OF   LEPAN^TO 

Don"  JoRi^  OF  Austria  was  now  in  his  thirty-second 
year,  having  been  born  in  Ratisbon  on  the  24th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1545.  His  father  was  Charles  the  Fifth,  Emperor 
of  Germany,  King  of  Spain,  Dominator  of  Asia,  Africa, 
and  America  ;  his  mother  was  Barbara  Blomberg,  washer- 
woman, of  Ratisbon. 

The  Emperor,  who  never  doubted  his  responsibility  for 
the  infant's  existence,  had  him  conveyed  instantly  to 
Spain,  where  he  was  delivered  to  Louis  Quixada,  of  the 
Imperial  household,  by  whom  he  was  brought  up  in  great 
retirement  at  Villa -garcia.  During  his  boyhood  he  ex- 
celled in  feats  of  audacity  and  skill.  When  come  to  man- 
hood he  was  given  command  of  a  division  of  galleys  at  the 
battle  of  Lepanto,  and  captured  the  Turkish  admiral  and  his 
ship.  Whatever  other  purpose  this  famous  conflict  served, 
it  spread  the  fame  of  Don  John  throughout  the  world. 

The  youthful  commander-in-chief  obtained  more  than 
his  full  meed  of  glory.  No  doubt  he  had  fought  with 
brilliant  courage,  yet  in  so  close  and  murderous  a  conflict 
the  valor  of  no  single  individual  could  decide  the  day, 
and  the  result  was  due  to  the  combined  determination  of 
all.  Had  Don  John  remained  at  Naples  the  issue  might 
have  easily  been  the  same.  Barbarigo,  who  sealed  the 
victory  with  his  blood ;  Colonna,  who  celebrated  a  solemn 
triumph  on  his  return  to  Rome  ;  Parma,  Doria,  Giustin- 
iani,  Venieri  might  each  as  well  have  claimed  a  monopoly 
of  the  glory  had  not  the  Pope,  at  Philip's  entreaty,  con- 
ferred the  baton  of  command  upon  Don  John.  The 
meagre  result  of  the  contest  is  as  notorious  as  the  victory. 
31  481 


482  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1576 

While  Constantinople  was  quivering  with  apprehension, 
the  rival  generals  were  already  wrangling  with  animosity. 
Had  the  Christian  fleet  advanced  every  soul  would  have 
fled  from  the  capital,  but  Providence  had  ordained  other- 
wise, and  Don  John  sailed  westwardly  with  his  ships.  He 
made  a  descent  on  the  Barbary  coast,  captured  Tunis, 
destroyed  Biserta,  and  brought  King  Amidas  and  his  two 
sons  prisoners  to  Italy.  Ordered  by  Philip  to  dismantle 
the  fortifications  of  Tunis,  he  replied  by  repairing  them 
thoroughly,  and  by  placing  a  strong  garrison  within  the 
citadel.  Intoxicated  with  his  glory,  the  young  adventurer 
already  demanded  a  crown,  and  the  Pope  was  disposed  to 
proclaim  him  King  of  Tunis,  for  the  Queen  of  the  Lybian 
seas  was  to  be  the  capital  of  his  empire,  the  new  Carthage 
which  he  already  dreamed. 

Philip  thought  it  time  to  interfere,  for  he  felt  that  his 
own  crown  might  be  insecure  with  such  a  restless  and  am- 
bitious spirit  indulging  in  possible  and  impossible  chime- 
ras. He  removed  John  de  Soto,  who  had  been  Don  John^s 
chief  councillor  and  emissary  to  the  Pope,  and  substi- 
tuted in  his  place  the  celebrated  and  ill-starred  Escovedo. 
The  new  secretary,  however,  entered  as  heartily  but  se- 
cretly into  all  these  romantic  schemes.  Disappointed  of 
the  empire  which  he  had  contemplated  on  the  edge  of  the 
African  desert,  the  champion  of  the  Cross  turned  to  the 
cold  islands  of  the  northern  seas.  There  sighed,  in  cap- 
tivity, the  beauteous  Mary  of  Scotland,  victim  of  the  her- 
etic Elizabeth.  His  susceptibility  to  the  charms  of  beauty 
— a  characteristic  as  celebrated  as  his  courage — was  ex- 
cited, his  chivalry  aroused.  What  holier  triumph  for  the 
conqueror  of  the  Saracens  than  the  subjugation  of  these 
northern  infidels  ?  He  would  dethrone  the  proud  Eliz- 
abeth ;  he  would  liberate  and  espouse  the  Queen  of  Scots, 
and  together  they  would  reign  over  the  two  united  realms. 
All  that  the  Pope  could  do  with  bulls  and  blessings,  let- 
ters of  excommunication,  and  patents  of  investiture  he 
did  with  his  whole  heart.  Don  John  was  at  liberty  to  be 
King  of  England  and  Scotland  as  soon  as  he  liked ;  all 
that  was  left  to  do  was  to  conquer  the  kingdoms. 

Meantime,  while  these  schemes  were  flitting  through 


'-?3^$P5^^5 


DON   JOHN   OF   AUSTRIA 


1576]  DON  JOHN'S  OPPORTUNE  APPOINTMENT  483 

his  brain  and  were  yet  kept  comparatively  secret  by  the 
Pope,  Escovedo,  and  himself,  the  news  reached  him  in 
Italy  that  he  had  been  appointed  Governor  -  General  of 
the  Netherlands.  Nothing  could  be  more  opportune.  In 
the  provinces  were  ten  thousand  veteran  Spaniards  ripe 
for  adventure,  hardened  by  years  of  warfare,  greedy  for 
gold,  audacious  almost  beyond  humanity,  the  very  instru- 
ments for  his  scheme.  The  times  were  critical  in  the 
Netherlands,  it  was  true  ;  yet  he  would  soon  pacify  those 
paltry  troubles,  and  then  sweep  forward  to  his  prize.  Yet 
events  were  rushing  forward  with  such  feverish  rapidity 
that  he  might  be  too  late  for  his  adventure.  Many  days 
were  lost  in  the  necessary  journey  from  Italy  into  Spain 
to  receive  the  final  instructions  of  the  King.  The  news 
from  the  provinces  grew  more  and  more  threatening. 
With  the  impetuosity  and  romance  of  his  temperament 
he  selected  his  confidential  friend  Ottavio  Gonzaga,  six 
men-at-arms,  and  an  adroit  and  well-experienced  Swiss 
courier,  who  knew  every  road  of  France.  It  was  no  light 
adventure  for  the  Catholic  Governor-General  of  the  Neth- 
erlands to  traverse  the  kingdom  at  that  particular  junc- 
ture. Staining  his  bright  locks  and  fair  face  to  the  com- 
plexion of  a  Moor,  he  started  on  his  journey,  attired  as 
the  servant  of  Gonzaga.  Arriving  at  Paris,  after  a  rapid 
journey,  he  descended  at  a  hostelry  opposite  the  residence 
of  the  Spanish  ambassador,  Don  Diego  Cuniga.  After 
nightfall  he  had  a  secret  interview  with  that  functionary, 
and  learning,  among  other  matters,  that  there  was  to  be 
a  great  ball  that  night  at  the  Louvre,  he  determined  to  go 
thither  in  disguise.  There,  notwithstanding  his  hurry, 
he  had  time  to  see  and  to  become  desperately  enamoured 
of  ^^that  wonder  of  beauty,^'  the  fair  and  frail  Margaret 
of  Valois,  Queen  of  Navarre.  Her  subsequent  visit  to  her 
young  adorer  at  Namur,  to  be  recorded  in  a  future  page 
of  this  history,  was  destined  to  mark  the  last  turning- 
point  in  his  picturesque  career.  On  his  way  to  the  Neth- 
erlands he  held  a  rapid  interview  with  the  Duke  of  Guise 
to  arrange  his  schemes  for  the  liberation  and  espousal  of 
that  noble's  kinswoman,  the  Scottish  Queen ;  and  on  the 
3d  of  November  he  arrived  at  Luxemburg. 


484  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1576 

There  stood  the  young  conqueror  of  Lepanto,  his  brain 
full  of  schemes,  his  heart  full  of  hopes,  on  the  threshold 
of  the  Netherlands,  at  the  entrance  to  what  he  believed 
the  most  brilliant  chapter  of  his  life  —  schemes,  hopes, 
and  visions  doomed  speedily  to  fade  before  the  cold 
reality  with  which  he  was  to  be  confronted.  Throwing 
off  his  disguise  after  reaching  Luxemburg,  the  youthful 
paladin  stood  confessed.  His  appearance  was  as  romantic 
as  his  origin  and  his  exploits.  Every  contemporary  chron- 
icler—  French,  Spanish,  Italian,  Flemish,  Roman  —  have 
dwelt  upon  his  personal  beauty  and  the  singular  fascina- 
tion of  his  manner.  Symmetrical  features,  blue  eyes  of 
great  vivacity,  and  a  profusion  of  bright  curling  hair 
were  combined  with  a  person  not  much  above  middle 
height,  but  perfectly  well  proportioned.  Owing  to  a 
natural  peculiarity  of  his  head,  the  hair  fell  backward 
from  the  temples,  and  he  had  acquired  the  habit  of  push- 
ing it  from  his  brows.  The  custom  became  a  fashion 
among  the  host  of  courtiers,  who  were  but  too  happy  to 
glass  themselves  in  so  brilliant  a  mirror.  As  Charles  the 
Fifth,  on  his  journey  to  Italy  to  assume  the  iron  crown, 
had  caused  his  hair  to  be  clipped  close  as  a  remedy  for 
the  headaches  with  which,  at  that  momentous  epoch,  he 
was  tormented,  bringing  thereby  close-shg-ven  polls  into 
extreme  fashion,  so  a  mass  of  hair  pushed  backward  from 
the  temples,  in  the  style  to  which  the  name  of  John  of 
Austria  was  appropriated,  became  the  prevailing  mode 
wherever  the  favorite  son  of  the  Emperor  appeared. 
«  Such  was  the  last  crusader  whom  the  annals  of  chivalry 
were  to  know ;  the  man  who  had  humbled  the  crescent  as 
it  had  not  been  humbled  since  the  days  of  the  Tancreds, 
the  Baldwins,  the  Plantagenets — yet,  after  all,  what  was 
this  brilliant  adventurer  when  weighed  against  the  tran- 
quil Christian  champion  whom  he  was  to  meet  face  to 
face  ?  The  contrast  was  striking  between  the  real  and  the 
romantic  hero.  Don  John  had  pursued  and  achieved  glory 
through  victories  with  which  the  world  was  ringing  ; 
William  was  slowly  compassing  a  country's  emancipation 
through  a  series  of  defeats.  He  moulded  a  commonwealth 
and  unitecl  hearts  with  as  much  contempt  for  danger  ag 


1616]  TWO   HEROES  485 

Don  John  had  exhibited  in  scenes  of  slave-driving  and 
carnage.  Amid  fields  of  blood,  and  through  webs  of  tort- 
uous intrigue,  the  brave  and  subtle  son- of  the  Emperor 
pursued  only  his  own  objects.  Tawdry  schemes  of  personal 
ambition,  conquests  for  his  own  benefit,  impossible  crowns 
for  his  own  wearing,  were  the  motives  which  impelled 
him  and  the  prizes  which  he  sought.  His  existence  was 
feverish,  fitful,  and  passionate.  "  Tranquil  amid  the  rag- 
ing billows,"  according  to  his  favorite  device,  the  father 
of  his  country  waved  aside  the  diadem  which  for  him  had 
neither  charms  nor  meaning.  Their  characters  were  as  con- 
trasted as  their  persons.  The  curled  darling  of  chivalry 
seemed  a  youth  at  thirty  -  one.  Spare  of  figure,  plain  in 
apparel,  benignant  but  haggard  of  countenance,  with 
temples  bared  by  anxiety  as  much  as  by  his  helmet,  ear- 
nest, almost  devout  in  manner,  in  his  own  words,  *'  Calvus 
et  Calvinista,"  William  of  Orange  was  an  old  man  at  forty- 
three.  ♦ 

Perhaps  there  was  as  much  good  faith  on  the  part  of 
Don  John,  when  he  arrived  in  Luxemburg,  as  could  be 
expected  of  a  man  coming  directly  from  the  cabinet  of 
Philip.  The  King  had  secretly  instructed  him  to  concili- 
ate the  provinces,  but  to  concede  nothing,  for  the  gover- 
nor was  only  a  new  incarnation  of  the  insane  paradox  that 
benignity  and  the  system  of  Charles  the  Fifth  were  one. 
He  was  directed  to  restore  the  government  to  its  state  dur- 
ing the  imperial  epoch.  Seventeen  provinces,  in  two  of 
which  the  population  were  all  dissenters,  in  all  of  which 
the  principle  of  mutual  toleration  had  just  been  accepted 
by  Catholics  and  Protestants,  were  now  to  be  brought 
back  to  the  condition  according  to  which  all  Protestants 
were  beheaded,  burned,  or  buried  alive.  So  that  the  in- 
quisition, the  absolute  authority  of  the  monarch,  and  the 
exclusive  worship  of  the  Koman  Church  were  preserved 
intact,  the  King  professed  himself  desirous  of  "extinguish- 
ing the  fires  of  rebellion,  and  of  saving  the  people  from 
the  last  desperation."  With  these  slight  exceptions,  Philip 
was  willing  to  be  very  benignant. 

In  all  the  documents,  whether  public  memorials  or  pri- 
vate letters,  which  came  at  this  period  from  the  hand  of 


486  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1576 

the  Prince,  he  assumed,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  in  any 
arrangement  with  the  new  governor  the  Pacification  of 
Ghent  was  to  be  maintained.  This,  too,  was  the  determina- 
tion of  almost  every  man  in  the  country.  Don  John,  soon 
after  his  arrival  at  Luxemburg,  had  despatched  messengers 
to  the  states-general,  informing  them  of  his  arrival.  It 
was  not  before  the  close  of  the  month  of  November  that 
the  negotiations  seriously  began.  Provost  Fonck,  on  the 
part  of  the  governor,  then  informed  them  of  Don  John's 
intention  to  enter  Namur,  attended  by  fifty  mounted 
troopers.  Permission,  however,  was  resolutely  refused, 
and  the  burghers  of  Namur  were  forbidden  to  render  oaths 
of  fidelity  until  the  governor  should  have  complied  with 
the  preliminary  demands  of  the  estates.  To  enunciate 
these  demands  categorically,  a  deputation  of  the  states- 
general  came  to  Luxemburg.  These  gentlemen  were  re- 
ceived with  courtesy  by  Don  John,  but  their  own  demeanor 
was  not  conciliatory.  A  dislike  to  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment, a  disloyalty  to  the  monarch,  with  whose  brother  and 
representative  they  were  dealing,  pierced  through  all  their 
language.  On  the  other  hand,  the  ardent  temper  of  Don 
John  was  never  slow  to  take  offence.  One  of  the  deputies 
proposed  to  the  governor,  with  great  coolness,  that  he 
should  assume  the  government  in  his  own  name  and  re- 
nounce the  authority  of  Philip.  Were  he  willing  to  do  so, 
the  patriotic  gentleman  pledged  himself  that  the  provinces 
would  at  once  acknowledge  him  as  sovereign,  and  sustain 
his  government.  Don  John,  enraged  at  the  insult  to  his 
own  loyalty  which  the  proposition  implied,  drew  his  dagger 
and  rushed  towards  the  offender.  The  deputy  would 
probably  have  paid  for  his  audacity  with  his  life  had  there 
not  been  by-standers  enough  to  prevent  the  catastrophe. 
This  scene  was  an  unsatisfactory  prelude  to  the  opening 
negotiations. 

On  the  6th  of  December  the  deputies  presented  to  the 
governor  at  Luxemburg  a  paper  containing  their  demands, 
drawn  up  in  eight  articles,  and  their  concessions  in  ten. 
Nothing  decisive  came  of  this  first  interview.  The  parties 
had  taken  the  measures  of  their  mutual  claims,  and  after 
a  few  days'  fencing  with  apostils,  replies,  and  rejoinders. 


1516-11]  UNION   OF   BRITSSELS  (487 

they  separated,  their  acrimony  rather  inflamed  than  ap- 
peased. 

The  departure  of  the  troops  and  the  Ghent  treaty  were 
the  vital  points  in  the  negotiation.  The  estates  had  orig- 
inally been  content  that  the  troops  should  go  by  sea. 
Their  suspicions  were,  however,  excited  by  the  pertinacity 
with  which  Don  John  held  to  this  mode  of  removal.  Al- 
though they  did  not  suspect  the  mysterious  invasion  of 
England,  a  project  which  was  the  real  reason  why  the 
governor  objected  to  their  departure  by  land,  yet  they 
soon  became  aware  that  he  had  been  secretly  tampering 
with  the  troops  at  every  point.  In  the  mean  time,  while 
there  was  still  an  indefinite  pause  in  the  negotiations,  a 
remarkable  measure  came  to  aid  the  efl&cacy  of  the  Ghent 
Pacification. 

Early  in  January,  1577,  the  celebrated  ^^  Union  of  Brus- 
sels" was  formed.  This  important  agreement  waslSngi- 
flally  signed  by  eight  leading  personages — the  Abbot  of  Saint 
Gertrude,  the  Counts  L/alaih  and  Bossu,  and  the  Seigneur 
de  Champagny  being  among  the  number.  Its  tenor  was 
to  engage  its  signers  to  compass  the  immediate  expulsion 
of  the  Spaniards  and  the  execution  of  the  Ghent  Pacifica- 
tion, to  maintain  the  Catholic  religion  and  the  King's 
authority,  and  to  defend  the  fatherland  and  all  its  consti- 
tutions. Its  motive  was  to  generalize  the  position  as- 
sumed by  the  Ghent  treaty.  The  new  act  was  to  be 
signed,  not  by  a  few  special  deputies  alone,  like  a  diplo- 
matic convention,  but  by  all  the  leading  individuals  of  all 
the  provinces,  in  order  to  exhibit  to  Don  John  such  an 
array  of  united  strength  that  he  would  find  himself  forced 
to  submit  to  the  demands  of  the  estates.  In  a  short  time 
every  province,  with  the  single  exception  of  Luxemburg, 
bad  loaded  the  document  with  signatures.  This  was  a 
great  step  in  advance.  The  Ghent  Pacification,  which 
was  in  the  nature  of  a  treaty  between  the  Prince  and  the 
estates  of  Holland  and  Zeeland  on  the  one  side,  and  a 
certain  number  of  provinces  on  the  other,  had  only  been 
signed  by  the  envoys  of  the  contracting  parties.  Though 
received  with  deserved  and  universal  acclamation,  it  had 
not  the  authority  of  a  popular  document.     This,  however, 


488  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1577 

was  the  character  studiously  impressed  upon  the  '^Brus- 
sels Union/'  The  people,  subdivided  according  to  the 
various  grades  of  their  social  hierarchy,  had  been  solemn- 
ly summoned  to  council,  and  had  deliberately  recorded 
their  conviction.  No  restraint  had  been  put  upon  their 
freedom  of  action,  and  there  was  hardly  a  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  necessity  of  the  measure. 

A  rapid  revolution  in  Friesland,  Groningen,  and  the  de- 
pendencies had  recently  restored  that  important  coun- 
try to  the  national  party.  The  Portuguese  De  Billy  had 
been  deprived  of  his  authority  as  King's  stadholder,  and 
Count  Hoogstraaten's  brother.  Baron  de  Ville,  afterwards, 
as  Count  Renneberg,  infamous  for  his  treason  to  the  cause 
of  liberty,  had  been  appointed  by  the  estates  in  his  room. 
In  all  his  district  the  "Union  of  Brussels'^  was  eagerly 
signed  by  men  of  every  degree. 

The  immediate  effect  of  the  "  Brussels  Union  "  was  to 
rally  all  lovers  of  the  fatherland  and  haters  of  a  foreign 
tyranny  upon  one  vital  point — the  expulsion  of  the  stran- 
ger from  the  land.  The  foot  of  the  Spanish  soldier  should 
no  longer  profane  their  soil.  All  men  were  forced  to  pro- 
nounce themselves  boldly  and  unequivocall}^  in  order  that 
the  patriots  might  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder,  and  the 
traitors  be  held  up  to  infamy.  This  measure  was  in  strict 
accordance  with  the  advice  given  more  than  once  by  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  and  was  almost  in  literal  fulfilment  of 
the  Compromise,  which  he  had  sketched  before  the  ar- 
rival of  Don  John. 

The  deliberations  were  soon  resumed  with  the  new  gov- 
ernor, the  scene  being  shifted  from  Luxemburg  to  II  uy. 
Hither  came  a  fresh  deputation  from  the  states-general — 
many  signers  of  the  "Brussels  Union"  among  them — and 
were  received  by  Don  John  with  stately  courtesy.  They 
had,  however,  come  determined  to  carry  matters  with  a 
high  and  firm  hand,  being  no  longer  disposed  to  brook  his 
imperious  demeanor  nor  to  tolerate  his  dilatory  policy. 
It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  courtesy  soon 
changed  to  bitterness,  and  that  attack  and  recrimination 
usurped  the  place  of  the  dignified  but  empty  formalities 
which  had  characterized  the  interviews  at  Luxemburg. 


loll]  THE  PERPETUAL  EDICT  489 

The  Pacification  of  Ghent  was  virtually  admitted.  The 
deputies  waited  upon  the  governor,  accordingly,  and  the 
conversation  was  amicable.  They  vainly  endeavored,  how- 
ever, to  obtain  his  consent  to  the  departure  of  the  troops 
by  land — the  only  point  then  left  in  dispute.  Don  John, 
still  clinging  to  his  secret  scheme,  with  which  the  sea-voy- 
age of  the  troops  was  so  closely  connected,  refused  to  con- 
cede. He  reproached  the  envoys,  on  the  contrary,  with 
their  importunity  in  making  a  fresh  demand  just  as  he 
had  conceded  the  Ghent  treaty  upon  his  entire  responsi- 
bility and  without  instructions.  Mentally  resolving  that 
this  point  should  still  be  wrung  from  the  governor,  but 
not  suspecting  his  secret  motives  for  resisting  it  so  stren- 
uously, the  deputies  took  an  amicable  farewell  of  the  gov- 
ernor, promising  a  favorable  report  upon  the  proceedings 
so  soon  as  they  should  arrive  in  Brussels. 

Don  John,  having  conceded  so  much,  was  soon  obliged 
to  concede  the  whole.  The  Emperor  Rudolph  had  lately 
succeeded  his  father,  Maximilian.  The  deceased  poten- 
tate, whose  sentiments  on  the  great  subject  of  religious 
toleration  were  so  much  in  harmony  with  those  enter- 
tained by  the  Prince  of  Orange,  had,  on  the  whole,  not- 
withstanding the  ties  of  relationship  and  considerations  of 
policy,  uniformly  befriended  the  Netherlands,  so  far  as 
words  and  protestations  could  go,  at  the  court  of  Philip. 
His  envoys  had  assisted  at  all  the  recent  deliberations  be- 
tween the  estates  and  Don  John,  and  their  vivid  remon- 
strances removed  at  this  juncture  the  last  objection  on 
the  part  of  the  governor-general.  With  a  secret  sigh  he 
deferred  the  darling  and  mysterious  hope  which  had 
lighted  him  to  the  Netherlands,  and  consented  to  the  de- 
parture of  the  troops  by  land. 

All  obstacles  having  been  thus  removed,  the  memorable 
treaty  called  the  Perpetual  Edict  was  signed  at  Marche-en- 
Famene  on  the  12th,  and  at  Brussels  on  the  17th,  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1577.  This  document,  issued  in  the  name  of  the 
King,  contained  nineteen  articles.  It  approved  and  rati- 
fied the  Peace  of  Ghent,  in  consideration  that  the  prelates 
and  clergy,  with  the  doctors  utriusque  juris  of  Louvain, 
had  decided  that  nothing  in  that  treaty  conflicted  either 


490  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [nil 

with  the  supremacy  of  the  Catholic  Church  or  the  author- 
ity of  the  King,  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  it  advanced  the 
interests  of  both.  It  promised  that  the  soldiery  should 
depart  "  freely,  frankly,  and  without  delay,  by  land,  never 
to  return  except  in  case  of  foreign  war" — the  Spaniards 
to  set  forth  within  forty  days,  the  Germans  and  others  so 
soon  as  arrangements  had  been  made  by  the  states-general 
for  their  payment.  It  settled  that  all  prisoners,  on  both 
sides,  should  be  released,  excepting  the  Count  Van  Buren, 
who  was  to  be  set  free  so  soon  as  the  states-general  having 
been  convoked,  the  Prince  of  Orange  should  have  fulfilled 
the  resolutions  to  be  passed  by  that  assembly.  It  promised 
the  maintenance  of  all  the  privileges,  charters,  and  con- 
stitutions of  the  Netherlands.  It  required  of  the  states 
an  oath  to  maintain  the  Catholic  religion.  It  recorded 
their  agreement  to  disband  their  troops.  It  settled  that 
Don  John  should  be  received  as  governor  -  general  im- 
mediately upon  the  departure  of  the  Spaniards,  Italians, 
and  Burgundians  from  the  provinces. 

These  were  the  main  provisions  of  this  famous  treaty, 
which  was  confirmed  a  few  weeks  afterwards  by  Philip,  in 
a  letter  addressed  to  the  states  of  Brabant  and  by  an  edict 
issued  at  Madrid.  It  will  be  seen  that  everything  re- 
quired by  the  envoys  of  the  states  at  the  commencement 
of  their  negotiations  had  been  conceded  by  Don  John. 

The  governor  had  thus  disconcerted  the  Prince  of 
Orange  by  the  amplitude  of  his  concessions.  The  combi- 
nations of  William  the  Silent  were  for  an  instant  de- 
ranged. Had  the  Prince  expected  such  liberality  he 
would  have  placed  his  demands  upon  a  higher  basis,  for  it 
is  not  probable  that  he  contemplated  or  desired  a  pacifica- 
tion. The  Duke  of  Aerschot  and  the  Bishop  of  Liege  in 
vain  essayed  to  prevail  upon  his  deputies  at  Marche-en- 
Famene  to  sign  the  agreement  of  the  27th  of  January,  upon 
which  was  founded  the  Perpetual  Edict.  They  refused 
to  do  so  without  consulting  the  Prince  and  the  estates. 
Meantime  the  other  commissioners  forced  the  affair  rapid- 
ly forward.  The  states  sent  a  deputation  to  the  Prince  to 
ask  his  opinion,  and  signed  the  agreement  before  it  was 
possible  to  receive  his  reply.     This  was  to  treat  him  with 


1577]  DISPLEASURE  OF  ORANGE  .     491 

little  courtesy,  if  not  absolutely  with  bad  faith.  The 
Prince  was  disappointed  and  indignant.  In  truth,  as  ap- 
peared from  all  his  language  and  letters,  he  had  no  confi- 
dence in  Don  John.  He  believed  him  a  consummate  hyp- 
ocrite, and  as  deadly  a  foe  to  the  Netherlands  as  the  Duke 
of  Alva,  or  Philip  himself.  In  short,  he  believed  that  the 
estates  had  thrust  their  heads  into  the  lion's  mouth,  and 
he  foresaw  the  most  gloomy  consequences  from  the  treaty 
which  had  just  been  concluded.  He  believed,  to  use  his 
own  language,  "that  the  only  difference  between  Don 
John  and  Alva  or  Requesens  was  that  he  was  younger  and 
more  foolish  than  his  predecessors,  less  capable  of  conceal- 
ing his  venom,  more  impatient  to  dip  his  hands  in  blood." 
In  the  Pacification  of  Ghent  the  Prince  had  achieved 
the  prize  of  his  life-long  labors.  He  had  banded  a  mass  of 
provinces  by  the  ties  of  a  common  history,  language,  and 
customs,  into  a  league  against  a  foreign  tyranny.  He  had 
grappled  Holland  and  Zeeland  to  their  sister  provinces  by 
a  common  love  for  their  ancient  liberties,  by  a  common 
hatred  to  a  Spanish  soldiery.  He  had  exorcised  the  evil 
demon  of  religious  bigotry  by  which  the  body  politic  had 
been  possessed  so  many  years;  for  the  Ghent  treaty, 
largely  interpreted,  opened  the  door  to  universal  tolera- 
tion. In  the  Perpetual  Edict  the  Prince  saw  his  work 
undone.  Holland  and  Zeeland  were  again  cut  adrift  from 
the  other  fifteen  provinces,  and  war  would  soon  be  let 
loose  upon  that  devoted  little  territory.  The  article 
stipulating  the  maintenace  of  the  Ghent  treaty  he  re- 
garded as  idle  wind,  the  solemn  saws  of  the  state  coun- 
cil and  the  quiddities  from  Louvain  being  likely  to  prove 
but  slender  bulwarks  against  the  returning  tide  of  tyranny. 
Either  it  was  tacitly  intended  to  tolerate  the  Reformed 
religion  or  to  hunt  it  down.  To  argue  that  the  Ghent 
treaty,  loyally  interpreted,  strengthened  ecclesiastical  or 
royal  despotism  was  to  contend  that  a  maniac  was  more 
dangerous  in  fetters  than  when  armed  with  a  sword ;  it 
was  to  be  blind  to  the  difference  between  a  private  con- 
venticle and  a  public  scaffold.  The  Perpetual  Edict, 
while  affecting  to  sustain  the  treaty,  would  necessarily 
destroy  it  at  a  blow,  while,  during  the  brief  interval  of  re- 


492  HISTORY   OP  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1577 

pose,  tyranny  would  have  renewed  its  youth  like  the 
eagle's.  Was  it  possible,  then,  for  William  of  Orange  to 
sustain  the  Perpetual  Edict,  the  compromise  with  Don 
John  ?  Ten  thousand  ghosts  from  the  Lake  of  Haarlem, 
from  the  famine  and  plague  -  stricken  streets  of  Leyden, 
from  the  smoking  ruins  of  Antwerp,  rose  to  warn  him 
against  such  a  compromise  with  a  despotism  as  subtle  as 
it  was  remorseless. 

It  was,  therefore,  not  the  policy  of  William  of  Orange, 
suspecting  as  he  did  Don  John,  abhorring  Philip,  doubt- 
ing the  Netherland  nobles,  confiding  only  in  the  mass  of 
the  citizens,  to  give  his  support  to  the  Perpetual  Edict. 
He  was  not  the  more  satisfied  because  the  states  had  con- 
cluded the  arrangement  without  his  sanction  and  against 
his  express  advice.  He  refused  to  publish  or  recognize 
the  treaty  in  Holland  and  Zeeland.  A  few  weeks  before, 
he  had  privately  laid  before  the  states  of  Holland  and 
Zeeland  a  series  of  questions,  in  order  to  test  their  tem- 
per, asking  them,  in  particular,  whether  they  were  pre- 
pared to  undertake  a  new  and  sanguinary  war  for  the 
sake  of  their  religion,  even  although  their  other  priv- 
ileges should  be  recognized  by  the  new  government ;  and 
a  long  and  earnest  debate  had  ensued,  of  a  satisfactory 
nature,  although  no  positive  resolution  was  passed  upon 
the  subject.  As  soon  as  the  Perpetual  Edict  had  been 
signed  the  states-general  had  sent  to  the  Prince,  request- 
ing his  opinion  and  demanding  his  sanction.  Orange,  in 
the  name  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  instantly  returned  an 
elaborate  answer,  taking  grave  exceptions  to  the  whole 
tenor  of  the  edict.  He  complained  that  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  land  was  violated,  because  the  ancient  privi- 
lege of  the  states-general  to  assemble  at  their  pleasure 
had  been  invaded,  and  because  the  laws  of  every  province 
were  set  at  naught  by  the  continued  imprisonment  of 
Count  Van  Buren,  who  had  committed  no  crime,  and 
whose  detention  proved  that  no  man,  whatever  might  be 
promised,  could  expect  security  for  life  or  liberty.  The 
ratification  of  the  Ghent  treaty,  it  was  insisted,  was  in  no 
wise  distinct  and  categorical,  but  was  made  dependent  on 
^  crow4  Qf  deceitful  subterfuges,     He  inveighed  bitterly 


1577]  HIS  WRITTEN  OPINIONS  493 

against  the  stipulation  in  the  edict  that  the  states  should 
pay  the  wages  of  the  soldiers,  whom  they  had  just  pro- 
claimed to  be  knaves  and  rebels,  and  at  whose  hands  they 
had  suffered  such  monstrous  injuries.  He  denounced 
the  cowardice  which  could  permit  this  band  of  hirelings 
to  retire  with  so  much  jewelry,  merchandise,  and  plate, 
the  result  of  their  robberies.  He  expressed,  however,  in 
the  name  of  the  two  provinces,  a  willingness  to  sign  the 
edict,  provided  the  states-general  would  agree  solemnly 
beforehand,  in  case  the  departure  of  the  Spaniards  did 
not  take  place  within  the  stipulated  time,  to  abstain  from 
all  recognition  of,  or  communication  with,  Don  John,  and 
themselves  to  accomplish  the  removal  of  the  troops  by  force 
of  arms. 

Such  was  the  first  and  solemn  manifesto  made  by  the 
Prince  in  reply  to  the  Perpetual  Edict — the  states  of 
Holland  and  Zeeland  uniting  heart  and  hand  in  all  that 
he  thought,  wrote,  and  said.  His  private  sentiments  were 
in  strict  accordance  with  the  opinions  thus  publicly  re- 
corded. *' Whatever  appearance  Don  John  may  assume 
to  the  contrary,'' wrote  the  Prince  to  his  brother,  "'tis by 
no  means  his  intention  to  maintain  the  Pacification,  and 
less  still  to  cause  the  Spaniards  to  depart,  with  whom  he 
keeps  up  the  most  strict  correspondence  possible." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  governor  was  most  anxious  to  con- 
ciliate the  Prince.  He  was  most  earnest  to  win  the  friend- 
ship of  the  man  without  whom  every  attempt  to  recover 
Holland  and  Zeeland,  and  to  re-establish  royal  and  eccle- 
siastical tyranny,  he  knew  to  be  hopeless.  "  This  is  the 
pilot,"  wrote  Don  John  to  Philip,  "  who  guides  the  bark. 
He  alone  can  destroy  or  save  it.  The  greatest  obstacles 
would  be  removed  if  he  could  be  gained."  He  had  pro- 
posed and  Philip  had  approved  the  proposition  that  the 
Count  Van  Buren  should  be  clothed  with  his  father's 
dignities,  on  condition  that  the  Prince  should  himself 
retire  into  Germany.  It  was  soon  evident,  however,  that 
such  a  proposition  would  meet  with  little  favor,  the  office 
of  father  of  his  country  and  protector  of  her  liberties  not 
being  transferable. 

While  at  Louvain,  whither  he  had  gone  after  the  publi- 


494  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [15*77 

cation  of  the  Perpetual  Edict,  Don  John  had  conferred 
with  the  Duke  of  Aerschot,  and  they  had  decided  that  it 
would  be  well  to  send  Doctor  Leoninus  on  a  private  mis- 
sion to  the  Prince.  Don  John  was  in  earnest ;  unfortu- 
nately he  was  not  aware  that  the  Prince  was  in  earnest 
also.  The  crusader,  who  had  sunk  thirty  thousand  pay- 
nims  at  a  blow,  and  who  was  dreaming  of  the  Queen  of 
Scotland  and  the  throne  of  England,  had  not  room  in  his 
mind  to  entertain  the  image  of  a  patriot.  Royal  favors, 
family  prosperity,  dignities,  offices,  orders,  advantageous 
conditions,  these  were  the  baits  with  which  the  governor 
angled  for  William  of  Orange.  He  did  not  comprehend 
that  attachment  to  a  half-drowned  land  and  to  a  despised 
religion  could  possibly  stand  in  the  way  of  those  advan- 
tageous conditions  and  that  brilliant  future.  He  did  not 
imagine  that  the  rebel,  once  assured  not  only  of  pardon 
but  of  advancement,  could  hesitate  to  refuse  the  royal 
hand  thus  amicably  offered.  Don  John  had  not  accurately 
measured  his  great  antagonist.  The  results  of  the  succes- 
sive missions  which  he  despatched  to  the  Prince  were  des- 
tined to  enlighten  him. 

Don  John  of  Austria,  meanwhile,  came  to  Louvain. 
Until  the  preliminary  conditions  of  the  Perpetual  Edict 
had  been  fulfilled  and  the  Spanish  troops  sent  out  of  the 
country  he  was  not  to  be  received  as  governor-general, 
but  it  seemed  unbecoming  for  him  to  remain  longer  upon 
the  threshold  of  the  provinces.  He  therefore  advanced 
into  the  heart  of  the  country,  trusting  himself  without 
troops  to  the  loyalty  of  the  people,  and  manifesting  a  show 
of  chivalrous  confidence  which  he  was  far  from  feeling. 
He  was  soon  surrounded  by  courtiers,  time-servers,  noble 
office-seekers.  They  who  had  kept  themselves  invisible, 
so  long  as  the  issue  of  a  perplexed  negotiation  seemed 
doubtful,  now  became  obsequious  and  inevitable  as  his 
shadow.  One  grand  seignior  wanted  a  regiment,  another 
a  government,  a  third  a  chamberlain's  key;  all  wanted 
titles,  ribbons,  offices,  livery,  wages.  Don  John  distrib- 
uted favors  and  promises  with  vast  liberality.  The  object 
with  which  Philip  had  sent  him  to  the  Netherlands,  that 
he  might  conciliate  the  hearts  of  its  inhabitants  by  the 


ISY^l  DEPARTURE  OF  THE  TROOPS  495 

personal  graces  wliich  he  had  inherited  from  his  imperial 
father,  seemed  in  a  fair  way  of  accomplishment,  for  it 
was  not  only  the  venal  applause  of  titled  sycophants  that 
he  strove  to  merit,  but  he  mingled  gayly  and  familiarly 
with  all  classes  of  citizens. 

While  the  governor  still  tarried  at  Louvain,  his  secre- 
tary, Escovedo,  was  busily  engaged  in  arranging  the  de- 
parture of  the  Spaniards,  for,  notwithstanding  his  orig- 
inal reluctance  and  the  suspicions  of  Orange,  Don  John 
loyally  intended  to  keep  his  promise.  He  even  advanced 
twenty  -  seven  thousand  florins  towards  the  expense  of 
their  removal,  but  to  raise  the  whole  amount  required  for 
transportation  and  arrears  was  a  difl&cult  matter.  The 
estates  were  slow  in  providing  the  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  florins  which  they  had  stipulated  to  furnish. 
The  King^s  credit,  moreover,  was  at  a  very  low  ebb,  but 
by  dint  of  great  diligence  on  the  part  of  Escovedo,  and 
through  the  confidence  reposed  in  his  character,  the  nec- 
essary funds  were  raised  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks. 

The  troops  readily  took  up  their  line  of  march,  and 
never  paused  till  they  reached  Lombardy.  They  depart- 
ed in  very  ill  humor,  not  having  received  any  recompense 
for  their  long  and  arduous  services.  Certainly,  if  un- 
fiinching  endurance,  desperate  valor,  and  congenial  cru- 
elty could  atone  in  the  monarch's  eyes  for  the  mutiny 
which  had  at  last  compelled  their  withdrawal,  then  were 
these  laborers  worthy  of  their  hire.  Don  John  had  paci- 
fied them  by  assurances  that  they  should  receive  adequate 
rewards  on  their  arrival  in  Lombardy,  and  had  urged  the 
full  satisfaction  of  their  claims  and  his  promises  in  the 
strongest  language. 


CHAPTER  II 
THREE   PARTIES — THE    Al^ABAPTISTS   PROTECTED 

Don  John"  made  his  triumphal  entrance  into  Brussels 
on  the  1st  of  May.  It  was  long  since  so  festive  a  May  Day 
had  gladdened  the  hearts  of  Brabant.  So  much  holiday 
magnificence  had  not  been  seen  in  the  Netherlands  for 
years.  A  solemn  procession  of  burghers,  preceded  by  six 
thousand  troops,  and  garnished  by  the  free  companies  of 
archers  and  musketeers  in  their  picturesque  costumes, 
escorted  the  young  prince  along  the  streets  of  the  capital. 
Don  John  was  on  horseback,  wrapped  in  a  long  green 
cloak,  riding  between  the  Bishop  of  Liege  and  the  papal 
nuncio.  He  passed  beneath  countless  triumphal  arches. 
Banners  waved  before  him  on  which  the  battle  of  Lepanto 
and  other  striking  scenes  in  his  life  were  emblazoned. 
Minstrels  sang  verses,  poets  recited  odes,  rhetoric  clubs 
enacted  fantastic  dramas  in  his  honor  as  he  rode  along. 
Young  virgins  crowned  him  with  laurels.  Fair  women  in- 
numerable were  clustered  at  every  window,  roof,  and 
balcony,  their  bright  robes  floating  like  summer  clouds 
above  him.  ^'^  Softly  from  those  lovely  clouds,^'  says  a 
gallant  chronicler,  "  descended  the  gentle  rain  of  flov/ers." 
Garlands  were  strewed  before  his  feet,  laurelled  victory 
sat  upon  his  brow.  The  same  conventional  enthusiasm 
and  decoration  which  had  characterized  the  holiday 
marches  of  a  thousand  conventional  heroes  were  success- 
fully produced.  The  proceedings  began  with  the  church, 
and  ended  with  the  banquet ;  the  day  was  propitious,  the 
populace  pleased,  and,  after  a  brilliant  festival,  Don  John 
of  Austria  saw  himself  governor-general  of  the  provinces. 

Three  days  afterwards,  the  customary  oaths,  to  be  kept 


1577]  WATCHFUL  WILLIAM  497 

with  the  cnstomary  conscientiousness,  were  rendered  at 
the  Town-house,  and  for  a  brief  moment  all  seemed  smiling 
and  serene. 

There  was  a  reverse  to  the  picture.  In  truth,  no  lan- 
guage can  describe  the  hatred  which  Don  John  entertained 
for  the  Netherlands  and  all  the  inhabitants.  He  had  come 
to  the  country  only  as  a  stepping  -  stone  to  the  English 
throne,  and  he  never  spoke,  in  his  private  letters,  of  the 
provinces  or  the  people  but  in  terms  of  abhorrence.  He 
was  in  a  "  Babylon  of  disgust,''  in  a  "  hell,''  surrounded  by 
"drunkards,"  '^ wine-skins,"  "scoundrels,"  and  the  like. 
From  the  moment  of  his  arrival  he  had  strained  every 
nerve  to  retain  the  Spanish  troops,  and  to  send  them 
away  by  sea  when  it  should  be  no  longer  feasible  to  keep 
them.  Escovedo  shared  in  the  sentiments  and  entered 
fully  into  the  schemes  of  his  chief.  Especially  those 
which  looked  to  the  assassination  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and 
William  of  Orange. 

Meantime,  the  man  in  whose  hands  really  lay  the  ques- 
tion of  war  and  peace  sat  at  Middelburg,  watching  the 
deep  current  of  events  as  it  slowly  flowed  towards  the 
precipice.  The  whole  population  of  Holland  and  Zeeland 
hung  on  his  words.  In  approaching  the  realms  of  William 
the  Silent,  Don  John  felt  that  he  had  entered  a  charmed 
circle,  where  the  talisman  of  his  own  illustrious  name 
lost  its  power,  where  his  valor  was  paralyzed,  and  his 
sword  rusted  irrevocably  in  its  sheath.  "The  people 
here,"  he  wrote,  "  are  hewitched  by  the  Prince  of  Orange. 
They  love  him,  they  fear  him,  and  wish  to  have  him  for 
their  master.  They  inform  him  of  everything,  and  take 
no  resolution  without  consulting  him." 

While  William  was  thus  directing  and  animating  the 
whole  nation  with  his  spirit,  his  immediate  friends  became 
more  and  more  anxious  concerning  the  perils  to  which 
he  was  exposed.  His  mother,  who  had  already  seen  her 
youngest-born,  Henry,  her  Adolphus,  her  chivalrous  Louis, 
laid  in  their  bloody  graves  for  the  cause  of  conscience,  was 
most  solicitous  for  the  welfare  of  her  "  heart's  -  beloved 
lord  and  son,"  the  Prince  of  Orange.  Nevertheless,  the 
high-spirited  old  dame  was  even  more  alarmed  at  the  pos- 

82 


498  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1577 

sibility  of  a  peace  in  which  that  religious  liberty  for  which 
so  much  dear  blood  had  been  poured  forth  should  be  in- 
adequately secured.  "  My  heart  longs  for  certain  tidings 
from  my  lord/'  she  wrote  to  William,  ''  for  methinks  the 
peace  now  in  prospect  will  prove  but  an  oppression  for 
soul  and  conscience.  I  trust  my  heart's  dearly  beloved 
lord  and  son  will  be  supported  by  Divine  grace  to  do 
nothing  against  God  and  his  own  soul's  salvation.  'Tis 
better  to  lose  the  temporal  than  the  eternal."  Thus  wrote 
the  mother  of  William,  and  we  can  feel  the  sympathetic 
thrill  which  such  tender  and  lofty  words  awoke  in  his 
breast.  His  son,  the  ill-starred  Philip,  now  for  ten  years 
long  a  compulsory  sojourner  in  Spain,  was  not  yet  weaned 
from  his  affection  for  his  noble  parent,  but  sent  messages 
of  affection  to  him  whenever  occasion  offered,  while  a  less 
commendable  proof  of  his  filial  affection  he  had  lately 
afforded  at  the  expense  of  the  luckless  captain  of  his 
Spanish  guard.  That  officer,  having  dared  in  his  presence 
to  speak  disrespectfully  of  his  father,  was  suddenly  seized 
about  the  waist  by  the  enraged  young  Count,  hurled  out 
of  the  window,  and  killed  stone  dead  upon  the  spot.  After 
this  exhibition  of  his  natural  feelings,  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment thought  it  necessary  to  take  more  subtle  means  to 
tame  so  turbulent  a  spirit.  Unfortunately  they  proved 
successful. 

Count  John  of  Nassau,  too,  was  sorely  pressed  for 
money.  Six  hundred  thousand  florins,  at  least,  had  been 
advanced  by  himself  and  brothers  to  aid  the  cause  of 
Netherland  freedom.  Louis  and  himself  had,  unhesitat- 
ingly and  immediately,  turned  into  that  sacred  fund  the 
hundred  thousand  crowns  which  the  King  of  France  had 
presented  them  for  their  personal  use  ;  for  it  was  not  the 
Prince  of  Orange  alone  who  had  consecrated  his  wealth 
and  his  life  to  the  cause,  but  the  members  of  his  family, 
less  immediately  interested  in  the  country,  had  thus  fur- 
nished what  may  well  be  called  an  enormous  subsidy,  and 
one  most  disproportioned  to  their  means.  Not  only  had 
they  given  all  the  cash  which  they  could  command  by 
mortgaging  their  lands  and  rents,  their  plate  and  furniture, 
but,  in  the  words  of  Count  John  himself, ''  they  had  taken 


1577]  EFFORTS  TO  GAIN  THE  PRINCE  499 

the  chains  and  jewels  from  the  necks  of  their  wives,  their 
children,  and  their  mother,  and  had  hawked  them  about 
as  if  they  had  themselves  been  traders  and  hucksters/^  And 
yet,  even  now,  while  stooping  under  this  prodigious  debt. 
Count  John  asked  not  for  present  repayment.  He  only 
wrote  to  the  Prince  to  signify  his  extreme  embarrassment, 
and  to  request  some  obligation  or  recognition  from  the 
cities  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  whence  hitherto  no  expres- 
sion of  gratitude  or  acknowledgment  had  proceeded. 

The  Prince  consoled  and  assured,  as  best  he  could,  his 
mother,  son,  wife,  and  brother,  even  at  the  same  moment 
that  he  comforted  his  people.  He  also  received  at  this 
time  a  second  and  more  solemn  embassy  from  Don  John. 
No  sooner  had  the  governor  exchanged  oaths  at  Brussels, 
and  been  acknowledged  as  the  representative  of  his  Maj- 
esty, than  he  hastened  to  make  another  effort  to  concili- 
ate the  Prince.  Don  John  saw  before  him  only  a  grand 
seignior  of  lofty  birth  and  boundless  influence,  who  had 
placed  himself  towards  the  crown  in  a  false  position,  from 
which  he  might  even  yet  be  rescued ;  for  to  sacrifice  the 
whims  of  a  reforming  and  transitory  religious  fanaticism, 
which  had  spun  itself  for  a  moment  about  so  clear  a  brain, 
would,  he  thought,  prove  but  a  trifling  task  for  so  experi- 
enced a  politician  as  the  Prince.  William  of  Orange,  on 
the  other  hand,  looked  upon  his  young  antagonist  as  the 
most  brilliant  impersonation  which  had  yet  been  seen  of 
the  foul  spirit  of  persecution. 

Don  John  meant  peace,  wise  William  meant  war ;  for  he 
knew  that  no  other  issue  was  possible.  Peace,  in  reality, 
was  war  in  its  worst  shape.  Peace  would  unchain  every 
priestly  tongue,  and  unsheathe  every  knightly  sword  in  the 
fifteen  provinces  against  little  Holland  and  Zeeland.  He 
had  been  able  to  bind  all  the  provinces  together  by  the 
hastily  forged  chain  of  the  Ghent  treaty,  and  had  done 
what  he  could  to  strengthen  that  union  by  the  principle 
of  mutual  religious  respect.  By  the  arrival  of  Don  John 
that  work  had  been  deranged.  It  had,  however,  been  im- 
possible for  the  Prince  thoroughly  to  infuse  his  own  ideas 
on  the  subject  of  toleration  into  the  hearts  of  his  nearest 
associates.     He  could  not  hope  to  inspire  his  deadly  ene- 


500  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [Ull 

mies  with  a  deeper  sympathy.  Was  he  not  himself  the 
mark  of  obloquy  among  the  Reformers  because  of  his 
leniency  to  Catholics  ?  Nay,  more,  was  not  his  intimate 
councillor,  the  accomplished  Sainte-Aldegonde,  in  despair 
because  the  Prince  refused  to  exclude  the  Anabaptists  of 
Holland  from  the  rights  of  citizenship  ?  At  the  very 
moment  when  William  was  straining  every  nerve  to  unite 
warring  sects,  and  to  persuade  men's  hearts  into  a  system 
by  which  their  consciences  were  to  be  laid  open  to  God 
alone — at  the  moment  when  it  was  most  necessary  for  the 
very  existence  of  the  fatherland  that  Catholic  and  Protes- 
tant should  mingle  their  social  and  political  relations,  it 
was  indeed  a  bitter  disappointment  for  him  to  see  wise 
statesmen  of  his  own  creed  unable  to  rise  to  the  idea  of  tol- 
eration. '^  The  affair  of  the  Anabaptists,"  *  wrote  Sainte- 
Aldegonde,  '^has  been  renewed.  The  Prince  objects  to 
exclude  them  from  citizenship.  He  answered  me  sharply 
that  their  yea  was  equal  to  our  oath,  and  that  we  should 
not  press  this  matter  unless  we  were  willing  to  confess  that 
it  was  just  for  the  papists  to  compel  us  to  a  divine  service 
which  was  against  our  conscience."  It  seems  hardly  cred- 
ible that  this  sentence,  containing  so  sublime  a  tribute  to 
the  character  of  the  Prince,  should  have  been  indited  as  a 
bitter  censure,  and  that,  too,  by  an  enlightened  and  ac- 
complished Protestant.  *^'In  short,"  continued  Sainte- 
Aldegonde,  with  increasing  vexation,  "  I  don^'t  see  how  we 
can  accomplish  our  wish  in  this  matter.  The  Prince  has 
uttered  reproaches  to  me  that  our  clergy  are  striving  to 
obtain  a  mastery  over  consciences.  He  praised  lately  the 
saying  of  a  monk  who  was  not  long  ago  here,  that  our  pot 
had  not  gone  to  the  fire  as  often  as  that  of  our  antagonists, 
but  that  when  the  time  came  it  would  be  black  enough. 
In  short,  the  Prince  fears  that  after  a  few  centuries  the 
clerical  tyranny  on  both  sides  will  stand  in  this  respect  on 
the  same  footing." 
Early  in  the  month  of  May,  Doctor  Leoninus  and  Cas- 

*  In  this  year,  ISY*?,  William  of  Orange  wrote  to  the  magistrates  of  Mid- 
delburg :  "  We  declare  to  you  that  you  have  no  right  to  interfere  with  the 
conscience  of  any  one,  so  long  as  he  has  done  nothing  that  works  injury  to 
another  person,  or  a  public  scandal." 


1577]  RESULTS  501 

par  Schetz,  Seigneur  de  Grobbendonck,  had  been  sent  on 
a  mission  from  the  states-general  to  the  Prince  of  Orange. 
While  their  negotiations  were  still  pending,  four  special 
envoys  from  Don  John  arrived  at  Middelburg.  To  this 
commission  was  informally  adjoined  Leoninus,  who  had 
succeeded  to  the  general  position  of  Viglius,  who  was  dead. 

The  agents  of  Don  John  were  the  Duke  of  Aerschot, 
the  Seigneur  de  Hierges,  Seigneur  de  Willerval,  and  Doc- 
tor Meetkerken,  accompanied  by  Doctor  Andrew  Gaill, 
one  of  the  imperial  commissioners.  The  two  envoys  from 
the  states-general,  Leoninus  and  Schetz,  being  present  at 
Gertruydenberg,  were  added  to  the  deputation.  An  im- 
portant conference  took  place,  the  details  of  which  have 
been  somewhat  minutely  preserved.  The  Prince  of  Orange, 
accompanied  by  Sainte-Aldegonde  and  four  other  council- 
lors, encountered  the  seven  champions  from  Brussels  in  a 
long  debate,  which  was  more  like  a  passage  of  arms  or  a 
trial  of  skill  than  a  friendly  colloquy  with  a  pacific  result 
in  prospect ;  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Prince 
of  Orange  did  not  mean  peace.  He  had  devised  the  Paci- 
fication of  Ghent  as  a  union  of  the  other  provinces  with 
Holland  and  Zeeland  against  Philip.  He  did  not  intend 
that  it  should  be  converted  into  a  union  of  the  other  prov- 
inces with  Philip  against  Holland  and  Zeeland. 

The  formal  interchange  of  documents  soon  afterwards 
took  place.  The  conversation  held  between  the  different 
parties  shows,  however,  the  exact  position  of  affairs.  There 
was  no  change  in  the  intentions  of  either  Reformers  or 
royalists.  Philip  and  his  representatives  still  contended 
for  two  points,  and  claimed  the  praise  of  moderation  that 
their  demands  were  so  few  in  number.  They  were  willing 
to  concede  everything  save  the  unlimited  authority  of  the 
King  and  the  exclusive  maintenance  of  the  Catholic  re- 
ligion. The  Prince  of  Orange,  on  his  side,  claimed  two 
points  also  —  the  ancient  constitutions  of  the  country  and 
religious  freedom.  It  was  obvious  enough  that  the  con- 
test was  the  same,  in  reality,  as  it  had  ever  been.  No  ap- 
proximation had  been  made  towards  reconciling  absolutism 
with  national  liberty,  persecution  with  toleration. 

The  envoys  accordingly,  in  obedience  to  their  instruo- 


HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1577 

tions,  made  a  formal  statement  to  the  Prince  of  Orange 
and  the  states  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  on  the  part  of  Don 
John.  They  alluded  to  the  departure  of  the  Spaniards,  as 
if  that  alone  had  fulfilled  every  duty  and  authorized  every 
claim.  They  therefore  demanded  the  immediate  publica- 
tion in  Holland  and  Zeeland  of  the  Perpetual  Edict.  They 
insisted  on  the  immediate  discontinuance  of  all  hostile 
attempts  to  reduce  Amsterdam  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
Orange  ;  required  the  Prince  to  abandon  his  pretensions 
to  Utrecht ;  and  denounced  the  efforts  being  made  by 
him  and  his  partisans  to  diffuse  their  heretical  doctrines 
through  the  other  provinces.  They  observed,  in  conclu- 
sion, that  the  general  question  of  religion  was  not  to  be 
handled,  because  reserved  for  the  consideration  of  the 
states-general,  according  to  the  treaty  of  Ghent. 

The  reply,  delivered  on  the  following  day  by  the  Prince 
of  Orange  and  the  deputies,  maintained  that  the  Perpet- 
ual Edict  was  widely  different  from  the  Pacification  of 
Ghent,  which  it  affected  to  uphold ;  that  the  promises  to 
abstain  from  all  violation  of  the  ancient  constitutions  had 
not  been  kept ;  that  the  German  troops  had  not  been  dis- 
missed ;  that  the  property  of  the  Prince  in  the  Nether- 
lands and  Burgundy  had  not  been  restored  ;  that  his  son 
was  detained  in  captivity ;  that  the  government  of  Utrecht 
was  withheld  from  him ;  that  the  charters  and  constitu- 
tion of  the  country,  instead  of  being  extended,  had  been 
contracted  ;  and  that  the  governor  had  claimed  the  right 
to  convoke  the  states-general  at  his  pleasure,  in  violation 
of  the  ancient  right  to  assemble  at  their  own.  The  docu- 
ment further  complained  that  the  adherents  of  the  Re- 
formed religion  were  not  allowed  to  frequent  the  different 
provinces  in  freedom,  according  to  the  stipulations  of 
Ghent ;  that  Don  John,  notwithstanding  all  these  short- 
comings, had  been  acknowledged  as  governor  -  general 
without  the  consent  of  the  Prince ;  that  he  was  surround- 
ed with  a  train  of  Spaniards,  Italians,  and  other  foreign- 
ers— Gonzaga,  Escovedo,  and  the  like — as  well  as  by  ren- 
egade NetherlmdersJike_Tass^  by  whom  he  was  unduly 
infiuenced  against  the  country  and  the  people,  and  by 
whom  a  '^  back  door  was  held  constantly  open"  to  the 


1577]  BULLETINS  503 

admission  of  evils  innumerable.  Finally,  it  was  asserted 
that  by  means  of  this  last  act  of  nnion  a  new  form  of 
inquisition  had  been  introduced,  and  one  which  was  much 
more  cruel  than  the  old  system,  inasmuch  as  the  Span- 
ish inquisition  did  not  take  information  against  men  ex- 
cept upon  suspicion,  whereas  by  the  new  process  all  the 
world  would  be  examined  as  to  their  conscience  and  relig- 
ion, under  pretence  of  maintaining  the  union. 

Such  was  the  result  of  this  second  mission  to  the  Prince 
of  Orange  on  the  part  of  the  governor -general.  Don 
John  never  sent  another.  The  swords  were  now  fairly 
measured  between  the  antagonists,  and  the  scabbards 
were  soon  to  be  thrown  away.  A  few  weeks  afterwards 
the  governor  wrote  to  Philip  that  there  was  nothing  in 
the  world  which  William  of  Orange  so  much  abhorred  as 
his  Majesty,  adding,  with  Castilian  exaggeration,  that  if 
the  Prince  could  drink  the  King's  blood  he  would  do  so 
with  great  pleasure. 

Don  John,  being  thus  seated  in  the  saddle,  had  a  mo- 
ment's leisure  to  look  around  him.  It  was  but  a  moment, 
for  he  had  small  confidence  in  the  aspect  of  affairs,  but 
one  of  his  first  acts  after  assuming  the  government  afford- 
ed a  proof  of  the  interpretation  which  he  had  adopted 
of  the  Ghent  Pacification.  An  edict  was  issued,  addressed 
to  all  bishops,  "  heretic-masters,"  and  provincial  councils, 
commanding  the  strict  enforcement  of  the  canons  of  the 
Council  of  Trent,  and  other  ecclesiastical  decrees.  These 
authorities  were  summoned  instantly  to  take  increased 
heed  of  the  flocks  under  their  charge,  "and  to  protect 
them  from  the  ravening  wolves  which  were  seeking  to 
devour  them." 

The  measure  bore  instant  fruit.  A  wretched  tailor  of 
Mechlin,  Peter  Panis  by  name,  an  honest  man,  but  a 
heretic,  was  arrested  upon  the  charge  of  having  preached 
or  exhorted  at  a  meeting  in  that  city.  He  confessed  that 
he  had  been  present  at  the  meeting,  but  denied  that  he 
had  preached.  He  was  then  required  to  denounce  the 
others  who  had  been  present  and  the  men  who  had  ac- 
tually officiated.  He  refused,  and  was  condemned  to  death. 
The  Prince  of  Orange,  while  the  process  was  pending. 


604  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [nil 

wrote  an  earnest  letter  to  the  Council  of  Mechlin,  implor- 
ing them  not  now  to  rekindle  the  fires  of  religions  per- 
secution. His  appeal  was  in  vain.  The  poor  tailor  was 
beheaded  at  Mechlin  on  the  15th  of  June,  the  conqueror 
of  Lepanto  being  present  at  the  execution  and  adding 
dignity  to  the  scene.  Thus,  at  the  moment  when  William 
of  Orange  was  protecting  the  Anabaptists  of  Middelburg 
in  the  rights  of  citizenship,  even  while  they  refused  its 
obligations,  the  son  of  the  Emperor  was  dipping  his  hands 
in  the  blood  of  a  poor  wretch  who  had  done  no  harm  but 
to  listen  to  a  prayer  without  denouncing  the  preacher. 
The  most  intimate  friends  of  the  Prince  were  offended 
with  his  liberality.  The  imperial  shade  of  Don  John's 
father  might  have  risen  to  approve  the  son  who  had  so 
dutifully  revived  his  bloody  edicts  and  his  ruthless  policy. 

Three  parties  were  now  fairly  in  existence  :  the  nobles, 
who  hated  the  Spaniards,  but  who  were  disposed  to  hold 
themselves  aloof  from  the  people ;  the  adherents  of  Don 
John,  commonly  called  '^  Johanists'";  and  the  partisans 
of  the  Prince  of  Orange — for  William  the  Silent  had  al- 
ways felt  the  necessity  of  leaning  for  support  on  some- 
thing more  substantial  than  the  court  party,  a  reed  shaken 
by  the  wind,  and  failing  always  when  most  relied  upon. 
His  efforts  were  constant  to  elevate  the  middle  class,  to 
build  up  a  strong  third  party,  which  should  unite  much 
of  the  substantial  wealth  and  intelligence  of  the  land, 
drawing  constantly  from  the  people,  and  deriving  strength 
from  national  enthusiasm-^a  party  which  should  include 
nearly  all  the  political  capacity  of  the  country ;  and  his 
efforts  were  successful.  No  doubt  the  governor  and  his 
secretary  were  right  when  they  said  the  people  of  the 
Netherlands  were  inclined  to  brook  the  Turk  as  easily  as 
the  Spaniard  for  their  master,  and  that  their  hearts  were 
in  reality  devoted  to  the  Prince  of  Orange. 

As  to  the  grandees,  they  were  mostly  of  those  who 
^'  sought  to  swim  between  two  waters,"  according  to  the 
Prince's  expression.  There  were  but  few  unswerving  sup- 
porters of  the  Spanish  rule,  like  the  Berlaymont  and  the 
Tassis  families.  The  rest  veered  daily  with  the  veering 
wind.     Aerschot,  the  great  chief  of  the  Catholic  party. 


1577]  WARNINGS  505 

was  but  a  cringing  courtier,  false  and  fawning  both  to 
Don  John  and  the  Prince.  He  sought  to  play  a  leading 
part  in  a  great  epoch  ;  he  only  distinguished  himself  by 
courting  and  betraying  all  parties,  and  being  thrown  away 
by  all.  His  son  and  brother  were  hardly  more  respect- 
able. The  Prince  knew  how  little  dependence  could  be 
placed  on  such  allies,  even  although  they  had  signed  and 
sworn  the  Ghent  Pacification.  He  was  also  aware  how 
little  it  was  the  intention  of  the  governor  to  be  bound 
by  that  famous  treaty.  The  Spanish  troops  had  been,  in- 
deed, disbanded,  but  there  were  still  between  ten  and  fif- 
teen thousand  German  mercenaries  in  the  service  of  the 
King ;  these  were  stationed  in  different  important  places 
and  held  firm  possession  of  the  citadels.  The  great  keys 
of  the  country  were  still  in  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards. 
Aerschot,  indeed,  governed  the  castle  of  Antwerp  in  room 
of  Sancho  d'Avila,  but  how  much  more  friendly  would 
Aerschot  be  than  Avila  when  interest  prompted  him  to 
sustain  Don  John  against  the  Prince  ? 

Meanwhile  the  estates,  according  to  their  contract,  were 
straining  every  nerve  to  raise  the  requisite  sum  for  the 
payment  of  the  German  troops.  Equitable  offers  were 
iliade  by  which  the  soldiers  were  to  receive  a  certain  pro- 
portion of  the  arrears  due  to  them  in  merchandise  and 
the  remainder  in  cash.  The  arrangement  was  rejected, 
at  the  secret  instance  of  Don  John.  While  the  governor 
affected  an  ingenuous  desire  to  aid  the  estates  in  their 
efforts  to  free  themselves  from  the  remaining  portion  of 
this  encumbrance,  he  was  secretly  tampering  with  the 
leading  German  officers  in  order  to  prevent  their  accept- 
ance of  any  offered  terms.  He  persuaded  these  military 
chiefs  that  a  conspiracy  existed  by  which  they  were  not 
only  to  be  deprived  of  their  wages,  but  of  their  lives.  He 
warned  them  to  heed  no  promises,  to  accept  no  terms. 
Convincing  them  that  he,  and  he  only,  was  their  friend, 
he  arranged  secret  plans  by  which  they  should  assist  him 
in  taking  the  fortresses  of  the  country  into  still  more 
secure  possession,  for  he  was  not  more  inclined  to  trust 
to  the  Aerschots  and  the  Havres  than  was  the  Prince 
himself. 


506  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1611 

The  governor  lived  in  considerable  danger,  and  in  still 
greater  dread,  of  capture,  if  not  of  assassination.  His 
imagination,  excited  by  endless  tales  of  ambush  and  half- 
discovered  conspiracies,  saw  armed  soldiers  behind  every 
bush,  a  pitfall  in  every  street.  Nor  did  Don  John  need 
warnings  coming  from  sources  far  from  obscure.  He  fled 
to  Mechlin,  where  warnings  were  soon  afterwards  renewed, 
for  the  solemn  sacrifice  of  Peter  Panis,  the  poor  preaching 
tailor  of  that  city,  had  not  been  enough  to  strike  terror 
to  the  hearts  of  all  the  Netherlanders.  One  day,  towards 
the  end  of  June,  the  Duke  of  Aerschot,  riding  out  with 
Don  John,  gave  him  a  circumstantial  account  of  plots,  old 
and  new,  the  existence  of  which  he  had  discovered  or  in- 
vented, and  he  showed  a  copy  of  a  secret  letter,  written 
by  the  Prince  of  Orange  to  the  estates,  recommending  the 
forcible  seizure  of  his  Highness.  It  is  true  that  the 
Duke  was,  at  that  period  and  for  long  after,  upon  terms 
of  the  most  *^ fraternal  friendship"  with  the  Prince,  and 
was  in  the  habit  of  signing  himself  ^^his  very  affectionate 
brother  and  cordial  friend  to  serve  him,"  yet  this  did  not 
prevent  him  from  accomplishing  what  he  deemed  his  duty, 
in  secretly  denouncing  his  plans.  It  is  also  true  that  he 
at  the  same  time  gave  the  Prince  private  information 
concerning  the  government,  and  sent  him  intercepted 
letters  from  his  enemies,  thus  easing  his  conscience  on 
both  sides,  and  trimming  his  sails  to  every  wind  which 
might  blow. 

The  governor  brooded  over  what  had  been  said  to  him 
for  a  few  days,  and  he  then  broke  up  his  establishment  at 
Mechlin,  selling  off  his  superfluous  furniture  and  even 
the  wine  in  his  cellars.  Thus  showing  that  his  absence, 
both  from  Brussels  and  Mechlin,  was  to  be  a  prolonged 
one,  he  took  advantage  of  an  unforeseen  occurrence  again 
to  remove  his  residence. 


CHAPTER  III 
DON   JOHN   FOILED   BY   ORANGE 

There  were  few  cities  of  the  Netherlands  more  pictu- 
resque in  situation,  more  trimly  built,  and  more  opulent 
of  aspect  than  the  little  city  of  Namur.  Its  famous  cita- 
del, crowning  an  abrupt  precipice  five  hundred  feet  above 
the  river's  bed,  and  placed  near  the  frontier  of  France, 
made  the  city  of  vast  strategic  importance,  and  this  had 
now  attracted  Don  John's  attention  in  this  hour  of  his 
perplexity.  The  unexpected  visit  of  a  celebrated  person- 
age furnished  him  with  the  pretext  which  he  desired. 
The  beautiful  Margaret  of  Valois,  Queen  of  Navarre,  was 
proceeding  to  the  baths  of  Spa  to  drink  the  waters.  Her 
health  was  as  perfect  as  her  beauty,  but  she  was  flying 
from  a  husband  whom  she  hated,  to  advance  the  interest 
of  a  brother  whom  she  loved  with  a  more  than  sisterly 
fondness— for  the  worthless  Duke  of  Alen5on  was  one  of 
the  many  competitors  for  the  Netherland  government; 
the  correspondence  between  himself  and  his  brother  with 
Orange  and  his  agents  being  still  continued.  The  hollow 
truce  with  the  Huguenots  in  France  had,  however,  been 
again  succeeded  by  war.  Henry  of  Valois  had  already 
commenced  operations  in  Gascony  against  Henry  of  Na- 
varre, whom  he  hated  almost  as  cordially  as  Margaret 
herself  could  do,  and  the  Duke  of  Alengon  was  besieging 
Issoire.  Meantime,  the  beautiful  Queen  came  to  mingle 
the  golden  thread  of  her  feminine  intrigues  with  the  dark 
woof  of  the  Netherland  destinies. 

The  Queen  crossed  the  frontier,  and  was  courteously 
received  at  Cambrai.  The  bishop  —  of  the  loyal  house 
of  Berlaymont — was  a  stanch  supporter  of  the  King,  and 


508  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1577 

although  a  Fleming,  was  Spanish  to  the  core.  On  him 
the  cajolery  of  the  beautiful  Queen  was  first  essayed,  but 
was  found  powerless.  The  prelate  gave  her  a  magnificent 
ball,  but  resisted  her  blandishments.  He  retired  with 
the  appearance  of  the  confections,  but  the  governor  of 
the  citadel,  the  Seigneur  d'Inchy,  remained,  with  whom 
Margaret  was  more  successful.  She  found  him  a  cordial 
hater  of  Spain,  a  favorer  of  France,  and  very  impatient 
under  the  authority  of  the  bishop.  He  obtained  permis- 
sion to  accompany  the  royal  visitor  a  few  stages  of  her 
journey,  and  returned  to  Cambrai  her  willing  slave,  hold- 
ing the  castle  in  future  neither  for  king  nor  bishop,  but 
for  Margaret's  brother  Alengon  alone.  At  Mons  she  was 
received  with  great  state  by  the  Count  Lalain,  who  was 
governor  of  Hainault,  while  his  Countess  governed  him. 
A  week  of  festivities  graced  the  advent  of  the  Queen,  dur- 
ing which  period  the  hearts  of  both  Lalain  and  his  wife 
were  completely  subjugated. 

The  Count,  with  a  retinue  of  mounted  men,  then  ac- 
companied her  on  her  way  towards  Namur,  but  turned  as 
the  distant  tramp  of  Don  John's  cavalcade  was  heard  ap- 
proaching, for  it  was  not  desirable  for  Lalain  at  that  mo- 
ment to  find  himself  face  to  face  with  the  governor. 
Don  John  stood  a  moment  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the 
Queen.  He  did  not  dream  of  her  political  intrigues,  nor 
see  in  the  fair  form  approaching  him  one  mortal  enemy 
the  more.  Margaret  travelled  in  a  splendid  litter  with 
gilt  pillars,  lined  with  scarlet  velvet,  and  entirely  enclosed 
in  glass,  which  was  followed  by  those  of  the  Princesse  de 
la  Koche  sur  Yon  and  of  Madame  de  Tournon.  After 
these  came  ten  ladies  of  honor  on  horseback,  and  six  char- 
iots filled  with  female  domestics.  These,  with  the  guards 
and  other  attendants,  made  up  the  retinue.  On  meeting 
the  Queen's  litter,  Don  John  sprang  from  his  horse  and 
presented  his  greetings.  The  Queen  returned  his  saluta- 
tion, in  the  French  fashion,  by  offering  her  cheek  to  his 
embrace,  extending  the  same  favor  to  the  Duke  of  Aer- 
schot  and  the  Marquis  of  Havre.  The  cavaliers  then 
remounted  and  escorted  the  Queen  to  Namur,  Don  John 
riding  by  the  side  of  the  litter  and  conversing  with  her 


1577]  BANQUETS   AND   BALLS  509 

all  the  way.  It  was  late  in  the  evening  when  the  pro- 
cession arrived  in  the  city.  The  streets  had,  however, 
been  brilliantly  illuminated,  houses  and  shops,  although 
it  was  near  midnight,  being  in  a  blaze  of  light.  Don 
John  believing  that  no  attentions  could  be  so  acceptable 
at  that  hour  as  to  provide  for  the  repose  of  his  guest, 
conducted  the  Queen  at  once  to  the  lodgings  prepared  for 
her.  Margaret  was  astonished  at  the  magnificence  of  the 
apartments  into  which  she  was  ushered. 

The  next  morning  a  grand  mass  with  military  music 
was  celebrated,  followed  by  a  sumptuous  banquet  in  the 
grand  hall.  Don  John  and  the  Queen  sat  at  a  table  three 
feet  apart  from  the  rest,  and  Ottavio  Gonzaga  served 
them  wine  upon  his  knees.  After  the  banquet  came,  as 
usual,  the  ball,  the  festivities  continuing  till  late  in  the 
night,  and  Don  John  scarcely  quitting  his  fair  guest  for  a 
moment.  The  next  afternoon,  a  festival  had  been  ar- 
ranged upon  an  island  in  the  river.  The  company  em- 
barked upon  the  Meuse,  in  a  fleet  of  gayly  scarfed  and 
painted  vessels,  many  of  which  were  filled  with  musi- 
cians. Margaret  reclined  in  her  gilded  barge,  under  a 
richly  embroidered  canopy.  A  fairer  and  falser  queen 
than  the  Egyptian  had  bewitched  the  famous  youth  who 
had  triumphed,  not  lost  the  world,  beneath  the  heights  of 
Actium.  The  revellers  landed  on  the  island,  where  the 
banquet  was  already  spread  within  a  spacious  bower  of 
ivy  and  beneath  umbrageous  elms.  The  dance  upon  the 
sward  was  protracted  to  a  late  hour,  and  the  summer 
stars  had  been  long  in  the  sky  when  the  company  returned 
to  their  barges. 

Don  John,  more  than  ever  enthralled  by  the  bride  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  knew  not  that  her  sole  purpose  in  visit- 
ing his  dominion  had  been  to  corrupt  his  servants  and  to 
undermine  his  authority.  His  own  purpose,  however, 
had  been  less  to  pay  court  to  the  Queen  than  to  make 
use  of  her  presence  to  cover  his  own  designs.  That  pur- 
pose he  proceeded  instantly  to  execute.  The  Queen  next 
morning  pursued  her  voyage  by  the  river  to  Liege,  and 
scarcely  had  she  floated  out  of  his  sight  than  he  sprang 
upQn  his  hgrse,  and,  accompanied  by  a  few  trusty  attend- 


510  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS  [1577 

ants,  galloped  out  of  the  gate  and  across  the  bridge  which 
led  to  the  citadel.  He  had  already  despatched  the  loyal 
Berlaymont,  with  his  four  equally  loyal  sons,  the  Seign- 
eurs de  Meghen,  Floyon,  Hierges,  and  Haultepetine,  to 
that  fortress.  These  gentlemen  had  informed  the  castellan 
that  the  governor  was  about  to  ride  forth  hunting,  and 
that  it  would  be  proper  to  offer  him  the  hospitalities  of 
the  castle  as  he  passed  on  his  way.  A  considerable  num- 
ber of  armed  men  had  been  concealed  in  the  woods  and 
thickets  of  the  neighborhood.  The  Seigneur  de  Froy- 
mont,  suspecting  nothing,  acceded  to  the  propriety  of  the 
suggestion  made  by  the  Berlaymonts.  Meantime,  with  a 
blast  of  his  horn,  Don  John  appeared  at  the  castle  gate. 
He  entered  the  fortress  with  the  castellan,  while  one  of 
the  gentlemen  watched  outside  as  the  ambushed  soldiers 
came  toiling  up  the  precipice.  When  all  was  ready  the 
gentleman  returned  to  the  hall,  and  made  a  signal  to  Don 
John  as  he  sat  at  breakfast  with  the  constable.  The 
governor  sprang  from  the  table  and  drew  his  sword ; 
Berlaymont  and  his  four  sons  drew  their  pistols,  while  at 
the  same  instant  the  soldiers  entered.  Don  John,  ex- 
claiming that  this  was  the  first  day  of  his  government, 
commanded  the  castellan  to  surrender.  De  Froymont, 
taken  by  surprise,  and  hardly  understanding  this  very  melo- 
dramatic attack  upon  a  citadel  by  its  own  lawful  governor, 
made  not  much  difficulty  in  complying.  He  was  then 
turned  out-of-doors,  along  with  his  garrison,  mostly  feeble 
old  men  and  invalids.  The  newly  arrived  soldiers  took 
their  places,  at  command  of  the  governor,  and  the  strong- 
hold of  Namur  was  his  own. 

There  was  little  doubt  that  the  representative  of  Philip 
had  a  perfect  right  to  possess  himself  of  any  fortress  with- 
in his  government ;  there  could  be  as  little  doubt  that 
the  sudden  stratagem  by  which  he  had  thus  made  himself 
master  of  this  citadel  would  prove  offensive  to  the  estates, 
while  it  could  hardly  be  agreeable  to  the  King ;  and  yet  it 
is  not  certain  that  he  could  have  accomplished  his  pur- 
pose in  any  other  way.  Moreover,  the  achievement  was 
one  of  a  projected  series  by  which  he  meant  to  revindi- 
cate his  dwindling  authority.     He  was  weary  of  playing 


15771  "NESTS  OF  TYRANNY"  511 

the  hypocrite,  and  convinced  that  he  and  his  monarch  were 
both  abhorred  by  the  Netherlanders.  Peace  was  impossi- 
ble— war  was  forbidden  him.  Reduced  almost  to  a  nulli- 
ty by  the  Prince  of  Orange,  it  was  time  for  him  to  make  a 
stand,  and  in  this  impregnable  fastness  his  position  at 
least  was  a  good  one.  Many  months  before,  the  Prince  of 
Orange  had  expressed  his  anxious  desire  that  this  most  im- 
portant town  and  citadel  should  be  secured  for  the  estates. 
*'  You  know,"  he  had  written  to  Bossu  in  December,  *'  the 
evil  and  the  dismay  which  the  loss  of  the  city  and  fortress 
of  Namur  would  occasion  to  us.  Let  me  beseech  you  that 
all  possible  care  be  taken  to  preserve  them."  Neverthe- 
less, their  preservation  had  been  entrusted  to  a  feeble- 
minded old  constable,  at  the  head  of  a  handful  of  cripples. 
We  know  how  intense  had  been  the  solicitude  of  the 
Prince  not  only  to  secure  but  to  destroy  these  citadels, 
"nests  of  tyranny,"  which  had  been  built  by  despots  to 
crush,  not  protect,  the  towns  at  their  feet.  These  pre- 
cautions had  been  neglected,  and  the  consequences  were 
displaying  themselves,  for  the  castle  of  Namur  was  not 
the  only  one  of  which  Don  John  felt  himself  secure.  Al- 
though the  Duke  of  Aerschot  seemed  so  very  much  his 
humble  servant,  the  governor  did  not  ti'ust  him,  and  wished 
to  see  the  citadel  of  Antwerp  in  more  unquestionable  keep- 
ing. He  had  therefore  withdrawn  not  only  the  Duke,  but 
his  son,  the  Prince  of  Chimay,  commander  of  the  cas- 
tle in  his  father's  absence,  from  that  important  post,  and 
insisted  upon  their  accompanying  him  to  Namur.  So  gal- 
lant a  courtier  as  Aerschot  could  hardly  refuse  to  pay 
his  homage  to  so  illustrious  a  princess  as  Margaret  of  Va- 
lois,  while  during  the  absence  of  the  Duke  and  Prince  the 
keys  of  Antwerp  citadel  had  been,  at  the  command  of  Don 
John,  placed  in  the  keeping  of  the  Seigneur  de  Treslong, 
an  unscrupulous  and  devoted  royalist.  The  celebrated 
Colonel  Van  Ende,  whose  participation  at  the  head  of  his 
German  cavalry  in  the  terrible  sack  of  that  city  which  he 
had  been  ordered  to  defend  has  been  narrated,  was  com- 
manded to  return  to  Antwerp.  He  was  to  present  him- 
self openly  to  the  city  authorities,  but  he  was  secretly  di- 
rected by  the  governor-general  to  act  in  co-operation  with 


512  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1511 

the  Colonels  Fugger,  Frondsberger,  and  Polwiller,  who  com- 
manded the  forces  already  stationed  in  the  city.  These 
distinguished  officers  had  been  all  summer  in  secret  corre- 
spondence with  Don  John,  for  they  were  the  instruments 
with  which  he  meant  by  a  bold  stroke  to  recover  his  al- 
most lost  authority. 

In  the  mean  time,  almost  exactly  at  the  moment  when 
Don  John  was  executing  his  enterprise  against  Namur, 
Escovedo  had  taken  an  affectionate  farewell  of  the  estates 
at  Brussels  ;  for  it  had  been  thought  necessary,  as  already 
intimated,  both  for  the  apparent  interests  and  the  secret 
projects  of  Don  John,  that  the  secretary  should  make  a 
visit  to  Spain.  He  made  the  visit.  By  the  secret  order 
of  the  King,  Perez  being  the  executive  supervisor  of  the 
details,  Escovedo  was  murdered  at  nightfall  of  the  31st  of 
March,  1578,  in  the  streets  of  Madrid. 

Before  narrating  the  issue  of  the  plot  against  Antwerp 
citadel,  it  is  necessary  to  recur  for  a  moment  to  the  Prince 
of  Orange.  In  the  deeds  and  written  words  of  that  one 
man  are  comprised  nearly  all  the  history  of  the  Keforma- 
tion  in  the  Netherlands — nearly  the  whole  progress  of  the 
infant  Republic.  The  rest,  during  this  period,  is  made  up 
of  the  plottings  and  counter-plottings,  the  mutual  wran- 
glings  and  recriminations  of  Don  John  and  the  estates. 

In  the  brief  breathing-space  now  afforded  them,  the  in- 
habitants of  Holland  and  Zeeland  had  been  employing 
themselves  in  the  extensive  repairs  of  their  vast  system 
of  dikes.  These  barriers,  which  protected  their  country 
against  the  ocean,  but  which  their  own  hands  had  destroyed 
to  preserve  themselves  against  tyranny,  were  now  thorough- 
ly reconstructed  at  a  great  expense,  the  Prince  everywhere 
encouraging  the  people  with  his  presence,  directing  them 
by  his  experience,  inspiring  them  with  his  energy.  The 
task  accomplished  was  stupendous,  and  worthy,  says  a  con- 
temporary, of  eternal  memory. 

At  the  popular  request,  the  Prince  afterwards  made  a 
tour  through  the  little  provinces,  honoring  every  city  with 
a  brief  visit.  The  spontaneous  homage  which  went  up  to 
him  from  every  heart  was  pathetic  and  simple.  There 
were  no  triumphal  arches,  no  martial  music,  no  banners, 


1677]  WILLIAM  IN  HOLLAND  513 

no  theatrical  pageantry — nothing  but  the  choral  anthem 
from  thousands  of  grateful  hearts.  '^ Father  William  has 
come !  Father  William  has  come  I"  cried  men,  women, 
and  children  to  one  another  when  the  news  of  his  arrival  in 
town  or  village  was  announced.  He  was  a  patriarch  visit- 
ing his  children,  not  a  conqueror,  nor  a  vulgar  potentate 
displaying  himself  to  his  admirers.  Happy  were  they  who 
heard  his  voice,  happier  they  who  touched  his  hands ;  for 
his  words  were  full  of  tenderness,  his  hand  was  offered  to 
all.  There  were  none  so  humble  as  to  be  forbidden  to  ap- 
proach him,  none  so  ignorant  as  not  to  know  his  deeds. 
All  knew  that  to  combat  in  their  cause  he  had  descended 
from  princely  station,  from  luxurious  ease,  to  the  position 
of  a  proscribed  and  almost  beggared  outlaw.  For  them  he 
had  impoverished  himself  and  his  family,  mortgaged  his 
estates,  stripped  himself  of  jewels,  furniture,  almost  of 
food  and  raiment.  Through  his  exertions  the  Spaniards 
had  been  banished  from  their  little  territory,  the  inquisi- 
tion crushed  within  their  borders,  nearly  all  the  sister 
provinces  but  yesterday  banded  into  a  common  cause. 

He  found  time,  notwithstanding  congratulating  crowds 
who  thronged  his  footsteps,  to  direct  the  labors  of  the 
states-general,  who  still  looked  more  than  ever  toliis  guid- 
ance, as  their  relations  with  Don  John  became  more  com- 
plicated and  unsatisfactory.  In  a  letter  addressed  to  them 
on  the  20th  of  June,  from  Haarlem,  he  warned  them  most 
eloquently  to  hold  to  the  Ghent  Pacification  as  to  their 
anchor  in  the  storm.  He  assured  them,  if  it  was  torn 
from  them,  that  their  destruction  was  inevitable.  He  re- 
minded them  that  hitherto  they  had  got  but  the  shadow, 
not  the  substance,  of  the  treaty ;  that  they  had  been 
robbed  of  that  which  was  to  be  its  chief  fruit  —  union 
among  themselves.  He  and  his  brothers,  with  their 
labor,  their  wealth,  and  their  blood,  had  laid  down  the 
bridge  over  which  the  country  had  stepped  to  the  Pacifi- 
cation of  Ghent.  It  was  for  the  nation  to  maintain  what 
had  been  so  painfully  won ;  yet  he  proclaimed  to  them 
that  the  government  was  not  acting  in  good  faith,  that 
secret  preparations  were  being  made  to  annihilate  the  au- 
thority of  the  states,  to  restore  the  edicts,  to  put  strangers 

83 


514  HISTORY  OP  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1577 

into  high  places,  and  to  set  up  again  the  scaffold  and  the 
whole  machinery  of  persecution. 

In  consequence  of  the  seizure  of  Namur  Castle,  and  the 
accusations  made  by  Don  John  against  Orange  in  order 
to  justify  that  act,  the  Prince  had  already  despatched 
Taffin  and  Sainte-Aldegonde  to  the  states-general  with  a 
commission  to  declare  his  sentiments  upon  the  subject. 
He  addressed,  moreover,  to  the  same  body,  a  letter  full  of 
sincere  and  simple  eloquence.  *^  The  Seigneur  Don  John,'" 
said  he,  "has  accused  me  of  violating  the  peace,  and  of 
countenancing  attempts  against  his  life,  and  in  endeavor- 
ing to  persuade  you  into  joining  him  in  a  declaration  of 
war  against  me  and  against  Holland  and  Zeeland ;  but  I 
pray  you,  most  affectionately,  to  remember  our  mutual  and 
solemn  obligations  to  maintain  the  treaty  of  Ghent." 

"Trusting,"  said  the  Prince,  in  conclusion,  "that  you 
will  accord  faith  and  attention  to  my  envoys,  I  will  only 
add  an  expression  of  my  sincere  determination  to  employ 
myself  incessantly  in  your  service,  and  for  the  welfare  of 
the  whole  people,  without  sparing  any  means  in  my  pow- 
er, nor  my  life  itself." 

The  vigilant  Prince  was  indeed  not  slow  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  governor's  false  move.  While  in  reality 
intending  peace,  if  it  were  possible,  Don  John  had  thrown 
down  the  gauntlet;  while  affecting  to  deal  openly  and 
manfully,  like  a  warrior  and  an  emperor's  son,  he  had  in- 
volved himself  in  petty  stratagems  and  transparent  in- 
trigues, by  all  which  he  had  gained  nothing  but  the  char- 
acter of  a  plotter,  whose  word  could  not  be  trusted. 
Sainte-Aldegonde  expressed  the  hope  that  the  seizure  of 
Namur  Castle  would  open  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and 
certainly  the  Prince  did  his  best  to  sharpen  their  vision. 

While  in  North  Holland,  William  of  Orange  received 
an  urgent  invitation  from  the  magistracy  and  community 
of  Utrecht  to  visit  that  city.  His  authority,  belonging  to 
him  under  his  ancient  commission,  had  not  yet  been  rec- 
ognized over  that  province,  but  there  was  no  doubt  that 
the  contemplated  convention  of  "Satisfaction"  was  soon 
to  be  arranged,  for  his  friends  there  were  numerous  and 
influential.     His  princess,  Charlotte  de  Bourbon,  who  ac- 


nil]  THE  PRINCE  IN  UTRECHT  515 

companied  him  on  his  tonr,  trembled  at  the  danger  to 
which  her  husband  would  expose  himself  by  venturing 
thus  boldly  into  a  territory  which  might  be  full  of  his 
enemies,  but  the  Prince  determined  to  trust  the  loyalty 
of  a  province  which  he  hoped  would  be  soon  his  own. 
With  anxious  forebodings  the  Princess  followed  her  hus- 
band to  the  ancient  episcopal  city.  As  they  entered  its 
gates,  where  an  immense  concourse  was  waiting  to  receive 
him,  a  shot  passed  through  the  carriage  window  and 
struck  the  Prince  upon  the  breast.  The  affrighted  lady 
threw  her  arms  about  his  neck,  shrieking  that  they  were 
betrayed,  but  the  Prince,  perceiving  that  the  supposed 
shot  was  but  a  wad  from  one  of  the  cannon,  which  were 
still  roaring  their  welcome  to  him,  soon  succeeded  in 
calming  her  fears.  The  carriage  passed  slowly  through 
the  streets,  attended  by  the  vociferous  greetings  of  the 
multitude ;  for  the  whole  population  had  come  forth  to 
do  him  honor.  Women  and  children  clustered  upon 
every  roof  and  balcony,  but  a  painful  incident  again 
marred  the  tranquillity  of  the  occasion.  An  apothecary^g 
child,  a  little  girl  of  ten  years,  leaning  eagerly  from  a 
lofty  balcony,  lost  her  balance  and  fell  to  the  ground,  di- 
rectly before  the  horses  of  the  Prince's  carriage.  She 
was  killed  stone  dead  by  the  fall.  The  procession  stopped; 
the  Prince  alighted,  lifted  the  little  corpse  in  his  arms, 
and  delivered  it,  with  gentle  words  and  looks  of  consola- 
tion, to  the  unhappy  parents.  The  day  seemed  marked 
with  evil  omens,  which  were  fortunately  destined  to  prove 
fallacious.  The  citizens  of  Utrecht  became  more  than 
ever  inclined  to  accept  the  dominion  of  the  Prince,  whom 
they  honored  and  whom  they  already  regarded  as  their 
natural  chief.  They  entertained  him  with  banquets  and 
festivities  during  his  brief  visit,  and  it  was  certain  before 
he  took  his  departure  that  the  treaty  of  '* Satisfaction" 
would  not  be  long  delayed.  It  was  drawn  up,  according- 
ly, in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  upon  the  basis  of 
that  accepted  by  Haarlem  and  Amsterdam — a  basis  wide 
enough  to  support  both  religions,  with  a  nominal  su- 
premacy to  the  ancient  Church. 
Meantime,  much  fruitless  correspondence  had  taken 


516  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1511 

place  between  Don  John  and  the  states.  Envoys,  de- 
spatched by  the  two  parties  to  each  other,  had  indulged  in 
bitterness  and  recrimination.  The  same  grievances  were 
repeated,  the  same  statements  produced  and  contradicted, 
the  same  demands  urged  and  evaded,  and  the  same  men- 
aces exchanged  as  upon  former  occasions. 

Immediately  after  the  departure  of  the  second  delegation 
Don  John  learned  the  result  of  his  project  upon  Antwerp 
citadel.  His  stratagem  failed,  through  the  timely  ap- 
pearance of  a  fleet  of  ^^the  beggars^"  ships  in  the  Scheldt, 
which  caused  first  a  panic  and  then  a  retreat  of  the  Ger- 
man mercenaries.  These  fled  from  Antwerp  to  Bergen- 
op-Zoom  and  then  to  Breda,  afterwards  surrendering  to 
the  estates.  Not  only  was  the  fortress  carried  for  the 
estates,  but  the  city  of  Antwerp,  for  the  first  time  in 
twelve  years,  was  relieved  from  a  foreign  soldiery. 

On  the  7th  of  August  Don  John  addressed  another  long 
letter  to  the  estates.  This  document  was  accompanied, 
as  usual,  by  certain  demands,  drawn  up  categorically 
in  twenty -three  articles.  The  estates  considered  his 
terms  hard  and  strange,  for  in  their  opinion  it  was  they, 
not  the  governor,  who  were  masters  of  the  situation. 
Nevertheless,  he  seemed  inclined  to  treat  as  if  he  had 
gained,  not  missed,  the  citadel  of  Antwerp ;  as  if  the 
troops  with  whom  he  had  tampered  were  mustered  in  the 
field,  not  shut  up  in  distant  towns,  and  already  at  the 
mercy  of  the  states  party.  The  governor  demanded  that 
all  the  forces  of  the  country  should  be  placed  under  his 
own  immediate  control ;  that  Count  Bossu,  or  some  other 
person  nominated  by  himself,  should  be  appointed  to  the 
government  of  Friesland  ;  that  the  people  of  Brabant  and 
Flanders  should  set  themselves  instantly  to  hunting, 
catching,  and  chastising  all  vagrant  heretics  and  preach- 
ers. He  required,  in  particular,  that  Sainte  -  Aldegonde 
and  Theron,  those  most  mischievous  rebels,  should  be 
prohibited  from  setting  their  foot  in  any  city  of  the 
Netherlands.  He  insisted  that  the  community  of  Brus- 
sels should  lay  down  their  arms  and  resume  their  ordi- 
nary handicrafts.  He  demanded  that  the  Prince  of  Orange 
should  be  made  to  execute  the  Ghent  treaty ;  to  suppress 


1577]  MORE   PROTOCOLS  517 

the  exercise  of  the  Reformed  religion  in  Haarlem^,  Schoon- 
hoven,  and  other  places ;  to  withdraw  his  armed  vessels 
from  their  threatening  stations,  and  to  restore  Nieuwpoort, 
unjustly  detained  by  him.  Should  the  Prince  persist  in 
his  obstinacy,  Don  John  summoned  them  to  take  arms 
against  him  and  to  support  their  lawful  governor.  He 
moreover  required  the  immediate  restitution  of  Antwerp 
citadel  and  the  release  of  Treslong  from  prison. 

Although,  regarded  from  the  Spanish  point  of  view,  such 
demands  might  seem  reasonable,  it  was  also  natural  that 
their  audacity  should  astonish  the  estates.  That  the  man 
who  had  violated  so  openly  the  Ghent  treaty  should  rebuke 
the  Prince  for  his  default ;  that  the  man  who  had  tampered 
with  the  German  mercenaries  until  they  were  on  the  point 
of  making  another  Antwerp  Fury  should  now  claim  the 
command  over  them  and  all  other  troops ;  that  the  man 
who  had  attempted  to  gain  Antwerp  citadel  by  a  base  strat- 
agem should  now  coolly  demand  its  restoration,  seemed  to 
them  the  perfection  of  insolence.  The  baffled  conspirator 
boldly  claimed  the  prize  which  was  to  have  rewarded  a 
successful  perfidy.  At  the  very  moment  when  the  Esco- 
vedo  letters  and  the  correspondence  with  the  German 
colonels  had  been  laid  before  their  eyes,  it  was  a  little  too 
much  that  the  double-dealing  bastard  of  the  double-dealing 
Emperor  should  read  them  a  lecture  upon  sincerity.  It 
was  certain  that  the  perplexed  and  outwitted  warrior  had 
placed  himself  at  last  in  a  very  false  position.  The  Prince 
of  Orange,  with  his  usual  adroitness,  made  the  most  of  his 
adversary's  false  moves.  Don  John  had  only  succeeded 
in  digging  a  pitfall  for  himself.  His  stratagems  against 
Namur  and  Antwerp  had  produced  him  no  fruit,  saving 
the  character,  which  his  antagonist  now  fully  succeeded 
in  establishing  for  him,  of  an  unscrupulous  and  artful 
schemer. 

Nothing,  however,  in  the  governor's  opinion,  could  sur- 
pass the  insolence  of  the  Netherlanders,  save  their  ingrat- 
itude. That  was  the  serpent's  tooth  which  was  ever 
wounding  the  clement  King  and  his  indignant  brother. 
It  seemed  so  bitter  to  meet  with  thanklessness,  after  seven 
years  of  Alva  and  three  of  Requesens ;  after  the  labors  of 


518  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1577 

the  Council  of  Blood,  the  massacres  of  Naarden,  Zutphen, 
and  Haarlem,  the  siege  of  Leyden,  and  the  Fury  of  Ant- 
werp. ^^  Little  profit  there  has  been,"  said  the  governor 
to  his  sister,  '^  or  is  like  to  be,  from  all  the  good  which  we 
have  done  to  these  bad  people.  In  short,  they  love  and 
obey  in  all  things  the  most  perverse  and  heretic  tyrant 
and  rebel  in  the  whole  world,  which  is  this  damned  Prince 
of  Orange,  while,  on  the  contrary,  without  fear  of  God  or 
shame  before  men,  they  abhor  and  dishonor  the  name  and 
commandments  of  their  natural  sovereign."  Therefore, 
with  a  doubting  spirit,  and  almost  with  a  broken  heart, 
had  the  warrior  shut  himself  up  in  Namur  citadel,  to  await 
the  progress  of  events,  and  to  escape  from  the  snares  of 
his  enemies.  "  God  knows  liow  much  I  desire  to  avoid  ex- 
tremities" said  he,  "  but  I  know  not  what  to  do  with 
men  who  show  themselves  so  obstinately  rebellious." 

The  letter  addressed  by  Don  John  to  the  states  upon  the 
7th  of  August  had  not  yet  been  answered.  Feeling,  soon 
afterwards,  more  sensible  of  his  position,  and  perhaps  less 
inflamed  with  indignation,  he  addressed  another  commu- 
nication to  them  upon  th^  13th  of  the  same  month.  In 
this  epistle  he  expressed  an  extreme  desire  for  peace,  and 
a  hearty  desire  to  be  relieved,  if  possible,  from  his  most 
painful  situation. 

This  letter  was  answered  at  considerable  length,  upon 
the  second  day.  The  states  made  their  customary  prot- 
estations of  attachment  to  his  Majesty,  their  fidelity  to 
the  Catholic  Church,  their  determination  to  maintain  both 
the  Ghent  treaty  and  the  Perpetual  Edict.  They  denied 
all  responsibility  for  the  present  disastrous  condition  of 
the  relations  between  themselves  and  government,  having 
disbanded  nearly  all  their  own  troops,  while  the  governor 
had  been  strengthening  his  forces  up  to  the  period  of  his 
retreat  into  Namur.  He  protested,  indeed,  friendship  and 
a  sincere  desire  for  peace,  but  the  intercepted  letters  of 
Escovedo  and  his  own  had  revealed  to  them  the  evil  coun- 
sels to  which  he  had  been  listening,  and  the  intrigues 
which  he  had  been  conducting.  They  left  it  to  his  con- 
science whether  they  could  reasonably  believe,  after  the 
perusal  of  these  documents,  that  it  was  his  intention  to 


1577]  QUILL-DRIYING  519 

maintain  the  Ghent  treaty,  or  any  treaty ;  and  whether 
they  were  not  justified  in  their  resort  to  the  natural  right 
of  self-defence. 

It  was  not  difficult  for  the  estates  to  answer  the  letters 
of  the  governor.  Indeed,  there  was  but  little  lack  of 
argument  on  either  side  throughout  this  unhappy  con- 
troversy. It  is  dismal  to  contemplate  the  interminable 
exchange  of  protocols,  declarations,  demands,  apostils,  rep- 
lications, and  rejoinders  which  made  up  the  substance 
of  Don  John's  administration.  Never  was  chivalrous  cru- 
sadfer  so  out  of  place.  It  was  not  a  soldier  that  was  then 
required  for  Philip's  exigency,  but  a  scribe.  Instead  of 
the  famous  sword  of  Lepanto,  the  ''barbarous  pen"  of 
Hopperus  had  been  much  more  suitable  for  the  work  re- 
quired. Scribbling  Joachim  in  a  war  -  galley,  yard  -  arm 
and  yard-arm  with  the  Turkish  capitan  pacha,  could  have 
hardly  felt  less  at  ease  than  did  the  brilliant  warrior  thus 
condemned  to  scrawl  and  dissemble.  While  marching 
from  concession  to  concession  he  found  the  states  con- 
ceiving daily  more  distrust,  and  making  daily  deeper  en- 
croachments. Moreover,  his  deeds,  up  to  the  time  when 
he  seemed  desirous  to  retrace  his  steps,  had  certainly 
been,  at  the  least,  equivocal.  Therefore  it  was  natural 
for  the  estates,  in  reply  to  the  questions  in  his  letter,  to 
observe  that  he  had  indeed  dismissed  the  Spaniards,  but 
that  he  had  tampered  with  and  retained  the  Germans ; 
that  he  had  indeed  placed  the  citadels  in  the  hands  of 
natives,  but  that  he  had  tried  his  best  to  wrest  them  away 
again ;  had  indeed  professed  anxiety  for  peace,  but  that 
his  intercepted  letters  proved  his  preparations  for  war. 
Already  there  were  rumors  of  Spanish  troops  returning 
in  small  detachments  out  of  France.  Already  the  gov- 
ernor was  known  to  be  enrolling  fresh  mercenaries  to 
supply  the  place  of  those  whom  he  had  unsuccessfully 
endeavored  to  gain  to  his  standard.  As  early  as  the  26th 
of  July,  in  fact,  the  Marquis  d'Ayamonte  in  Milan,  and 
Don  Juan  de  Idiaquez  in  Genoa,  had  received  letters  from 
Don  John  of  Austria,  stating  that,  as  the  provinces  had 
proved  false  to  their  engagements,  he  would  no  longer 
be  held  by  his  own,  and  intimating  his  desire  that  the 


520  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [U11 

veteran  troops  whicli  had  but  so  recently  been  dismissed 
from  Flanders  should  forthwith  return.  Soon  afterwards 
Alexander  Farnese,  Prince  of  Parma,  received  instruc- 
tions from  the  King  to  superintend  these  movements,  and 
to  carry  the  aid  of  his  own  already  distinguished  mili- 
tary genius  to  his  uncle  in  the  Netherlands. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  states  felt  their  strength  daily 
more  sensibly.  Guided,  as  usual,  by  Orange,  they  had 
already  assumed  a  tone  in  their  correspondence  which 
must  have  seemed  often  disloyal,  and  sometimes  positive- 
ly insulting,  to  the  governor.  They  even  answered  his 
hints  of  resignation  in  favor  of  some  other  prince  of  the 
blood  by  expressing  their  hopes  that  his  successor,  if  a 
member  of  the  royal  house  at  all,  would  at  least  be  a 
legitimate  one.  This  was  a  severe  thrust  at  the  haughty 
chieftain,  whose  imperial  airs  rarely  betrayed  any  con- 
sciousness of  Barbara  Blomberg  and  the  bend  sinister 
on  his  shield.  He  was  made  to  understand,  through  the 
medium  of  Brabantine  bluntness,  that  more  importance 
was  attached  to  the  marriage  ceremony  in  the  Nether- 
lands than  he  seemed  to  imagine.  The  party  of  the  Prince 
was  gaining  the  upper  hand. 

It  was  the  determination  of  that  great  statesman,  ac- 
cording to  that  which  he  considered  the  legitimate  prac- 
tice of  the  government,  to  restore  the  administration  to 
the  state  council,  whicli  executive  body  ought  of  right 
to  be  appointed  by  the  states-general.  In  the  states-gen- 
eral, as  in  the  states-particular,  a  constant  care  was  to  be 
taken  towards  strengthening  the  most  popular  element, 
the  "  community  "  of  each  city — the  aggregate,  that  is  to 
say,  of  its  guild-representatives  and  its  admitted  burgh- 
ers. This  was,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Prince,  the  true 
theory  of  the  government — republican  in  all  but  form — 
under  the  hereditary  protection,  not  the  despotic  author- 
ity, of  a  family  whose  rights  were  now  nearly  forfeited. 
It  was  a  great  step  in  advance  that  these  views  should 
come  to  be  thus  formally  announced,  not  in  Holland  and 
Zeeland  only,  but  by  the  deputies  of  the  states-general, 
although  such  a  doctrine  to  the  proud  stomach  of  Don 
John  seemed  sufficiently  repulsive.     Not  less  so  was  the 


1611]  RAZING   OF  CITADELS  521 

cool  intimation  with  which  the  paper  concluded,  that  if 
he  should  execute  his  threat  of  resigning,  the  country- 
would  bear  his  loss  with  fortitude,  coupled  as  was  that 
statement  with  a  declaration  that,  until  his  successor 
should  be  appointed,  the  state  council  would  consider 
itself  charged  ad  interim  with  the  government.  In  the 
mean  time  the  governor  was  requested  not  to  calumniate 
the  estates  to  foreign  governments,  as  he  had  so  recently 
done  in  his  intercepted  letter  to  the  Empress-dowager. 

Upon  receiving  this  letter,  ''Don  John,""  says  a  faithful 
old  chronicler,  ''found  that  the  cranes  had  invited  the 
fox  to  dinner."  In  truth,  the  illustrious  soldier  was  never 
very  successful  in  his  efforts,  for  which  his  enemies  gave 
him  credit,  to  piece  out  the  skin  of  the  lion  with  that  of 
the  fox.  He  now  felt  himself  exposed  and  outwitted, 
while  he  did  not  feel  conscious  of  any  very  dark  design. 
He  answered  the  letter  of  the  states  by  a  long  commu- 
nication dated  from  Namur  Castle,  28th  of  August.  In 
style  he  was  comparatively  temperate,  but  the  justifica- 
tion which  he  attempted  of  his  past  conduct  was  not  very 
happy.  The  letter  concluded  with  a  hope  for  an  arrange- 
ment of  difficulties,  not  yet  admitted  by  the  governor 
to  be  insurmountable,  and  with  a  request  for  a  formal 
conference,  accompanied  by  an  exchange  of  hostages. 

While  this  correspondence  was  proceeding  between  Na- 
mur and  Brussels,  an  event  was  occurring  in  Antwerp 
which  gave  much  satisfaction  to  Orange.  The  Spanish 
Fury,  and  the  recent  unsuccessful  attempt  of  Don  John 
to  master  the  famous  citadel,  had  determined  the  authori- 
ties to  take  the  counsel  which  the  Prince  had  so  often 
given  in  vain,  and  the  fortress  of  Antwerp  was  at  length 
razed  to  the  ground,  on  the  side  towards  the  city.  It 
would  be  more  correct  to  say  that  it  was  not  the  authori- 
ties but  the  city  itself  which  rose  at  last  and  threw  off 
the  saddle  by  which  it  had  so  long  been  galled.  More 
than  ten  thousand  persons  were  constantly  at  work,  morn- 
ing, noon,  and  night,  until  the  demolition  was  accom- 
plished. Grave  magistrates,  great  nobles,  fair  ladies, 
citizens  and  their  wives,  beggars  and  their  children,  all 
wrought  together  pell-mell.     All  were  anxious  to  have  a 


522  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1611 

hand  in  destroying  the  nest  where  so  many  murders  had 
been  hatched,  whence  so  much  desolation  had  come.  The 
task  was  not  a  long  one  for  workmen  so  much  in  earnest, 
and  the  fortress  was  soon  laid  low  in  the  quarter  where 
it  could  be  injurious  to  the  inhabitants.  As  the  work 
proceeded,  the  old  statue  of  Alva  Avas  discovered  in  a  for- 
gotten crypt  where  it  had  lain  since  it  had  been  thrown 
down  by  the  order  of  Requesens.  Amid  the  destruction 
of  the  fortress,  the  gigantic  phantom  of  its  founder  seemed 
to  start  suddenly  from  the  gloom,  but  the  apparition  added 
fresh  fuel  to  the  rage  of  the  people.  The  image  of  the 
execrated  governor  was  fastened  upon  with  as  much 
fierceness  as  if  the  bronze  effigy  could  feel  their  blows 
or  comprehend  their  wrath.  It  was  brought  forth  from 
its  dark  hiding-place  into  the  daylight.  Thousands  of 
hands  were  ready  to  drag  it  through  the  streets  for  uni- 
versal inspection  and  outrage.  A  thousand  sledge-ham- 
mers were  ready  to  dash  it  to  pieces,  with  a  slight  portion, 
at  least,  of  the  satisfaction  with  which  those  who  wielded 
them  would  have  dealt  the  same  blows  upon  the  head  of 
the  tyrant  himself.  It  was  soon  reduced  to  a  shapeless 
mass.  Small  portions  were  carried  away  and  preserved 
for  generations  in  families  as  heirlooms  of  hatred.  The 
bulk  was  melted  again  and  reconverted,  by  a  most  natural 
metamorphosis,  into  the  cannon  from  which  it  had  origi- 
nally sprung. 

The  razing  of  the  Antwerp  citadel  set  an  example  which 
was  followed  in  other  places  ;  the  castle  of  Ghent,  in  par- 
ticular, being  immediately  levelled,  amid  demonstrations 
of  universal  enthusiasm.  Meantime  the  correspondence 
between  Don  John  and  the  estates  at  Brussels  dragged 
*'its  slow  length  along, ^^  while  at  the  same  time  two  elab- 
orate letters  were  addressed  to  the  King,  on  the  24th  of 
August  and  the  8th  of  September,  by  the  estates-general 
of  the  Netherlands.  These  documents,  which  were  long 
and  able,  gave  a  vigorous  representation  of  past  evils  and 
of  the  present  complication  of  disorders  under  which  the 
commonwealth  was  laboring.  They  asked,  as  usual,  for 
a  royal  remedy ;  and  expressed  their  doubts  whether  there 
could  be  any  sincere  reconciliation  so  long  as  the  present 


157V]   ESTRANGEMENT  BETWEEN  GOVERNOR  AND  ESTATES  523 

governor,  whose  duplicity  and  insolence  they  represented 
in  a  very  strong  light,  should  remain  in  office.  Should 
his  Majesty,  however,  prefer  to  continue  Don  John  in  the 
government,  they  signified  their  willingness,  in  considera- 
tion of  his  natural  good  qualities,  to  make  the  best  of  the 
matter.  Should,  however,  the  estrangement  between  them- 
selves and  the  governor  seem  irremediable,  they  begged 
that  another  and  a  legitimate  prince  of  the  blood  might 
be  appointed  in  his  place. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   RUWAKD  OF  BRABANT  11^  BRUSSELS 

/' 

While  these  matters  were  in  progress,  an  important 
movement  was  made  by  the  estates-general.  The  Prince 
of  Orange  was  formally  and  urgently  invited  to  come  to 
Brussels  to  aid  them  with  his  counsel  and  presence.  He 
had  not  set  foot  in  the  capital  for  eleven  years.  Since 
that  period  the  representative  of  royalty  had  sued  the  con- 
demned traitor  for  forgiveness.  The  haughty  brother  of 
Philip  had  almost  gone  upon  his  knees  that  the  Prince 
might  name  his  terms  and  accept  the  proffered  hand  of 
majesty.  The  Prince  had  refused,  not  from  contumely, 
but  from  distrust.  He  had  spurned  the  supplications,  as 
he  had  defied  the  proscription  of  the  King.  There  could 
be  no  friendship  between  the  destroyer  and  the  protector 
of  a  people.  Had  the  Prince  desired  only  the  reversal  of 
his  death-sentence  and  the  infinite  aggrandizement  of  his 
family,  we  have  seen  how  completely  he  had  held  these 
issues  in  his  power.  Never  had  it  been  more  easy,  plausi- 
ble, tempting,  for  a  proscribed  patriot  to  turn  his  back 
upon  an  almost  sinking  cause. 

And  now  again  the  scene  was  changed.  The  son  of  the 
Emperor,  the  King's  brother,  was  virtually  beleaguered ; 
the  proscribed  rebel  had  arrived  at  victory  through  a  long 
series  of  defeats.  The  nation  everywhere  acknowledged 
him  ihaster,  and  was  in  undisguised  revolt  against  the 
anointed  sovereign.  The  great  nobles  who  hated  Philip 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Eeformed  religion  on  the  other, 
were  obliged,  in  obedience  to  the  dictates  of  a  people  with 
whom  they  had  little  sympathy,  to  accept  the  ascendency 
of  the  Calvinist  Prince  of  whom  they  were  profoundly 


1577]  INVITATION   AND   REPLY  525 

jealous.  Even  the  fleeting  and  incapable  Aerschot  was 
obliged  to  simulate  adhesion  ;  even  the  brave  Champagny, 
cordial  hater  of  Spaniards,  but  most  devotedly  Catholic, 
was  one  of  the  commissioners  to  invite  the  great  rebel 
to  Brussels.  The  other  envoys  were  the  Abbot  of  Saint 
Gertrude,  Doctor  Leoninus,  and  the  Seigneur  de  Liesvelt. 
These  gentlemen,  on  arriving  at  Gertruydenberg,  presented 
a  brief  but  very  important  memorial  to  the  Prince.  In 
that  document  they  informed  him  that  the  states-general, 
knowing  how  efficacious  would  be  his  presence,  by  reason 
of  his  singular  prudence,  experience,  and  love  for  the  wel- 
fare and  repose  of  the  country,  had  unanimously  united 
in  a  supplication  that  he  would  incontinently  transport 
himself  to  the  city  of  Brussels,  there  to  advise  with  them 
concerning  the  necessities  of  the  land  ;  but  as  the  prin- 
cipal calumny  employed  by  their  adversaries  was  that  all 
the  provinces  and  leading  personages  intended  to  change 
both  sovereign  and  religion  at  the  instigation  of  his  Ex- 
cellency, it  was  desirable  to  disprove  such  fictions.  They 
therefore  very  earnestly  requested  the  Prince  to  make 
some  contrary  demonstration,  by  which  it  might  be  mani- 
fest to  all  that  his  Excellency,  together  with  the  estates 
of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  intended  faithfully  to  keep  what 
they  had  promised.  They  prayed,  therefore,  that  the 
Prince,  permitting  the  exercise  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion  in  the  places  which  had  recently  accepted  his 
authority,  would  also  allow  its  exercise  in  Holland  and 
Zeeland.  They  begged,  further,  that  he  would  promise, 
by  a  new  and  authentic  act,  that  the  provinces  of  Holland 
and  Zeeland  would  not  suffer  the  said  exercise  to  be  im- 
pugned, or  any  new  worship  to  be  introduced,  in  the  other 
provinces  of  the  Netherlands. 

This  letter  might  almost  be  regarded  as  a  trap  set  by 
the  Catholic  nobles.  Certainly  the  Ghent  Pacification 
forbade  the  Reformed  religion  in  form,  and  as  certainly 
winked  at  its  exercise  in  fact.  The  proof  was,  that  the 
new  worship  was  spreading  everywhere,  that  the  exiles 
for  conscience'  sake  were  returning  in  swarms,  and  that 
the  synod  of  the  Reformed  churches,  lately  held  at  Dort, 
had  been  publicly  attended  by  the  ministers  and  deacons 


526  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1511 

of  numerous  Dissenting  churches  established  in  many  dif- 
ferent places  throughout  all  the  provinces.  The  pressure 
of  the  edicts,  the  horror  of  the  inquisition  being  removed, 
the  down-trodden  religion  had  sprung  from  the  earth  more 
freshly  than  ever. 

The  Prince  was  not  likely  to  fall  into  the  trap,  if  a  trap 
had  really  been  intended.  He  answered  the  envoys  loy- 
ally, but  with  distinct  reservations,  and  with  this  answer 
the  deputies  are  said  to  have  been  well  pleased.  If  they 
were  so,  it  must  be  confessed  that  they  were  thankful  for 
small  favors.  They  had  asked  to  have  the  Catholic  relig- 
ion introduced  into  Holland  and  Zeeland.  The  Prince 
had  simply  referred  them  to  the  estates  of  these  provinces. 
They  had  asked  him  to  guarantee  that  the  exercise  of  the 
Reformed  religion  should  not  be  "procured^'  in  the  rest 
of  the  country.  He  had  merely  promised  that  the  Catho- 
lic worship  should  not  be  prevented.  The  difference  be- 
tween the  terms  of  the  request  and  the  reply  was  suffi- 
ciently wide. 

The  consent  to  his  journey  was  with  difficulty  accorded 
by  the  estates  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  and  his  wife,  with 
many  tears  and  anxious  forebodings,  beheld  him  depart 
for  a  capital  where  the  heads  of  his  brave  and  powerful 
friends  had  fallen,  and  where  still  lurked  so  many  of  his 
deadly  foes.  During  his  absence  prayers  were  offered 
daily  for  his  safety  in  all  the  churches  of  Holland  and 
Zeeland,  by  command  of  the  estates. 

He  arrived  at  Antwerp  on  the  17th  of  September,  and 
was  received  with  extraordinary  enthusiasm.  The  Prince, 
who  had  gone  forth  alone,  without  even  a  body-guard,  had 
the  whole  population  of  the  great  city  for  his  buckler. 
Here  he  spent  five  days,  observing,  with  many  a  sigh,  the 
melancholy  changes  which  had  taken  place  in  the  long  in- 
terval of  his  absence.  The  recent  traces  of  the  horrible 
Fury,  the  blackened  walls  of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  the  pros- 
trate ruins  of  the  marble  streets,  which  he  had  known  as 
the  most  imposing  in  Europe,  could  be  hardly  atoned  for 
in  his  eyes  even  by  the  more  grateful  spectacle  of  the  dis- 
mantled fortress. 

On  the  23d  of  September  he  was  attended  by  a  vast 


1577]  THE  PRINCE'S  JOURNEY  TO  BRUSSELS  527 

concourse  of  citizens  to  the  new  canal  which  led  to  Brus- 
sels, where  three  barges  were  in  waiting  for  himself  and 
suite.  In  one  a  banquet  was  spread ;  in  the  second, 
adorned  with  emblematic  devices  and  draped  with  the 
banners  of  the  seventeen  provinces,  he  was  to  perform 
the  brief  journey ;  while  the  third  had  been  filled  by  the 
inevitable  rhetoric  societies,  with  all  the  wonders  of  their 
dramatic  and  plastic  ingenuity. 

The  Prince  was  met  several  miles  before  the  gates  of 
Brussels  by  a  procession  of  nearly  half  the  inhabitants  of 
the  city,  and,  thus  escorted,  he  entered  the  capital  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  23d  of  September.  It  was  the  proudest 
day  of  his  life.  The  representatives  of  all  the  provinces, 
supported  by  the  most  undeniable  fervor  of  the  united 
Netherland  people,  greeted  "Father  AVilliam/'  Per- 
plexed, discordant,  hating,  fearing,  doubting,  they  could 
believe  nothing,  respect  nothing,  love  nothing,  save  the 
"tranquil"  Prince.  His  presence  at  that  moment  in 
Brussels  was  the  triumph  of  the  people  and  of  religious 
toleration. 

William's  first  act  was  to  put  a  stop  to  the  negotiations 
already  on  foot  with  Don  John.  lie  intended  that  they 
should  lead  to  war,  because  peace  was  impossible,  except 
a  peace  for  which  civil  and  religious  liberty  would  be  bar- 
tered ;  for  it  was  idle,  in  his  opinion,  to  expect  the  mainten- 
ance by  the  Spanish  governor  of  the  Ghent  Pacification, 
whatever  promises  might  be  extorted  from  his  fears.  A 
deputation,  in  the  name  of  the  states,  had  already  been 
sent  with  fresh  propositions  to  Don  John,  at  Namur. 
The  envoys  were  Caspar  Schetz  and  the  Bishop  of  Bruges. 
They  had  nearly  come  to  an  amicable  convention  with  the 
governor,  the  terms  of  which  had  been  sent  to  the  states- 
general  for  approval,  at  the  very  moment  of  the  Prince's 
arrival  in  Brussels.  Orange,  with  great  promptness,  pre- 
vented the  ratification  of  these  terms,  which  the  estates 
had  in  reality  already  voted  to  accept.  New  articles  were 
added  to  those  which  had  originally  been  laid  before  Don 
John.  It  was  now  stipulated  that  the  Ghent  treaty  and 
the  Perpetual  Edict  should  be  maintained.  The  governor 
was  required  forthwith  to  abandon  Namur  Castle  and  to 


528  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1577 

dismiss  the  German  troops.  He  was  to  give  np  the  other 
citadels  and  strong  places,  and  to  disband  all  the  soldiers 
in  his  service.  He  was  to  command  the  governors  of  every 
province  to  prohibit  the  entrance  of  all  foreign  levies.  He 
was  forthwith  to  release  captives,  restore  confiscated  prop- 
erty, and  reinstate  officers  who  had  been  removed ;  leav- 
ing the  details  of  such  restorations  to  the  council  of  Mech- 
lin and  the  other  provincial  tribunals.  He  was  to  engage 
that  the  Count  Van  Buren  should  be  set  free  within  two 
months.  He  was  himself,  while  waiting  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  his  successor,  to  take  up  his  residence  in  Luxem- 
burg, and  while  there  he  was  to  be  governed  entirely  by 
the  decision  of  the  state  council,  expressed  by  a  majority 
of  its  members.  Furthermore,  and  as  not  the  least  sting- 
ing of  these  sharp  requisitions,  the  Queen  of  England — 
she  who  had  been  the  secret  ally  of  Orange,  and  whose 
crown  the  governor  had  meant  to  appropriate — was  to  be 
included  in  the  treaty. 

It  could  hardly  excite  surprise  that  Don  John,  receiving 
these  insolent  propositions  at  the  very  moment  in  which 
he  heard  of  the  triumphant  entrance  into  Brussels  of  the 
Prince,  should  be  filled  with  rage  and  mortification.  He 
could  not  but  regard  the  whole  proposition  as  an  insolent 
declaration  of  war.  He  was  right.  It  was  a  declaration 
of  war ;  as  much  so  as  if  proclaimed  by  trump  of  herald. 
How  could  Don  John  refuse  the  wager  of  battle  thus 
haughtily  proffered  ? 

Smooth  Schetz,  Lord  of  Grobbendonck,  and  his  episco- 
pal colleague,  in  vain  attempted  to  calm  the  governor's 
wrath,  which  now  flamed  forth  in  defiance  of  all  consid- 
erations. They  endeavored,  without  success,  to  palliate 
the  presence  of  Orange,  and  the  circumstances  of  his  re- 
ception, for  it  was  not  probable  that  their  eloquence  would 
bring  the  governor  to  look  at  the  subject  with  their  eyes. 
Three  days  were  agreed  upon  for  the  suspension  of  hostili- 
ties, and  Don  John  was  highly  indignant  that  the  estates 
would  grant  no  longer  a  truce.  The  refusal  was,  how- 
ever, reasonable  enough  on  their  part,  for  they  were  aware 
the  veteran  Spaniards  and  Italians  were  constantly  return- 
ing to  him,  and  that  he  was  daily  strengthening  his  posi- 


1511]  THE  QUARREL  DEFINED  529 

tion.  The  envoys  returned  to  Brussels  to  give  an  account 
of  the  governor's  rage,  which  they  could  not  declare  to  be 
unnatural,  and  to  assist  in  preparations  for  the  war  which 
was  now  deemed  inevitable.  Don  John,  leaving  a  strong 
garrison  in  the  citadel  of  Namur,  from  which  place  he  de- 
spatched a  final  communication  to  the  estates  -  general, 
dated  the  2d  of  October,  retired  to  Luxemburg.  In  this 
letter,  without  exactly  uttering  defiance,  he  unequivocally 
accepted  the  hostilities  which  had  been  pressed  upon  him, 
and  answered  their  hollow  professions  of  attachment  to 
the  Catholic  religion  and  his  Majesty's  authority  by  de- 
nouncing their  obvious  intentions  to  trample  upon  both. 
He  gave  them,  in  short,  to  understand  that  he  perceived 
their  intentions,  and  meant  them  to  comprehend  his  own. 

Thus  the  quarrel  was  brought  to  an  issue,  and  Don  John 
saw  with  grim  complacency  that  the  pen  was  at  last  to  be 
superseded  by  the  sword.  A  remarkable  pamphlet  was 
now  published  in  seven  different  languages — Latin,  French, 
Flemish,  German,  Italian,  Spanish,  and  English — contain- 
ing a  succinct  account  of  the  proceedings  between  the 
governor  and  the  estates,  together  with  copies  of  the  in- 
tercepted letters  of  Don  John  and  Escovedo  to  the  King, 
to  Perez,  to  the  German  colonels,  and  to  the  Empress. 
This  work,  composed  and  published  by  order  of  the  es- 
tates-general, was  transmitted  with  an  accompanying  ad- 
dress to  every»potentate  in  Christendom.  It  was  soon  af- 
terwards followed  by  a  counter-statement,  prepared  by 
order  of  Don  John,  and  containing  his  account  of  the 
same  matters,  with  his  recriminations  against  the  conduct 
of  the  estates. 

Another  important  movement  had,  meanwhile,  been 
made  by  the  third  party  in  this  complicated  game.  The 
Catholic  nobles,  jealous  of  the  growing  influence  of  Orange, 
and  indignant  at  the  expanding  power  of  the  people,  had 
opened  secret  negotiations  with  the  Archduke  Matthias, 
then  a  mild,  easy  -  tempered  youth  of  twenty,  brother  of 
the  reigning  Emperor  Rudolph.  After  the  matter  had 
been  discussed  some  time  in  secret,  it  was  resolved,  towards 
the  end  of  September,  to  send  a  messenger  to  Vienna, 
privately  inviting  the  young  Prince  to  Brussels;  but,  much 

84       ^** 


530  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1577 

to  the  surprise  of  these  nobles,  it  was  discovered  that  some 
fifteen  or  sixteen  of  the  grandees  of  the  land,  among 
"^eni  Aefschot,  Havre,  Champagny,  De  Yille,  Lalain,  De' 
H6ze,  and  others,  had  already  taken  the  initiative  in  the 
"^matter.  On  the  26th  of  August  the  Seigneur  de  Maal- 
steede  had  set  forth,  by  their  appointment,  for  Vienna. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  this  step  originated  in  jealousy 
felt  towards  Orange,  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  certain 
that  several  of  the  leaders  in  the  enterprise  were  still  his 
friends.  Some,  like  Champagny  and  De  Heze,  were 
honestly  so ;  others,  like  Aerschot,  Havre,  and  De  Ville, 
always  traitors  in  heart  to  the  national  cause,  loyal  to 
nothing  but  their  own  advancement,  were  still  appar- 
ently upon  the  best  terms  with  him.  Moreover,  it  is 
certain  that  he  had  been  made  aware  of  the  scheme,  at 
least,  before  the  arrival  of  the  Archduke  in  the  Nether- 
lands, for  the  Marquis  Havre,  on  his  way  to  England  as 
special  envoy  from  the  estates,  had  a  conference  with  him 
at  Gertruydenberg.  This  was  in  the  middle  of  Septem- 
ber, and  before  his  departure  for  Brussels.  Naturally, 
the  proposition  seemed,  at  first,  anything  but  agreeable  ; 
but  the  Marquis  represented  himself  afterwards  as  having 
at  last  induced  the  Prince  to  look  upon  it  with  more  fa- 
vorable eyes.  Nevertheless,  the  step  had  been  taken  before 
the  consultation  was  held,  nor  was  it  the  first  time  that 
the  advice  of  Orange  had  been  asked  concer^iing  the  adop- 
tion of  a  measure  after  the  measure  had  been  adopted. 

Whatever  may  have  been  his  original  sentiments  upon 
the  subject,  however,  he  was  always  less  apt  to  complain 
of  irrevocable  events  than  quick  to  reconcile  them  with 
his  own  combinations,  and  it  was  soon  to  be  discovered 
that  the  new  stumbling-block  which  his  opponents  had 
placed  in  his  path  could  be  converted  into  an  additional 
stepping-stone  towards  his  goal.  Meanwhile,  the  secret 
invitation  to  the  Archduke  was  regarded  by  the  people 
and  by  foreign  spectators  as  a  plot  devised  by  his  enemies. 
Davison,  envoy  from  Queen  Elizabeth,  was  then  in  Brus- 
sels, and  informed  his  royal  mistress,  whose  sentiments 
and  sympathies  were  unequivocally  in  favor  of  Orange,  of 
the  intrigues  against  the  Prince.     The  efforts  of  England 


1577]  ARCHDUKE  MATTHIAS  531 

were  naturally  to  counteract  the  schemes  of  all  who  inter- 
fered with  his  policy,  the  Queen  especially,  with  her  cus- 
tomary sagacity,  foreseeing  the  probable  inclination  of  the 
Catholic  nobles  towards  the  protectorate  of  Alengon. 
She  did  not  feel  certain  as  to  the  precise  plans  of  Orange, 
and  there  was  no  course  better  adapted  to  draw  her  from 
barren  coquetry  into  positive  engagements  than  to  arouse 
her  jealousy  of  the  French  influence  in  the  provinces. 
At  this  moment  she  manifested  the  warmest  friendship 
for  the  Prince. 

The  Prince  was  well  aware  of  the  plots  which  were  be- 
ing woven  against  him.  He  had  small  faith  in  the  great 
nobles,  whom  he  trusted  '^as  he  would  adders  fanged," 
and  relied  only  upon  the  communities,  upon  the  mass  of 
burghers.  They  deserved  his  confidence,  and  watched 
over  his  safety  with  jealous  care.  On  one  occasion,  when 
he  was  engaged  at  the  state  council  till  a  late  hour,  the 
citizens  conceived  so  much  alarm  that  a  large  num- 
ber of  them  spontaneously  armed  themselves,  and  re- 
paired to  the  palace.  The  Prince,  informed  of  the  cir- 
cumstance, threw  open  a  window  and  addressed  them, 
thanking  them  for  their  friendship  and  assuring  them  of 
his  safety.  They  were  not  satisfied,  however,  to  leave 
him  alone,  but  remained  under  arms  below  till  the  session 
was  terminated,  when  they  escorted  him  with  affection- 
ate respect  to  his  own  hotel. 

The  secret  envoy  arrived  in  Vienna,  and  excited  the 
ambition  of  the  youthful  Matthias.  It  must  be  confessed 
that  the  offer  could  hardly  be  a  very  tempting  one,  and  it 
excites  our  surprise  that  the  Archduke  should  have 
thought  the  adventure  worth  the  seeking.  A  most  anom- 
alous position  in  the  Netherlands  was  offered  to  him  by 
a  slender  and  irresponsible  faction  of  Netherlanders. 
There  was  a  triple  prospect  before  him  :  that  of  a  hopeless 
intrigue  against  the  first  politician  in  Europe,  a  mortal 
combat  with  the  most  renowned  conqueror  of  the  age,  a 
deadly  feud  with  the  most  powerful  and  revengeful  mon- 
arch in  the  world.  Into  this  threefold  enterprise  he  was 
about  to  plunge  without  any  adequate  resources ;  for  the 
Archduke  possessed  no   experience,  power,  or  wealth. 


532  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [U11 

He  brought,  therefore,  no  strength  to  a  cause  which  was 
itself  feeble.  He  could  hope  for  no  protection,  nor  in- 
spire any  confidence.  Nevertheless,  he  had  courage,  pli- 
ability, and  a  turn  for  political  adventure.  Visions  of 
the  discomfited  Philip  conferring  the  hand  of  his  daugh- 
ter, with  the  Netherlands  as  her  dowry,  upon  the  enter- 
prising youth  who,  at  this  juncture,  should  succeed  in 
overturning  the  Spanish  authority  in  that  country,  were 
conjured  up  by  those  who  originated  the  plot,  and  he  was 
weak  enough  to  consider  such  absurdities  plausible,  and 
to  set  forth  at  once  to  take  possession  of  this  castle  in  the 
air. 

On  the  evening  of  October  3,  1577,  he  retired  to  rest  at 
eight  o'clock,  feigning  extreme  drowsiness.  After  waiting 
till  his  brother  Maximilian,  who  slept  in  another  bed  in 
the  same  chamber,  was  asleep,  he  slipped  from  his  couch 
and  from  the  room  in  his  night  apparel,  without  even  put- 
ting on  his  slippers.  He  was  soon  after  provided  by  the 
companions  of  his  flight  with  the  disguise  of  a  servant, 
arrayed  in  which,  with  his  face  blackened,  he  made  his 
escape  by  midnight  from  Vienna;  but  it  is  doubtful  wheth- 
er Rudolph  were  as  ignorant  as  he  affected  to  be  of  the 
scheme.  The  Archduke  arrived  at  Cologne,  attended  only 
by  two  gentlemen  and  a  few  servants.  The  governor  was 
beside  himself  with  fury ;  the  Queen  of  England  was  in- 
dignant ;  the  Prince  only,  against  whom  the  measure  was 
mainly  directed,  preserved  his  usual  tranquillity. 

Secretary  Walsingham,  as  soon  as  the  news  reached  Eng- 
land, sent  for  Meetkerken,  colleague  of  Marquis  Havre  in 
the  mission  from  the  estates.  He  informed  that  func- 
tionary of  the  great  perplexity  and  excitement  which,  ac- 
cording to  information  received  from  the  English  resident, 
Davison,  were  then  prevailing  in  Brussels,  on  account  of 
the  approach  of  the  Archduke.  At  the  conclusion  of  the 
conference,  Walsingham  repeated  emphatically  that  the 
only  condition  upon  which  the  Queen  would  continue  her 
succor  to  the  Netherlands  was  that  the  Prince  should  be 
forthwith  appointed  lieutenant-general  for  the  Archduke. 

Matthias  was  received  at  Antwerp  by  Orange  at  the 
head  of  two  thousand  cavalry,  and  attended  by  a  vast  con- 


1577]  ADROITNESS  OF  THE   PRINCE  533 

course  of  inhabitants.  Had  the  Prince  chosen  a  contrary 
course,  the  Archduke  might  have  been  compelled  to  return, 
somewhat  ridiculously,  to  Vienna ;  but,  at  the  same  time, 
the  anger  of  the  Emperor  and  of  all  Germany  would  have 
been  aroused  against  Orange  and  the  cause  he  served. 
Had  the  Prince,  on  the  contrary,  abandoned  the  field  him- 
self, and  returned  to  Holland,  he  would  have  left  the  game 
in  the  hands  of  his  adversaries.  Ever  since  he  had  made 
what  his  brother  John  called  that  "dangerous  gallows- 
journey  "  to  Brussels,  his  influence  had  been  culminating 
daily,  and  the  jealousy  of  the  great  nobles  rising  as  rapidly. 
Had  he  now  allowed  himself  to  be  driven  from  his  post  he 
would  have  exactly  fulfilled  their  object.  By  remain- 
ing, he  counteracted  their  schemes.  By  taking  Matthias 
wholly  into  his  own  possession,  he  obtained  one  piece  the 
more  in  the  great  game  which  he  was  playing  against  his 
antagonist  .in  the  Escorial.  By  making  adroit  use  of 
events  as  they  arose,  he  made  the  very  waves  which  were 
to  sink  him  carry  his  great  cause  triumphantly  onward. 

The  first  result  of  the  invitation  to  Matthias  was  the 
election  of  Orange  as  Ruward  of  Brabant.  This  office  was 
one  of  great  historical  dignity,  but  somewhat  anomalous 
in  its  functions.  The  province  of  Brabant,  having  no 
special  governor,  was  usually  considered  under  the  imme- 
diate superintendence  of  the  governor -general.  As  the 
capital  of  Brabant  was  the  residence  of  that  functionary, 
no  inconvenience  from  this  course  had  been  felt  since  the 
accession  of  the  House  of  Burgundy.  At  present,  how- 
ever, the  condition  of  affairs  was  so  peculiar — the  seat  of 
government  being  empty  without  having  been  permanently 
vacated — that  a  special  opportunity  was  offered  for  con- 
ferring both  honor  and  power  on  the  Prince.  A  Ruward 
was  not  exactly  dictator,  although  his  authority  was  uni- 
versal. He  was  not  exactly  protector,  nor  governor,  nor 
stadholder.  His  functions  were  unlimited  as  to  time — 
therefore  superior  to  those  of  an  ancient  dictator ;  they 
were  commonly  conferred  on  the  natural  heir  to  the  sov- 
ereignty—  therefore  more  lofty  than  those  of  ordinary 
stadholders.  The  individuals  who  had  previously  held 
the  office  in  the  Netherlands  had  usually  reigned  after- 


534  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [U11 

wards  in  their  own  right.  Duke  Albert,  of  the  Bavarian 
line,  for  example,  had  been  Ruward  of  Hainault  and  Hol- 
land for  thirty  years,  during  the  insanity  of  his  brother, 
and  on  the  death  of  Duke  William  had  succeeded  to  his 
title.  Philip  of  Burgundy  had  declared  himself  Ruward 
of  Brabant  in  1425,  and  had  shortly  afterwards  deprived 
Jacqueline  of  all  her  titles  and  appropriated  them  to  him- 
self. In  the  one  case  the  regent,  in  the  second  case  the 
usurper,  had  become  reigning  prince.  Thus  the  move- 
ment of  the  jealous  nobles  against  the  Prince  had  for  its 
first  effect  his  immediate  appointment  to  an  office  whose 
chief  characteristic  was  that  it  conducted  to  sovereignty. 

The  election  was  accomplished  thus:  The  '^members," 
or  estates  of  Brussels,  together  with  the  deans,  guilds,  and 
other  of  the  principal  citizens  of  Antwerp,  addressed  a 
request  to  the  states  of  Brabant  that  William  of  Orange " 
should  be  appointed  Ruward,  and  after  long  deliberation 
the  measure  was  carried.  The  unsolicited  honor  was  then 
solemnly  offered  to  him.  He  refused,  and  was  only,  after 
repeated  and  urgent  entreaties,  induced  to  accept  the 
office.  The  matter  was  then  referred  to  the  states-gen- 
eral, who  confirmed  the  dignity,  after  some  demur,  and 
with  the  condition  that  it  might  be  superseded  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  governor-general.  He  was  finally  confirmed 
as  Ruward  on  the  22d  of  October,  to  the  boundless  satis- 
faction of  the  people,  who  celebrated  the  event  by  a  sol- 
emn holiday  in  Antwerp,  Brussels,  and  other  cities.  His 
friends,  inspired  by  the  intrigues  of  his  enemies,  had  thus 
elevated  the  Prince  to  almost  unlimited  power  ;*  while  a 
strong  expression  in  favor  of  his  government  had  been 

*  Mr.  Motley  here  takes  rather  a  mild  way  of  describing  the  popular  tu- 
mult which  raised  William  to  this  stepping-stone  to  sovereignty.  It  may  be 
that  in  this,  as  in  his  other  stretches  of  political  power,  such  an  act  belonged 
to  the  Prince's  "  theory  of  politics  "  rather  than  in  the  domain  of  personal 
ambition.  Necessity  was  William's  plea  for  this  seizure  of  power,  which 
might  be  useful  in  checkmating  the  purposes  of  the  tyrant  in  Madrid  and 
the  other  enemies  of  his  country.  It  seems  most  probable  that  Orange  him- 
self was  the  chief  instigator  of  this  popular  movement.  Some  moderate 
historians,  and  not  a  few  Belgians,  honestly  believe  that  William's  craft,  or 
"theory  of  politics,"  was  the  chief  cause  of  the  failure  of  the  union  of  the 
seventeen  Netherland  provinces. 


THE   AKCHUUKE   MATTHIAS 


1511]  AERSCHOT  GOVERNOR  01*  FLANDERS  535 

elicited  from  the  most  important  ally  of  the  Netherlands 
— England.  It  soon  rested  with  himself  only  to  assume 
the  government  of  Flanders,  having  been  elected  stad- 
holder,  not  once  only,  but  many  times,  by  the  four  estates 
of  that  important  province,  and  having  as  constantly  re- 
fused the  dignity.  With  Holland  and  Zeeland  devoted  to 
him,  Brabant  and  Flanders  formally  under  his  government, 
the  Netherland  capital  lavishing  testimonials  of  affection 
upon  him,  and  the  mass  of  the  people  almost  worshipping 
him,  it  would  not  have  been  difficult  for  the  Prince  to  play 
a  game  as  selfish  as  it  had  hitherto  been  close  and  skilful. 
He  might  have  proved  to  the  grand  seigniors  that  their 
suspicions  were  just,  by  assuming  a  crown  which  they  had 
been  intriguing  to  push  from  his  brow.  Certainly  the 
nobles  deserved  their  defeat. 

While  these  events  were  occurring  at  Brussels  and  Ant- 
werp, a  scene  of  a  different  nature  was  being  enacted  at 
Ghent.  The  Duke  of  Aerschot  had  recently  been  ap- 
pointed to  the  government  of  Flanders  by  the  state  coun- 
cil, but  the  choice  was  exceedingly  distasteful  to  a  large 
number  of  the  inhabitants. 

On  the  20th  of  October,  attended  by  twenty-three  com- 
panies of  infantry  and  three  hundred  horse,  he  came  to 
Ghent.  That  famous  place  was  still  one  of  the  most  pow- 
erful and  turbulent  towns  in  Europe.  The  leaders  of  the 
popular  party  at  Ghent  believed  Aerschot  dangerous. 
They  felt  certain  that  it  was  the  deeply  laid  design  of  the 
Catholic  nobles — foiled  as  they  had  been  in  the  objects 
with  which  they  had  brought  Matthias  from  Vienna,  and 
enraged  as  they  were  that  the  only  result  of  that  move- 
ment had  been  to  establish  the  power  of  Orange  upon  a 
firmer  basis — to  set  up  an  opposing  influence  in  Ghent. 
Flanders,  in  the  possession  of  the  Catholics,  was  to  weigh 
up  Brabant,  with  its  recent  tendencies  to  toleration. 
Aerschot  was  to  counteract  the  schemes  of  Orange.  Mat- 
thias was  to  be  withdrawn  from  the  influence  of  the  great 
heretic,  and  be  yet  compelled  to  play  the  part  set  down 
for  him  by  those  who  had  placed  him  upon  the  stage. 

Of  all  the  chieftains  possessing  influence  with  the  in- 
habitants of  Ghent,  two  young  nobles,  named  Kyhove  and 


5^6  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1611 

Imbize,  were  the  most  conspicuous.  Both  were  of  ancient 
descent  and  broken  fortunes,  both  were  passionately  at- 
tached to  the  Prince,  both  were  inspired  with  an  intense 
hatred  for  all  that  was  Catholic  or  Spanish.  They  had 
travelled  further  on  the  reforming  path  than  many  had 
done  in  that  day,  and  might  even  be  called  democratic  in 
their  notions.  Their  heads  were  filled  with  visions  of 
Greece  and  Eome ;  the  praise  of  republics  was  ever  on 
their  lips;  and. they  avowed  to  their  intimate  associates 
that  it  was  already  feasible  to  compose  a  commonwealth 
like  that  of  the  Swiss  Cantons  out  of  the  seventeen  Neth- 
erlands. They  were  regarded  as  dreamers  by  some,  as 
desperadoes  by  others.  Few  had  confidence  in  their  ca- 
pacity or  their  purity ;  but  Orange,  who  knew  mankind, 
recognized  in  them  useful  instruments  for  any  hazardous 
enterprise.  They  delighted  in  stratagems  and  sudden  feats 
of  arms.  Audacious  and  cruel  by  temperament,  they  were 
ever  most  happy  in  becoming  a  portion  of  the  desolation 
which  popular  tumults  engender. 

There  were  several  excited  meetings  of  the  four  estates 
of  Flanders  immediately  after  the  arrival  of  the  Duke  of 
Aerschot  in  Ghent.  His  coming  had  been  preceded  by 
extensive  promises,  but  it  soon  became  obvious  that  their 
fulfilment  was  to  be  indefinitely  deferred.  There  was  a 
stormy  session  on  the  27th  of  October,  many  of  the  clergy 
and  nobility  being  present,  and  comparatively  few  mem- 
bers of  the  third,  estate. 

Hessels,  the  old  Blood-councillor,  was  then  resident  in 
Ghent,  where  he  discharged  high  governmental  functions. 
A  letter  from  him  to  Count  van  Eoeulx,  late  royal  gover- 
nor of  Flanders,  was  at  the  present  juncture  intercepted. 
Perhaps  it  was  invented ;  but,  genuine  or  fictitious,  it  was 
circulated  extensively  among  the  popular  leaders,  and  had 
the  eifect  of  proving  Madame  Hessels  a  true  prophet. 
It  precipitated  the  revolution  in  Flanders,  and  soon  after- 
wards cost  the  councillor  his  life.  "We  have  already 
brought  many  notable  magistrates  of  Flanders  over  to  the 
side  of  his  Highness  Don  John,^'  wrote  Hessels.  "  We 
hope,  after  the  Duke  of  Aerschot  is  governor,  that  we 
shall  fully  carry  out  the  intentions  of  his  Majesty  and  the 


mi]  A  PRIVATE   CONFERENCE  537 

plans  of  his  Highness.  We  shall  also  know  how  to  cir- 
cumvent the  scandalous  heretic  with  all  his  adherents  and 
followers." 

There  was  no  lack  of  denunciation.  Don  John  and  the 
Duke  of  Aerschot  would  soon  bring  the  turbulent  burgh- 
ers to  their  senses,  and  there  would  then  be  an  end  to 
this  renewed  clamor  about  musty  parchments.  Much  in- 
dignation was  secretly  excited  in  the  assembly  by  such 
menaces.  Without  doors  the  subterranean  flames  spread 
rapidly,  but  no  tumult  occurred  that  night.  Before  the 
session  was  over,  Ryhove  left  the  city,  pretending  a  visit 
to  Tournai.  No  sooner  had  he  left  the  gates,  however, 
than  he  turned  his  horse's  head  in  the  opposite  direction, 
and  rode  off  post-haste  to  Antwerp.  There  he  had  a  con- 
ference with  William  of  Orange,  and  painted  in  lively 
colors  the  alarming  position  of  affairs.  "And  what  do 
you  mean  to  do  in  the  matter  ?"  asked  the  Prince,  rather 
dryly.  Ryhove  was  somewhat  disconcerted.  He  had  ex- 
pected a  violent  explosion,  well  as  he  knew  the  tranquil 
personage  whom  he  was  addressing.  "  I  know  no  better 
counsel,"  he  replied,  at  length,  "  than  to  take  the  Duke, 
with  his  bishops,  councillors,  lords,  and  the  whole  nest  of 
them,  by  the  throat,  and  thrust  them  all  out  together." 

"  Rather  a  desperate  undertaking,  however  ?"  said  the 
Prince,  carelessly,  but  interrogatively. 

"I  know  no  other  remedy,"  answered  Ryhove;  '^I 
would  rather  make  the  attempt,  relying  upon  God  alone, 
and  die  like  a  man,  if  needful,  than  live  in  eternal  slavery. 
Like  an  ancient  Roman,"  continued  the  young  republican 
noble,  in  somewhat  bombastic  vein,  "  1  am  ready  to  wager 
my  life  where  my  fatherland's  welfare  is  at  stake." 

"  Bold  words !"  said  the  Prince,  looking  gravely  at 
Ryhove  ;  "  but  upon  what  force  do  you  rely  for  your  un- 
dertaking ?" 

"  If  I  can  obtain  no  assistance  from  your  Excellency," 
was  the  reply,  "  I  shall  throw  myself  on  the  mass  of  the 
citizens.  I  can  arouse  them  in  the  name  of  their  ancient 
liberties,  which  must  be  redeemed  now  or  never." 

The  Prince,  believing  probably  that  the  scheme,  if 
scheme  there  were,  was  but  a  wild  one,  felt  little  inclina- 


538  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1577 

tion  to  compromise  himself  with  the  young  conspirator. 
He  told  him  he  could  do  nothing  at  present,  and  saying 
that  he  must  at  least  sleep  upon  the  matter,  dismissed 
him  for  the  night.  Next  morning,  at  daybreak,  Ryhove 
was  again  closeted  with  him.  The  Prince  asked  his  san- 
guine partisan  if  he  were  still  determined  to  carry  out 
his  project,  with  no  more  definite  support  than  he  had 
indicated  ?  Kyhove  assured  him,  in  reply,  that  he  meant 
to  do  so,  or  to  die  in  the  attempt.  The  Prince  shrugged 
his  shoulders,  and  soon  afterwards  seemed  to  fall  into  a 
reverie.  Kyhove  continued  talking,  but  it  was  soon  obvi- 
ous that  his  Highness  was  not  listening,  and  he  therefore 
took  his  leave  somewhat  abruptly.  Hardly  had  he  left 
the  house,  however,  when  the  Prince  despatched  Sainte- 
Aldegonde  in  search  of  him. 

The  effect  of  the  conference  between  Sainte-Aldegonde 
and  Ryhove  was  to  convince  the  young  partisan  that  the 
Prince  would  neither  openly  countenance  his  project  nor 
be  extremely  vexed  should  it  prove  successful.  In  short, 
while,  as  in  the  case  of  the  arrest  of  the  state  council,  the 
subordinates  were  left  to  appear  the  principals  in  the 
transaction,  the  persons  most  intimate  with  AVilliam  of 
Orange  were  allowed  to  form  satisfactory  opinions  as  to 
his  wishes  and  to  serve  as  instruments  to  his  ends.  '^  Vive 
qui  vince  I"  cried  Sainte-Aldegonde  encouragingly  to  Ry- 
hove, shaking  hands  with  him  at  parting.  The  conspira- 
tor immediately  mounted  and  rode  off  towards  Ghent. 
During  his  absence  there  had  been  much  turbulence,  but 
no  decided  outbreak,  in  that  city.  Imbize  had  accosted 
the  Duke  of  Aerschot  in  the  street,  and  demanded  when 
and  how  he  intended  to  proclaim  the  restoration  of  the 
ancient  charters.  The  haughty  Duke  had  endeavored  to 
shake  off  his  importunate  questioner,  while  Imbize  per- 
sisted with  increasing  audacity,  till  Aerschot  lost  his  tem- 
per at  last.  *' Charters,  charters  !"  he  cried,  in  a  rage  ; 
^^  you  shall  learn  soon,  ye  that  are  thus  howling  for  char- 
ters, that  we  have  still  the  old  means  of  making  you  dumb, 
with  a  rope  on  your  throats  !  I  tell  you  this — were  you 
ever  so  much  hounded  on  by  the  Prince  of  Orange  l" 

The  violence  of  the  new  governor  excited  the  wrath  of 


1677]  REVOLUTION  AT  GHENT  539 

Imbize.  He  broke  from  him  abruptly,  and  rushed  to  a 
rendezvous  of  his  confederates,  every  man  of  whom  was 
ready  for  a  desperate  venture.  Groups  of  excited  people 
were  seen  vociferating  in  different  places.  A  drum  was 
heard  to  rattle  from  time  to  time.  Nevertheless,  the  ris- 
ing tumult  seemed  to  subside  again  after  a  season,  owing 
partly  to  the  exertions  of  the  magistrates,  partly  to  the 
absence  of  Ryhove.  At  four  in  the  afternoon  that  gentle- 
man entered  the  town,  and,  riding  directly  to  the  head- 
quarters of  the  conspiracy,  was  incensed  to  hear  that  the 
work,  which  had  begun  so  bravely,  had  been  allowed  to 
cool.  "^Tis  a  time,"  he  cried,  "for  vigilance.  If  we 
sleep  now,  we  shall  be  dead  in  our  beds  before  morning. 
Better  to  fan  the  fire  which  has  beguil  to  blaze  in  the  peo- 
ple's heart.  Better  to  gather  the  fruit  while  it  is  ripe. 
Let  us  go  forward,  each  with  his  followers,  and  I  pledge 
myself  to  lead  the  way.  Let  us  scuttle  the  old  ship  of 
slavery  ;  let  us  hunt  the  Spanish  inquisition,  once  for  all, 
to  the  hell  whence  it  came !" 

''  There  spoke  the  voice  of  a  man  !"  cried  the  Flemish 
captain  Mieghem,  one  of  the  chief  conspirators.  ''  Lead 
on,  Ryhove.  I  swear  to  follow  you  as  far  as  our  legs  will 
carry  us !"  Thus  encouraged,  Ryhove  rushed  about  the 
city,  calling  upon  the  people  everywhere  to  rise.  They 
rose  almost  to  a  man.  Arming  and  mustering  at  different 
points,  according  to  previous  arrangements,  a  vast  num- 
ber assembled  by  toll  of  bell,  after  nightfall,  on  the  public 
square,  whence,  under  command  of  Ryhove,  they  swept  to 
the  residence  of  Aerschot  at  Saint  Bavon.  The  guards, 
seeing  the  fierce  mob  approaching,  brandishing  spears  and 
waving  torches,  had  scarce  time  to  close  the  gates,  as  the 
people  loudly  demanded  entrance  and  the  delivery  to  them 
of  the  governor.  Both  claims  were  refused.  '''Let  us 
burn  the  birds  in  their  nests  !"  cried  Ryhove,  without  hesi- 
tation. Pitch,  light  wood,  and  other  combustibles,  were 
brought  at  his  command,  and  in  a  few  moments  the  palace 
would  have  been  in  flames  had  not  Aerschot,  seeing  that 
the  insurgents  were  in  earnest,  capitulated.  As  soon  as 
the  gates  were  open,  the  foremost  of  the  mob  rushed  upon 
him  and  would  have  torn  him  limb  from  limb  had  not 


540  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1577 

Ryhovc  resolutely  interfered  and  twice  protected  the  life 
of  the  governor  at  the  peril  of  his  own.  The  Dnke  was 
then  made  a  prisoner,  and,  under  a  strong  guard,  was  con- 
veyed, still  in  his  night  -  gown  and  barefooted,  to  the 
mansion  of  Eyhove.  All  the  other  leading  members  of 
the  Catholic  party  were  captured,  the  arrests  proceeding 
till  a  late  hour  in  the  night.  Rassinghem,  Sweveghem, 
Visch,  de  la  Porta,  and  other  prominent  members  of  the 
Flemish  estates  or  council  were  secured,  but  Champagny 
was  allowed  to  make  his  escape.  The  bishops  of  Bruges 
and  Ypres  were  less  fortunate.  Blood-councillor  Hessels, 
whose  letter — genuine  or  counterfeited — had  been  so  in- 
strumental in  hastening  this  outbreak,  was  most  carefully 
guarded,  and  to  him*  and  to  Senator  Visch  the  personal 
consequences  of  that  night's  work  were  to  be  very  tragic. 

Thus  audaciously,  successfully,  and  hitherto  without 
bloodshed  was  the  anti  -  Catholic  revolution  commenced 
in  Flanders.  The  event  was  the  first  of  a  long  and  most 
signal  series.  The  deed  was  done.  The  provisional  gov- 
ernment was  established,  at  the  head  of  which  was  placed 
Ryhove,  to  whom  oaths  of  allegiance  were  rendered,  sub- 
ject to  the  future  arrangements  of  the  states-general  and 
Orange.  On  the  9th  of  November  the  nobles,  notables, 
and  community  of  Ghent  published  an  address,  in  which 
they  elaborately  defended  the  revolution  which  had  been 
effected  and  the  arrests  which  had  taken  place  ;  while  the 
Catholic  party,  with  Aerschot  at  its  head,  was  declared  to 
be  secretly  in  league  with  Don  John  to  bring  back  the 
Spanish  troops,  to  overthrow  the  Prince  of  Orange,  to  de- 
prive him  of  the  protectorate  of  Brabant,  to  set  at  naught 
the  Ghent  treaty,  and  to  suppress  the  Reformed  religion. 

The  effect  of  this  sudden  rising  of  the  popular  party 
was  prodigious  throughout  the  Netherlands.  At  the  same 
time,  the  audacity  of  such  extreme  proceedings  could 
hardly  be  countenanced  by  any  considerable  party  in  the 
states-general.  Champagny  wrote  to  the  Prince  of  Orange 
that,  even  if  the  letter  of  Hessels  were  genuine,  it  proved 
nothing  against  Aerschot,  and  he  urged  the  necessity  of 
suppressing  such  scenes  of  license  immediately, through  the 
influence  of  those  who  could  command  the  passions  of  the 


1511]  ORANGE  VISITS  GHENT  541 

mob.  Otherwise,  he  affirmed  that  all  legitimate  forms  of 
justice  would  disappear,  and  that  it  would  be  easy  to  set 
the  bloodhounds  upon  any  game  whatever.  Sainte-Alde- 
gonde  wrote  to  the  Prince  that  it  would  be  a  great  point, 
but  a  very  difficult  one,  to  justify  the  Ghent  transaction; 
for  there  was  little  doubt  that  the  Hessels  letter  was  a 
forgery.  It  was  therefore  as  well,  no  doubt,  that  the 
Prince  had  not  decidedly  committed  himself  to  Ryhove's 
plot,  and  thus  deprived  himself  of  the  right  to  interfere 
afterwards,  according  to  what  seemed  the  claims  of  justice 
and  sound  policy. 

He  now  sent  Arend  Van  Dorp  to  Ghent,  to  remonstrate 
with  the  leaders  of  the  insurrection  upon  the  violence  of 
their  measures,  and  to  demand  the  liberation  of  the  pris- 
oners— a  request  which  was  only  complied  with  in  the  case 
of  Aerschot.  That  nobleman  was  liberated  on  the  14th  of 
November,  upon  condition  that  he  would  solemnly  pledge 
himself  to  forget  and  forgive  the  treatment  which  he  had 
received,  but  the  other  prisoners  were  retained  in  custody 
for  a  much  longer  period.  A  few  weeks  afterwards  the 
Prince  of  Orange  visited  Ghent,  at  the  earnest  request  of 
the  four  estates  of  Flanders,  and  it  was  hoped  that  his 
presence  would  contribute  to  the  restoration  of  tran- 
quillity. 

This  visit  was  naturally  honored  by  a  brilliant  display 
of  "  rhetorical  '^  spectacles  and  tableaux  vivants;  for  noth- 
ing could  exceed  the  passion  of  the  Netherlanders  of  that 
century  for  apologues  and  charades. 

On  the  7th  of  December,  1577,  the  states-general  for- 
mally declared  that  Don  John  was  no  longer  stadholder," 
'governor,  nor  captain  -  general,  but  an  infractor  of  the 
peace  which  he  had  sworn  to  maintain,  and  an  enemy  of 
the  fatherland.  All  natives  of  the  country  who  should 
show  him  favor  or  assistance  were  declared  rebels  and 
traitors  ;  and  by  a  separate  edict,  issued  the  same  day, 
it  was  ordained  that  an  inventory  of  the  estates  of  such 
persons  should  forthwith  be  taken. 

Thus  the  war,  which  had  for  a  brief  period  been  sus- 
pended during  the  angry,  tortuous,  and  hopeless  nego- 
tiations which  succeeded  the  arrival  of  Don  John,  was 


542  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1677 

once  more  to  be  let  loose.  To  this  point  had  tended  all 
the  policy  of  Orange — faithful  as  ever  to  the  proverb  with 
which  he  had  broken  off  the  Breda  conferences,  "that 
war  was  preferable  to  a  doubtful  peace."  Even,  however, 
as  his  policy  had  pointed  to  a  war  as  the  necessary  forerun- 
ner of  a  solid  peace  with  Spain,  so  had  his  efforts  already 
advanced  the  cause  of  internal  religious  concord  within 
the  provinces  themselves.  On  the  10th  of  December  a  new 
act  of  union  was  signed  at  Brussels,  by  which  those  of 
the  Roman  Church  and  those  who  had  retired  from  that 
communion  bound  themselves  to  respect  and  to  protect 
one  another,  with  mutual  guarantees  against  all  enemies 
whatsoever.  Here  was  a  step  beyond  the  Ghent  Pacifica- 
tion and  in  the  same  direction.  The  first  treaty  tacitly 
introduced  toleration  by  suppressing  the  right  of  perse- 
cution, but  the  new  union  placed  the  Reformed  religion 
on  a  level  with  the  old.  This  was  the  result  of  the 
Prince's  efforts  ;  and,  in  truth,  there  was  no  lack  of  eager- 
ness among  these  professors  of  a  faith  which  had  been  so 
long  under  ban  to  take  advantage  of  his  presence.  Out  of 
dark  alleys,  remote  thickets,  subterranean  conventicles, 
where  the  Dissenters  had  so  long  been  trembling  for  their 
lives,  the  oppressed  now  came  forth  into  the  light  of  day. 
In  truth,  the  time  had  arrived  for  bringing  the  north- 
ern and  southern,  the  Celtic  and  German,  the  Protestant 
and  Catholic  hearts  together,  or  else  for  acquiescing  in 
their  perpetual  divorce. 

Thus  far  the  Prince's  object  was  accomplished.  A 
treacherous  peace,  which  would  have  insured  destruction, 
was  averted,  but  a  new  obstacle  to  the  development  of  his 
broad  and  energetic  schemes  arose  in  the  intrigue  which 
brought  the  Archduke  from  Vienna.  The  cabals  of 
Orange's  secret  enemies  were  again  thwarted  with  the 
same  adroitness  to  which  his  avowed  antagonists  were 
forced  to  succumb.  Matthias  was  made  the  exponent 
of  the  new  policy,  the  standard-bearer  of  the  new  union 
which  the  Prince  now  succeeded  in  establishing ;  for  his 
next  step  was  immediately  to  impress  upon  the  provinces 
which  had  thus  united  in  casting  down  the  gauntlet  to 
a  common  enemy  the  necessity  of  uniting  in  a  permanent 


161S]  THE   NEW  UNION  OF  BRUSSELS  543 

leagne.  One  province  was  already  lost  by  the  fall  of 
Namur.  The  bonds  of  a  permanent  union  for  the  other 
sixteen  could  be  constructed  of  but  one  material — relig- 
ious toleration ;  and  for  a  moment  the  genius  of  Orange, 
always  so  far  beyond  his  age,  succeeded  in  raising  the 
mass  of  his  countrymen  to  the  elevation  upon  which  he 
had  so  long  stood  alone. 

The  *^new  or  nearer  Union  of  Brussels"  was  signed  on 
the  10th  of  December,  eleven  months  after  the  formation 
of  the  first  union.  This  was  the  third,  and  unfortunate- 
ly the  last,  confederation  of  all  the  Netherlands. 

The  Prince  had  strengthened  himself  for  the  coming 
struggle  by  an  alliance  with  England.  The  thrifty  but 
politic  Queen,  fearing  the  result  of  the  secret  practices 
of  Alengon — whom  Orange,  as  she  suspected,  still  kept 
in  reserve,  to  be  played  off,  in  case  of  need,  against  Mat- 
thias and  Don  John — had  at  last  consented  to  a  treaty  of 
alliance  and  subsidy.  On  the  7th  of  January,  1578,  the 
Marquis  Havre,  envoy  from  the  estates,  concluded  an 
arrangement  in  London  by  which  the  Queen  was  to  lend 
them  her  credit — in  other  words,  to  endorse  their  obliga- 
tions to  the  amount  of  one  hundred  thousand  pounds 
sterling.  The  money  was  to  be  raised  wherever  the  states 
might  be  able  to  negotiate  the  bills,  and  her  liability  was 
to  cease  within  a  year.  She  was  likewise  to  be  collateral- 
ly secured  by  pledges  from  certain  cities  in  the  Nether- 
lands. This  amount  was  certainly  not  colossal,  while  the 
conditions  were  sufficiently  parsimonious.  At  the  same 
time,  a  beginning  was  made  and  the  principle  of  subsidy 
was  established.  The  Queen,  furthermore,  agreed  to  send 
five  thousand  infantry  and  one  thousand  cavalry  to  the 
provinces,  under  the  command  of  an  officer  of  high  rank, 
who  was  to  have  a  seat  and  vote  in  the  Netherland 
council  of  state.  These  troops  were  to  be  paid  by  the 
provinces,  but  furnished  by  the  Queen.  The  estates  were 
to  form  no  treaty  without  her  knowledge,  nor  under- 
take any  movement  of  importance  without  her  consent. 
In  case  she  should  be  herself  attacked  by  any  foreign 
power,  the  provinces  were  to  assist  her  to  the  same  ex- 
tent as  the  amount  of  aid  now  afforded  to  themselves ; 


644  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1578 

and  in  case  of  a  naval  war,  with  a  fleet  of  at  least  forty 
ships. 

Within  a  few  days  after  their  signature  of  this  impor- 
tant treaty,  the  Prince  had,  at  length,  wholly  succeeded  in 
conquering  the  conflicting  passions  in  the  states-general, 
and  in  reconciling  them,  to  a  certain  extent,  with  one 
another.  The  closer  union  had  been  accepted,  and  now 
thirty  articles,  which  had  been  prepared  under  his  super- 
intendence, and  had  already,  on  the  17th  of  December, 
been  accepted  by  Matthias,  were  established  as  the  funda- 
mental terms  according  to  which  the  Archduke  was  to 
be  received  as  governor  -  general.  No  power  whatever 
was  accorded  to  the  young  man  who  had  come  so  far  with 
eager  and  ambitious  views.  As  the  Prince  had  neither 
solicited  nor  desired  a  visit,  which  had,  on  the  contrary, 
been  the  result  of  hostile  machinations,  the  Archduke 
could  hardly  complain  that  the  power  accorded  him  was 
but  shadowy,  and  that  his  presence  was  rendered  super- 
fluous. It  was  not  surprising  that  the  common  people 
gave  him  the  name  of  griffier,  or  registering  clerk  to  the 
Prince,  for  his  functions  were  almost  limited  to  the  sign- 
ing of  acts  which  were  countersigned  by  Orange.  Ac- 
cording to  the  stipulations  of  the  Queen  of  England,  and 
the  views  of  the  whole  popular  party,  the  Prince  remained 
Kuward  of  Brabant,  notwithstanding  the  appointment  of 
a  nominal  governor  -  general,  by  whom  his  own  duties 
were  to  be  superseded. 

The  articles  which  were  laid  down  as  the  basis  upon 
which  the  Archduke  was  to  be  accepted  composed  an 
ample  representative  constitution,  by  which  all  the  legis- 
lative and  many  of  the  executive  powers  of  government 
were  bestowed  upon  the  states-general,  or  upon  the  coun- 
cil by  them  to  be  elected.  To  avoid  remaining  in  the 
condition  of  a  people  thus  left  without  a  head,  the  states 
declared  themselves  willing  to  accept  Matthias  as  gov- 
ernor-general, on  condition  of  the  King's  subsequent  ap- 
probation, and  upon  the  general  basis  of  the  Ghent  treaty. 
The  Archduke,  moreover,  was  to  take  an  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  King  and  to  the  states-general  at  the  same  time. 
He  was  to  govern  the  land  by  the  advice  of  a  state  conn- 


1578]  A  FREE    CONSTITUTION  545 

cil,  the  members  of  which  were  to  be  appointed  by  the 
states  -  general,  and  were  ''to  be  native  Netherlanders, 
trne  patriots,  and  neither  ambitious  nor  greedy/^ 

The  powers  conferred  upon  Matthias,  alone,  were  abso- 
lutely null,  while  those  which  he  might  exercise  in  con- 
junction with  the  state  council  were  not  much  more 
extensive.  The  actual  force  of  the  government — legisla- 
tive, executive,  and  administrative  —  was  lodged  in  the 
general  assembly,  while  no  authority  was  left  to  the  King 
except  the  nominal  right  to  approve  these  revolutionary 
proceedings,  according  to  the  statement  in  the  preamble. 
Such  a  reservation  in  favor  of  his  Majesty  seemed  a  su- 
perfluous sarcasm.  It  was  furthermore  resolved  that  the 
Prince  of  Orange  should  be  appointed  lieutenant-general 
for  Matthias,  and  be  continued  in  his  office  of  Ruward. 
This  constitution,  drawn  up  under  the  superintendence 
of  the  Prince,  had  been  already  accepted  by  Matthias 
while  still  at  Antwerp,  and  upon  the  18th  of  January, 
1578,  the  ceremony  of  his  inauguration  took  place. 

It  was  the  third  triumphal  procession  which  Brussels 
had  witnessed  within  nine  months.  It  was  also  the  most 
brilliant  of  all ;  for  the  burghers,  as  if  to  make  amends  to 
the  Archduke  for  the  actual  nullity  to  which  he  had  been 
reduced,  seemed  resolved  to  raise  him  to  the  seventh 
heaven  of  allegory.  By  the  ''  rhetorical "  guilds  he  was  re- 
garded as  the  most  brilliant  constellation  of  virtues  which 
had  yet  shone  above  the  Flemish  horizon. 

Meanwhile  Don  John  sat  chafing  and  almost  frenzied 
with  rage  at  Namur.  Certainly  he  had  reasons  enough 
for  losing  his  temper.  Never  since  the  days  of  Maximil- 
ian had  king's  brother  been  so  bearded  by  rebels.  The 
Cross  was  humbled  in  the  dust,  the  royal  authority  openly 
derided,  his  Majesty's  representative  locked  up  in  a  for- 
tress, while  "the  accursed  Prince  of  Orange"  reigned 
supreme  in  Brussels,  with  an  imperial  Archduke  for  his 
private  secretary. 

His  wrath  exploded  in  his  first  interview  with  Leyton, 
the  English  envoy,  whom  Queen  Elizabeth  had  despatched 
to  calm,  if  possible,  his  inevitable  anger  at  her  recent 
treaty  with  the  states.     He  knew  nothing  of  England, 

85 


546  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [15V8 

he  said,  nor  of  France,  nor  of  the  Emperor.  His  Catholic 
Majesty  had  commissioned  him  now  to  make  war  upon 
these  rebellions  provinces.  He  would  do  it  with  all  his 
heart.  As  for  the  Emperor,  he  would  unchain  the  Turks 
upon  him  for  his  perfidy.  As  for  the  burghers  of  Brussels, 
they  would  soon  feel  his  vengeance. 

It  was  very  obvious  that  these  were  not  idle  threats. 
War  had  again  broken  loose  throughout  these  doomed 
provinces.  A  small  but  well  appointed  army  was  being 
rapidly  collected  under  the  banner  of  Don  John  at  Lux- 
emburg, Peter  Ernst  van  Mansf  eld  had  brought  many  well- 
trained  troops  from  France,  and  Prince  Alexander  of  Parma 
had  arrived  with  several  choice  and  veteran  regiments  of 
Italy  and  Spain.  The  old  school -fellow,  playmate,  and 
comrade  of  Don  John  was  shocked  on  his  arrival  to  witness 
the  attenuated  frame  and  careworn  features  of  his  uncle. 

On  the  25th  of  January  Don  John  issued  a  proclama- 
tion, couched  in  three  languages — French,  German,  and 
Flemish.  He  declared  in  this  document  that  he  had  not 
come  to  enslave  the  provinces,  but  to  protect  them.  At 
the  same  time  he  meant  to  re-establish  his  Majesty's  au- 
thority, and  the  down-trodden  religion  of  Rome.  He  sum- 
moned all  citizens  and  all  soldiers  throughout  the  prov- 
inces to  join  his  banners,  offering  them  pardon  for  their 
past  offences,  and  protection  against  heretics  and  rebels. 
This  declaration  was  the  natural  consequence  of  the  ex- 
change of  defiances  which  had  already  taken  place,  and  it 
was  evident  also  that  the  angry  manifesto  was  soon  to  be 
followed  up  by  vigorous  blows.  The  army  of  Don  John 
already  numbered  more  than  twenty  thousand  well -sea- 
soned and  disciplined  veterans.  He  was  himself  the  most 
illustrious  chieftain  in  Europe.  He  was  surrounded  by 
lieutenants  of  the  most  brilliant  reputation.  Alexander 
of  Parma,  who  had  fought  with  distinction  at  Lepanto, 
was  already  recognized  as  possessing  that  signal  military 
genius  which  was  soon  to  stamp  him  as  the  first  soldier  of 
his  age,  while  Mansfeld,  Mondragon,  Mendoza,  and  other 
distinguished  officers,  who  had  already  won  so  much  fame 
in  the  Netherlands,  had  now  returned  to  the  scene  of 
their  former  achievements. 


1578]  THE   TWO   ARMIES  547 

On  the  other  hand,  the  military  affairs  of  the  states 
were  in  confusion.  Troops  in  nearly  equal  numbers  to 
those  of  the  royal  army  had  been  assembled,  but  the  chief 
offices  had  been  bestowed,  by  a  mistaken  policy,  upon  the 
great  nobles.  Already  the  jealousy  of  Orange,  enter- 
tained by  their  whole  order,  was  painfully  apparent. 
Notwithstanding  the  signal  popularity  which  had  made 
his  appointment  as  lieutenant-general  inevitable,  it  was 
not  easy  for  him  always  to  vindicate  his  authority  over 
captious  and  rival  magnates. 

The  two  armies  had  been  mustered  in  the  latter  days  of 
January.  The  Pope  had  issued  a  bull  for  the  benefit  of 
Don  John,  precisely  similar  to  those  formerly  employed 
in  the  Crusades  against  the  Saracens.  Authority  was 
given  him  to  levy  contributions  upon  ecclesiastical  prop- 
erty, while  full  absolution,  at  the  hour  of  death,  for  all 
crimes  committed  during  a  whole  lifetime,  was  proclaimed 
to  those  who  should  now  join  the  standard  of  the  Cross. 
There  was  at  least  no  concealment.  The  Crescent-wear- 
ing Zeelanders  had  been  taken  at  their  word,  and  the 
whole  nation  of  Netherlanders  were  formally  banned  as 
unbelievers.  The  forces  of  Don  John  were  mustered  at 
Marche  in  Luxemburg ;  those  of  the  states  on  a  plain 
within  a  few  miles  of  Namur.  Both  armies  were  nearly 
equal  in  number,  amounting  to  nearly  twenty  thousand 
each,  including  a  force  of  two  thousand  cavalry  on  each 
side.  It  had  been  the  original  intention  of  the  patriots  to 
attack  Don  John  in  Namur.  Having  learned,  however, 
that  he  purposed  marching  forth  himself  to  offer  battle, 
they  decided  to  fall  back  upon  Gembloux,  which  was 
nine  miles  distant  from  that  city.  On  the  last  day  of 
January,  they  accordingly  broke  up  their  camp  at  Saint 
Martins,  before  dawn,  and  marched  towards  Gembloux. 
It  was  a  march  to  ruin. 

A  sudden  proposal  of  Parma,  to  attack  the  patriot  army 
while  it  was  unsteadily  making  its  way  along  the  edge 
of  a  miry  ravine,  was  successfully  executed.  Assaulted 
in  flank  and  rear  at  the  same  moment,  and  already  in  tem- 
porary confusion,  the  cavalry  of  the  Netherlanders  turned 
their  backs  and  fled.     The  centre  of  the  states'  ii>Ymj, 


548  HISTORY  OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1578 

thus  left  exposed,  was  now  warmly  attacked  by  Parma. 
It  had,  moreover,  been  already  thrown  into  disorder  by  the 
retreat  of  its  own  horsemen,  as  they  charged  through  the 
infantry  in  rapid  and  disgraceful  panic.  The  whole  army 
broke  to  pieces  at  once,  and  so  great  was  the  trepidation 
that  the  conquered  troops  had  hardly  courage  to  run 
away.  They  were  utterly  incapable  of  combat.  Not  a 
blow  was  struck  by  the  fugitives.  Hardly  a  man  in  the 
Spanish  ranks  was  wounded;  while,  in  the  course  of  an  hour 
and  a  half,  the  whole  force  of  the  enemy  was  exterminat- 
ed. It  is  impossible  to  state  with  accuracy  the  exact 
numbers  slain.  Some  accounts  speak  of  ten  thousand 
killed  or  captive,  with  absolutely  no  loss  on  the  royal 
side.  It  is,  at  any  rate,  certain  that  the  whole  states' 
army  was  annihilated.  Rarely  had  a  more  brilliant  exploit 
been  performed  by  a  handful  of  cavalry. 

Everything  belonging  to  the  enemy  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Spaniards.  Thirty -four  standards,  many  field- 
pieces,  much  camp  equipage,  and  ammunition,  besides 
some  seven  or  eight  thousand  dead  bodies  and  six  hun- 
dred living  prisoners,  were  the  spoils  of  that  winter  day. 
Of  the  captives,  some  were  soon  afterwards  hurled  off  the 
bridge  at  Namur  and  drowned  like  dogs  in  the  Meuse, 
while  the  rest  were  all  hanged,  none  escaping  with  life. 
Don  John's  clemency  was  not  superior  to  that  of  his  san- 
guinary predecessors. 


CHAPTER  V 
INACTIVE    ARMIES — PATRIOTIC   AMSTERDAM 

Don  John,  having  thus  vindicated  his  own  military 
fame  and  the  amazing  superiority  of  Spanish  arms,  fol- 
lowed up  his  victory  by  the  rapid  reduction  of  many  towns 
of  second-rate  importance.  Louvain,  Nevele,  Tirlemont, 
Aerschot,  Bouvignes,  Sichem,  Nivelles,  Roeulx,  Soignies, 
Binche,  Beaumont,  Walcourt,  Maubeuge,  and  Chimay, 
either  submitted  to  their  conqueror  or  were  taken  after 
short  sieges.  The  usual  atrocities  were  inflicted  upon 
the  unfortunate  inhabitants  of  towns  where  resistance 
was  attempted.  The  commandant  of  Sichem  was  hanged 
out  of  his  own  window  along  with  several  chief  burghers 
and  officers,  while  the  garrison  was  put  to  the  sword  and 
the  bodies  cast  into  the  Demer.  The  only  crime  com- 
mitted by  these  unfortunates  was  to  have  ventured  a  blow 
or  two  in  behalf  of  the  firesides  which  they  were  employed 
to  protect. 

In  Brussels,  on  the  other  hand,  there  was  less  conster- 
nation excited  by  these  events  than  boundless  rage  against 
the  aristocratic  party,  for  the  defeat  of  Gembloux  was 
attributed,  with  justice,  to  the  intrigues  and  the  incapac- 
ity of  the  Catholic  magnates.  It  was  with  difficulty  that 
Orange,  going  about  by  night  from  house  to  house,  from 
street  to  street,  succeeded  in  calming  the  indignation  of 
the  people,  and  in  preventing  them  from  sweeping  in  a 
mass  to  the  residence  of  the  leading  nobles  in  order  to 
inflict  summary  vengeance  on  the  traitors.  All  looked  to 
the  Prince  as  their  only  saviour,  not  a  thought  nor  a  word 
being  wasted  upon  Matthias.  Not  a  voice  was  raised  in 
the  assembly  to  vindicate  the  secret  proceedings  of  the 
Catholic  party,  nor  to  oppose  the  measures  which  the 


550  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1578 

Prince  might  suggest.  The  terrible  disaster  had  taught 
the  necessity  of  union.  All  parties  heartily  joined  in  the 
necessary  steps  to  place  .the  capital  in  a  state  of  complete 
defence,  and  to  assemble  forthwith  new  troops  to  take 
the  place  of  the  army  just  annihilated.  The  victor  gained 
nothing  by  his  victory  in  comparison  with  the  profit  ac- 
quired by  the  states  through  their  common  misfortune. 
'Nor  were  all  the  towns  which  had  recently  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  Don  John  at  all  comparable  in  importance  to  the 
city  of  Amsterdam,  which  now,  by  a  most  timely  arrange- 
ment, furnished  a  rich  compensation  to  the  national  party 
for  the  disaster  of  Gembloux. 

Since  the  conclusion  of  the  Ghent  Pacification  it  had 
been  the  most  earnest  wish  of  the  Prince,  and  of  Holland 
and  Zeeland,  to  recover  possession  of  this  most  important 
city.  The  wish  was  naturally  shared  by  every  true  patriot 
in  the  states-general.  It  had,  however,  been  extremely 
difficult  to  arrange  the  terms  of  the  *'  Satisfaction."  Every 
fresh  attempt  at  an  amicable  compromise  was  wrecked 
upon  the  obstinate  bigotry  of  the  leading  civic  authori- 
ties. They  would  make  no  agreement  to  accept  the  au- 
thority of  Orange  except,  as  Sainte-Aldegonde  expressed 
himself,  upon  terms  which  would  enable  them  *'  to  gov- 
ern their  governor."  The  influence  of  the  monks,  who 
were  resident  in  large  numbers  within  the  city,  and  of 
the  magistrates,  who  were  all  stanch  Catholics,  had  been 
hitherto  sufficient  to  outweigh  the  efforts  made  by  the 
large  masses  of  the  Reformed  religionists  composing  the 
bulk  of  the  population.  It  was,  however,  impossible  to 
allow  Amsterdam  to  remain  in  this  isolated  and  hostile 
attitude  to  the  rest  of  Holland.  The  Prince,  having 
promised  to  use  no  coercion,  and  loyally  adhering  to  his 
pledge,  had  only  with  extreme  difficulty  restrained  the 
violence  of  the  Hollai^ders  and  Zeelanders,  who  were  de- 
termined, by  fair  means  or  foul,  to  restore  the  capital 
city  to  its  natural  place  within  his  stadholderate.  He 
had  been  obliged,  on  various  occasions,  particularly  on 
the  21st  of  October  of  the  preceding  year,  to  address  a 
most  decided  and  peremptory  letter  to  the  estates  of 
Holland  and  Zeeland,  forbidding  the  employment  of  hos- 


1578]  THE   AMSTERDAM   SATISFACTION  551 

tile  measures  against  Amsterdam.  His  commands  had 
been  reluctantly,  partially,  and  only  temporarily  obeyed. 
The  states  desisted  from  their  scheme  of  reducing  the 
city  by  famine,  but  they  did  not  the  less  encourage  the 
secret  and  unofficial  expeditions  which  were  daily  set  on 
foot  to  accomplish  the  annexation  by  a  sudden  enterprise. 
Late  in  November  a  desperate  attempt  had  been  made 
by  Colonel  Helling,  in  conjunction  with  Governor  Sonoy, 
to  carry  the  city  by  surprise.  The  force  which  the  ad- 
venturer collected  for  the  purpose  was  inadequate,  and 
his  plans  were  unskilfully  arranged.  He  was  himself 
slain  in  the  streets,  at  the  very  commencement  of  the 
action ;  whereupon,  in  the  quaint  language  of  the  con- 
temporary chronicler,  "  the  hearts  of  his  soldiers  sank  in 
their  shoes, ^'  and  they  evacuated  the  city  with  much 
greater  rapidity  than  they  had  entered  it.  The  Prince 
was  indignant  at  these  violent  measures,  which  retarded 
rather  than  advanced  the  desired  consummation.  At  the 
same  time  it  was  an  evil  of  immense  magnitude  —  this 
anomalous  condition  of  his  capital.  Ceaseless  schemes 
were  concerted  by  the  municipal  and  clerical  conspirators 
within  its  walls,  and  various  attempts  were  known,  at  dif- 
ferent times,  to  have  been  contemplated  by  Don  John 
to  inflict  a  home-thrust  upon  the  provinces  of  Holland 
and  Zeeland  at  the  most  vulnerable  and  vital  point.  The 
''Satisfaction"  accepted  by  Utrecht  in  the  autumn  of 
1577  had,  however,  paved  the  way  for  the  recovery  of 
Amsterdam  ;  so  that  upon  the  8th  of  February,  1578,  cer- 
tain deputies  from  Utrecht  succeeded  at  last  in  arranging 
terms  which  were  accepted  by  the  sister  city.  The  basis 
of  the  treaty  was,  as  usual,  the  nominal  supremacy  of  the 
Catholic  religion,  with  toleration  for  the  Reformed  wor- 
ship. The  necessary  effect  would  be,  as  in  Haarlem, 
Utrecht,  and  other  places,  to  establish  the  new  religion 
upon  an  entire  equality  with  the  old.  It  was  arranged 
that  no  congregations  were  to  be  disturbed  in  their  relig- 
ious exercises  in  the  places  respectively  assigned  to  them. 
Those  of  the  Reformed  faith  were  to  celebrate  their  wor- 
ship without  the  walls.  They  were,  however,  to  enjoy 
the  right  of  burying  their  dead  within  these  precincts. 


552  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1578 

and  it  is  singular  how  much  importance  was  attached  at 
that  day  to  a  custom  at  which  the  common  sentiment  and 
the  common  -  sense  of  modern  times  revolt.  '^  To  bury 
our  dead  within  our  own  cities  is  a  right  hardly  to  be 
denied  to  a  dog/'  said  the  Prince  of  Orange  ;  and  accord- 
ingly this  right  was  amply  secured  by  the  new  ''Satisfac- 
tion "  of  Amsterdam.  It  was,  however,  stipulated  that  the 
funerals  should  be  modest,  and  attended  by  no  more  than 
twenty-four  persons  at  once.  The  treaty  was  hailed  with 
boundless  joy  in  Holland  and  Zeeland,  while  countless 
benedictions  were  invoked  upon  the  '^  blessed  peace- 
makers^' as  the  Utrecht  deputies  walked  through  the 
streets  of  Amsterdam.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  triumph 
thus  achieved  by  the  national  party  far  counterbalanced 
the  governor-general's  victory  at  Gembloux. 

Meantime  the  Seigneur  de  Selles,  brother  of  the  de- 
ceased Noircarmes,  had  arrived  from  Spain.  He  was  the 
special  bearer  of  a  letter  from  the  King  to  the  states-gen- 
eral, written  in  reply  to  their  communications  of  the  24th 
of  August  and  8th  of  September  of  the  previous  year. 
The  tone  of  the  royal  despatch  was  very  affectionate,  the 
substance  such  as  entirely  to  justify  the  whole  policy  of 
Orange.  The  Prince  knew — what  no  man  else  appeared 
fully  to  comprehend  at  that  epoch — that  the  mortal  com- 
bat between  the  inquisition  and  the  Reformation  was  al- 
ready fully  engaged.  The  great  battle  between  divine 
reason  and  right  divine,  on  which  the  interests  of  unborn 
generations  were  hanging,  was  to  be  fought  out  before 
the  eyes  of  all  Christendom  on  the  plain  of  the  Nether- 
lands. 

Orange  was  willing  to  lay  down  his  arms  if  he  could 
receive  security  for  the  Reformed  worship.  He  had  no 
desire  to  exterminate  the  ancient  religion,  but  he  meant 
also  to  protect  the  new  against  extermination.  Such 
security,  he  felt,  would  never  be  granted,  and  he  had 
therefore  resolutely  refused  to  hearken  to  Don  John,  for 
he  was  sure  that  peace  with  him  was  impossible.  The 
letters  now  produced  by  De  Selles  confirmed  his  positions 
completely.  The  King  said  not  a  word  concerning  the 
appointment  of  a  new  governor-general,  but  boldly  insist- 


1578]  MILITARY  PREPARATIONS  553 

ed  upon  the  necessity  of  maintaining  the  two  cardinal 
points — his  royal  supremacy  and  the  Catholic  religion — 
upon  the  basis  adopted  hy  his  father,  the  Emperor  Charles 
the  Fifth.  This  was  the  whole  substance  of  his  commu- 
nication— the  supremacy  of  royalty  and  of  papacy  as  in  the 
time  of  Charles  the  Fifth. 

That  there  might  be  no  mistake  about  the  matter,  Don 
John,  immediately  after  receiving  the  letter,  issued  a 
proclamation  to  enforce  the  King's  command.  He  men- 
tioned it  as  an  acknowledged  fact  that  the  states-general 
had  long  ago  sworn  the  maintenance  of  the  two  points, 
of  royal  and  Catholic  supremacy,  according  to  the  prac- 
tice under  the  Emperor  Charles.  The  states  instantly 
published  an  indignant  rejoinder,  affirming  the  indispu- 
table truth  that  they  had  sworn  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
Crhent  Pacification,  and  proclaiming  the  assertion  of  Don 
John  an  infamous  falsehood. 

Meantime  the  preparations  for  active  hostilities  were 
proceeding  daily.  Troops  were  rapidly  enrolled,  and  again, 
by  the  same  honest  but  mistaken  policy,  the  chief  offices 
were  conferred  upon  the  great  nobles — Aerschot,  Cham- 
pagny,  Bossu,  Egmont,  Lalain,theViscount  of  Ghent,  Baron 
de  Ville,  and  many  others,  most  of  whom  were  to  desert 
the  cause  in  the  hour  of  its  need.  On  the  other  hand, 
Don  John  was  proceeding  with  his  military  preparations 
upon  an  extensive  scale.  The  King  had  recently  furnished 
him  with  one  million  nine  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and 
had  promised  to  provide  him  with  two  hundred  thou- 
sand more  monthly.  With  these  funds  his  Majesty  esti- 
mated that  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  foot,  sixteen  thou- 
sand cavalry,  and  thirty  pieces  of  artillery  could  be  levied 
and  kept  on  foot.  If  more  remittances  should  prove  to 
be  necessary,  it  was  promised  that  they  should  be  forth- 
coming. 

In  Amsterdam,  William  Bardes,  son  of  a  former  high- 
sheriff,  a  warm  partisan  of  Orange  and  of  the  ^'religion," 
had  already  determined  to  overthrow  the  Catholic  magis- 
tracy and  to  expel  the  friars  who  infested  the  city.  The 
recent  information  despatched  by  Sainte-Aldegonde  from 
Germany  confirmed   him   in  his    purpose.      There    had 


554  HISTORY  OP  THE   NETHHRLAKI^S  [1578 

been  much  wrangling  between  the  popish  functionaries 
and  those  of  the  Keformed  religion  concerning  the  consti- 
tution of  the  burgher  guard.  The  Calvinists  could  feel 
no  security  for  their  own  lives  or  the  repose  of  the  com- 
monwealth of  Holland  unless  they  were  themselves  al- 
lowed a  full  participation  in  the  government  of  those 
important  bands.  They  were,  moreover,  dissatisfied  with 
the  assignment  which  had  been  made  of  the  church-yards 
to  the  members  of  their  communion.  These  causes  of 
discord  had  maintained  a  general  irritation  among  the 
body  of  the  inhabitants,  and  were  now  used  as  pretexts  by 
Bardes  for  his  design.  He  knew  the  city  to  be  ripe  for 
the  overthrow  of  the  magistracy,  and  he  had  arranged 
with  Governor  Sonoy  to  be  furnished  with  a  sufficient 
number  of  well-tried  soldiers,  who  were  to  be  concealed 
in  the  houses  of  the  confederates.  A  large  number  of 
citizens  were  also  ready  to  appear  at  his  bidding  with 
arms  in  their  hands. 

On  the  24th  of  May  he  wrote  to  Sonoy,  begging  him  to 
hold  himself  in  readiness,  as  all  was  prepared  within  the 
city.  At  the  same  time  he  requested  the  governor  to 
send  him  forthwith  a  ''  morion  and  a  buckler  of  proof, ^' 
for  he  intended  to  see  the  matter  fairly  through.  Sonoy 
answered  encouragingly,  and  sent  him  the  armor  as  di- 
rected. On  the  28th  of  May,  Bardes,  with  four  confed- 
erates, went  to  the  council-room  to  remonstrate  with  the 
senate  concerning  the  grievances  which  had  been  so  often 
discussed.  At  about  mid-day  one  of  the  confederates, 
upon  leaving  the  council-room,  stepped  out  for  a  moment 
upon  the  balcony,  which  looked  towards  the  public  square. 
Standing  there  for  a  moment,  he  gravely  removed  his  hat, 
and  then  as  gravely  replaced  it  upon  his  head.  This  was 
a  preconcerted  signal.  At  the  next  instant  a  sailor  was 
seen  to  rush  across  the  square,  waving  a  flag  in  both  hands. 
'^AU  ye  who  love  the  Prince  of  Orange  take  heart  and 
follow  me  \"  he  shouted.  In  a  moment  the  square  was 
alive.  Soldiers  and  armed  citizens  suddenly  sprang  forth, 
as  if  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  Bardes  led  a  strong 
force  directly  into  the  council-chamber  and  arrested  every 
one  of  the  astonished  magistrates.     At  the  same  time  his 


2    O 
=    t^ 

•a   K 


1578]  SPREAD  OF  THE  NEW   RELIGION  555 

confederates  had  scoured  the  town  and  taken  every  friar 
in  the  city  into  custody,  but  no  harm  was  done  their  per- 
sons. The  Catholic  magistrates  and  friars  escaped  with 
their  fright.  They  were  simply  turned  out  of  town,  put 
on  board  ship,  and  forbidden,  for  their  lives,  ever  to  come 
back  again.  After  the  vessel  had  proceeded  a  little  dis- 
tance from  the  city  they  were  all  landed  high  and  dry 
upon  a  dike,  and  so  left  unharmed  within  the  open 
country. 

A  new  board  of  magistrates,  of  which  stout  William 
Bardes  was  one,  was  soon  appointed  ;  the  train-bands  were 
reorganized,  and  the  churches  thrown  open  to  the  Reformed 
worship  —  to  the  exclusion,  at  first,  of  the  Catholics. 
This  was  certainly  contrary  to  the  Ghent  treaty,  and  to 
the  recent  Satisfaction ;  it  was  also  highly  repugnant  to 
the  opinions  of  Orange.  After  a  short  time,  accordingly, 
the  Catholics  were  again  allowed  access  to  the  churches, 
but  the  tables  had  now  been  turned  forever  in  the  cap- 
ital of  Holland,  and  the  Reformation  was  an  established 
fact  throughout  that  little  province.  Similar  events  oc- 
curring upon  the  following  day  at  Haarlem — accompanied 
with  some  bloodshed,  for  which,  however,  the  perpetrator 
was  punished  with  death — opened  the  great  church  of 
that  city  to  the  Reformed  congregations,  and  closed  It  for 
a  time  to  the  Catholics. 

Thus  the  cause  of  the  new  religion  was  triumphant  in 
Holland  and  Zeeland,  while  it  was  advancing  with  rapid 
strides  through  the  other  provinces.  Public  preaching 
was  of  daily  occurrence  everywhere.  On  a  single  Sun- 
day, fifteen  different  ministers  of  the  Reformed  religion 
preached  in  different  places  in  Antwerp.  "  Do  you  think 
this  can  be  put  down  ?''  said  Orange  to  the  remonstrating 
burgomaster  of  that  city.  ^^  ^Tis  for  you  to  repress  it,^' 
said  the  functionary  ;  ''1  grant  your  Highness  full  power 
to  do  so."  "And  do  you  think,"  replied  the  Prince, 
'^that  I  can  do  at  this  late  moment  what  the  Duke  of 
Alva  was  unable  to  accomplish  in  the  very  plenitude  of 
his  power  ?" 

At  the  same  time,  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  more  than 
ever  disposed  to  rebuke  his  own  Church  for  practising 


556  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [UlS 

persecution  in  her  turn.  Again  he  lifted  his  command- 
ing voice  in  behalf  of  the  Anabaptists  of  Middelburg. 
He  reminded  the  magistrates  of  that  city  that  these  peace- 
ful burghers  were  always  perfectly  willing  to  bear  their 
part  in  the  common  burdens,  that  their  word  was  as  good 
as  their  oath,  and  that  as  to  the  matter  of  military  service, 
although  their  principles  forbade  them  to  bear  arms,  they 
had  ever  been  ready  to  provide  and  pay  for  substitutes. 
'^  We  declare  to  you,  therefore,"  said  he,  "  that  you  have 
no  right  to  trouble  yourselves  with  any  man's  conscience, 
so  long  as  nothing  is  done  to  cause  private  harm  or  public 
scandal.  We,  therefore,  expressly  ordain  that  you  desist 
from  molesting  these  Baptists,  from  offering  binderance  to 
their  handicraft  and  daily  trade,  by  which  they  can  earn 
bread  for  their  wives  and  children,  and  that  you  permit 
them  henceforth  to  open  their  shops  and  to  do  their 
work,  according  to  the  custom  of  former  days.  Beware, 
therefore,  of  disobedience  and  of  resistance  to  the  ordi- 
nance which  we  now  establish." 

Meantime,  the  armies  on  both  sides  had  been  assem- 
bled, and  had  been  moving  towards  each  other.  Don 
John  was  at  the  head  of  nearly  thirty  thousand  troops,  in- 
cluding a  large  proportion  of  Spanish  and  Italian  veter- 
ans. The  states'  army  hardly  numbered  eighteen  thou- 
sand foot  and  two  thousand  cavalry,  under  the  famous 
Francois  de  la  None,  surnamed  Bras  de  Fer,  who  had 
been  recently  appointed  marechal  de  camp,  and,  under 
Count  Bossu,  commander-in-chief.  The  muster-place  of 
the  provincial  forces  was  in  the  plains  between  Heren- 
thals  and  Lier.  At  this  point  they  expected  to  be  rein- 
forced by  Duke  Oasimir,  who  had  been,  since  the  early 
part  of  the  summer,  in  the  country  of  Zutphen,  but  who 
was  still  remaining  there  inglorious  and  inactive,  until  he 
could  be  furnished  with  the  requisite  advance-money  to 
his  troops. 

Don  John  was  determined,  if  possible,  to  defeat  the 
states'  army  before  Duke  Casimir,  with  his  twelve  thou- 
sand Germans,  should  effect  his  juncture  with  Bossu. 
The  governor,  therefore,  crossed  the  Demer,  near  Aer- 
SQbQt,  to\y^r(j8  the  ?ft4  of  July,  and  offered  ba,ttle,  day 


1578]  JOHN  CAsmm  557 

after  day,  to  the  enemy.  A  series  of  indecisive  skirmishes 
was  the  result,  in  the  last  of  which,  near  Rijmenant,  on 
the  first  day  of  August,  the  royalists  were  worsted  and 
obliged  to  retire  after  a  desultory  action  of  nearly  eight 
hours,  leaving  a  thousand  dead  upon  the  field.  Don  John, 
finding  it  impossible  to  accomplish  his  purpose,  and  to 
achieve  another  Gembloux  victory,  fell  back  again  to  the 
neighborhood  of  Namur. 

The  states'*  forces  remained  waiting  for  the  long-prom- 
ised succor  of  John  Casimir.  It  was  the  26th  of  August, 
however,  before  the  Dake  led  his  twelve  thousand  men  to 
the  neighborhood  of  Mechlin,  where  Bossu  was  encamped. 
This  young  prince  possessed  neither  the  ability  nor  the 
generosity  which  were  requisite  for  the  heroic  part  which 
he  was  ambitious  to  perform.  He  was  thrust,  head  and 
shoulders  as  it  were,  into  the  entangled  affairs  of  the 
Netherlanders,  and  it  was  Elizabeth  of  England,  more  than 
ever  alarmed  at  the  schemes  of  Alen^on,  who  had  pushed 
forward  this  Protestant  champion,  notwithstanding  the 
disinclination  of  Orange. 

The  Queen  was  right  in  her  uneasiness  respecting  the 
French  prince.  The  Catholic  nobles,  relying  upon  the 
strong  feeling  still  rife  throughout  the  Walloon  country 
against  Reformed  religion,  and  inflamed  more  than  ever 
by  their  repugnance  to  Orange,  whose  genius  threw  them 
so  completely  into  the  shade,  had  already  drawn  closer  to 
the  Duke.  The  same  influences  were  at  work  to  intro- 
duce AlenQon  which  had  formerly  been  employed  to 
bring  Matthias  from  Vienna.  Now  that  the  Archduke, 
who  was  to  have  been  the  rival,  had  become  the  depend- 
ent of  William,  they  turned  their  attention  to  the  son  of 
Catharine  de  Medici,  Orange  himself  having  always  kept 
the  Duke  in  reserve,  as  an  instrument  to  overcome  the 
political  coquetry  of  Elizabeth.  With  the  perverseness 
which  was  the  chief  blot  upon  her  character,  she  was 
pleased  that  the  Duke  should  be  still  a  dangler  for  her 
hand,  even  while  she  was  intriguing  against  his  political 
hopes.  She  listened  with  undisguised  rapture  to  his  pro- 
posals of  love,  while  she  was  secretly  thwarting  the  plans 
of  his  ambition. 


558  HISTORY  OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1578 

Meanwhile,  Alengon  had  arrived  at  Mons,  and  we  have 
already  seen  the  feminine  adroitness  with  which  his  sister 
of  Navarre  had  prepared  his  entrance.  Not  in  vain  had 
she  cajoled  the  commandant  of  Cambrai  citadel ;  not  idly 
had  she  led  captive  the  hearts  of  Lalain  and  his  Countess, 
thus  securing  the  important  province  of  Hainault  for  the 
Duke.  Don  John  might,  indeed,  gnash  his  teeth  with 
rage,  as  he  marked  the  result  of  all  the  feasting  and  flat- 
tery, the  piping  and  dancing  at  Namur. 

Francis,  Duke  of  Alengon  and — since  the  accession  of 
his  brother  Henry  to  the  French  throne — Duke  of  Anjou, 
was,  upon  the  whole,  the  most  despicable  personage  who 
had  ever  entered  the  Netherlands.  His  previous  career  at 
home  had  been  so  flagrantly  false  that  he  had  forfeited  the 
esteem  of  every  honest  man  in  Europe,  Catholic  or  Lu- 
theran, Huguenot  or  Malcontent.  Reeking  with  the  blood 
of  the  Protestants  of  Issoire,  he  was  now  at  leisure  to  re- 
new his  dalliance  with  the  Queen  of  Protestant  England, 
and  to  resume  his  correspondence  with  the  great  chieftain 
of  the  Reformation  in  the  Netherlands. 

It  is  perhaps  an  impeachment  upon  the  perspicacity  of 
Orange  that  he  could  tolerate  this  mischievous  and  worth- 
less *'  son  of  France,'*  even  for  the  grave  reasons  which  in- 
fluenced him.  Nevertheless,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
he  only  intended  to  keep  him  in  reserve,  for  the  purpose 
of  irritating  the  jealousy  and  quickening  the  friendship  of 
the  English  Queen.  Those  who  see  anything  tortuous  in 
such  politics  must  beware  of  judging  the  intriguing  age 
of  Philip  and  Catharine  de  Medici  by  the  higher  standard 
of  later,  and  possibly  more  candid,  times.  It  would  have 
been  puerile  for  a  man  of  William  the  Silent's  resources 
to  allow  himself  to  be  outwitted  by  the  intrigues  of  all  the 
courts  and  cabinets  in  Europe.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, as  the  Prince  could  no  longer  exclude  Alengon 
from  the  country,  it  became  necessary  to  accept  his  friend- 
ship and  to  hold  him  in  control.  The  Duke  had  formally 
offered  his  assistance  to  the  states-general,  directly  after 
the  defeat  of  Gembloux,  and  early  in  July  had  made  his 
appearance  in  Mons.  Hence  he  despatched  his  envoys, 
Des  Pruneaux  and  Rochefort,  to  deal  with  the  states-gen- 


1578]  DISCONTENT   OF  ELIZABETH  559 

eral  and  with  Orange,  while  he  treated  Matthias  with  con- 
tempt, and  declared  that  he  had  no  intention  to  negotiate 
with  him. 

The  French  King  was  naturally  supposed  to  be  privy  to 
his  brother's  schemes,  for  it  was  thought  ridiculous  to 
suggest  that  Henry's  own  troops  could  be  led  by  his  own 
brother,  on  this  foreign  expedition,  without  his  conni- 
vance. At  the  same  time,  private  letters,  written  by  him 
at  this  epoch,  expressed  disapprobation  of  the  schemes  of 
Alengon  and  jealousy  of  his  aggrandizement.  It  was, 
perhaps,  difficult  to  decide  as  to  the  precise  views  of  a 
monarch  who  was  too  weak  to  form  opinions  for  himself, 
and  too  false  to  maintain  those  with  which  he  had  been 
furnished  by  others. 

The  Queen  of  England  was  highly  incensed  by  the  act- 
ual occurrence  of  the  invasion  which  she  had  so  long 
dreaded.  She  was  loud  in  her  denunciations  of  the  dan- 
ger and  dishonor  which  would  be  the  result  to  the  prov- 
inces of  this  French  alliance.  She  threatened  not  only  to 
withdraw  herself  from  their  cause,  but  even  to  take  arms 
against  a  commonwealth  which  had  dared  to  accept  Alen- 
(;on  for  its  master.  She  had  originally  agreed  to  furnish 
one  hundred  thousand  pounds  by  way  of  loan.  This  as- 
sistance had  been  afterwards  commuted  into  a  levy  of 
three  thousand  foot  and  two  thousand  horse,  to  be  added 
to  the  forces  of  John  Casimir,  and  to  be  placed  under  his 
command.  It  had  been  stipulated  also  that  the  Palatine 
should  have  the  rank  and  pay  of  an  English  general-in- 
chief,  and  be  considered  as  the  Queen's  lieutenant.  The 
money  had  been  furnished  and  the  troops  enrolled.  So 
much  had  been  already  bestowed,  and  could  not  be  re- 
called, but  it  was  not  probable  that,  in  her  present  humor, 
the  Queen  would  be  induced  to  add  to  her  favors.  The 
Prince,  obliged  by  the  necessity  of  the  case,  had  prescribed 
the  terms  and  the  title  under  which  Alengon  should  be 
accepted.  Upon  the  13th  of  August  the  Duke's  envoy 
concluded  a  convention  in  twenty -three  articles,  which 
were  afterwards  subscribed  by  the  Duke  himself,  at  Mons, 
upon  the  20th  of  the  same  month. 

These  articles  were  certainly  drawn  up  with  skill.     A 


560  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1578 

high-sounding  but  barren  title,  which  gratified  the  Duke's 
vanity  and  signified  nothing,  had  been  conferred  upon 
him,  while  at  the  same  time  he  was  forbidden  to  make 
conquests  or  contracts,  and  was  obliged  to  submit  himself 
to  the  civil  government  of  the  country :  in  short,  he  was 
to  obey  the  Prince  of  Orange  in  all  things — and  so  here 
was  another  plot  of  the  Prince's  enemies  neutralized. 
Thus,  for  the  present  at  least,  had  the  position  of  Anjou 
been  defined. 

As  the  month  of  August,  during  which  it  was  agreed 
that  negotiations  with  the  governor-general  should  remain 
open,  had  already  half  expired,  certain  articles,  drawn  up 
by  the  states-general,  were  at  once  laid  before  Don  John. 
Lord  Cobham  and  Sir  Francis  Walsingham  were  then  in 
the  Netherlands,  having  been  sent  by  Elizabeth  for  the 
purpose  of  effecting  a  pacification  of  the  estates  with  the 
governor,  if  possible.  After  a  conference,  on  the  24th  of 
August,  1578,  Walsingham  and  Cobham  addressed  a  let- 
ter to  the  states-general,  deploring  the  disingenuous  and 
procrastinating  conduct  of  the  governor,  and  begging  that 
the  failure  to  effect  a  pacification  might  not  be  imputed  to 
them.     They  then  returned  to  England. 

The  imperial  envoy.  Count  Schwartzburg,  at  whose  ur- 
gent solicitation  this  renewed  attempt  at  a  composition 
had  been  made,  was  most  desirous  that  the  governor  should 
accept  the  articles.  They  formed,  indeed,  the  basis  of  a 
liberal,  constitutional,  representative  government,  in  which 
the  Spanish  monarch  was  to  retain  only  a  strictly  limited 
sovereignty.  The  proposed  convention  required  Don  John, 
with  all  his  troops  and  adherents,  forthwith  to  leave  the 
land,  after  giving  up  all  strongholds  and  cities  in  his  pos- 
session. It  provided  that  the  Archduke  Matthias  should 
remain  as  governor-general,  under  the  conditions  accord- 
ing to  which  he  had  heen  originally  accepted.  It  left  the 
question  of  religious  worship  to  the  decision  of  the  states- 
general.  It  provided  for  the  release  of  all  prisoners,  the 
return  of  all  exiles,  the  restoration  of  all  confiscated  prop- 
erty. It  stipulated  that  upon  the  death  or  departure  of 
Matthias,  his  Majesty  was  not  to  appoint  a  governor-gen- 
eral without  the  consent  of  the  states-general. 


1578]  POSITION  OF  DON   JOHN  561 

When  Count  Scliwartzburg  waited  upon  the  governor 
with  these  astonishing  propositions — which  Walsingham 
might  well  call  somewhat  hard — he  found  him  less  dis- 
posed to  explode  with  wrath  than  he  had  been  in  previous 
conferences.  Already  the  spirit  of  the  impetuous  young 
soldier  was  broken,  both  by  the  ill  health  which  was  rap- 
idly undermining  his  constitution  and  by  the  helpless  con- 
dition in  which  he  had  been  left  while  contending  with  the 
great  rebellion. 

Being  in  so  desponding  a  mood,  he  declined  entering 
into  any  controversy  with  regard  to  the  new  propositions, 
which,  however,  he  characterized  as  most  iniquitous.  He 
stated  merely  that  his  Majesty  had  determined  to  refer  the 
Netherland  matters  to  the  arbitration  of  the  Emperor;  that 
the  Duke  de  Terra  Nova  would  soon  be  empowered  to  treat 
upon  the  subject  at  the  imperial  court ;  and  that,  in  the 
mean  time,  he  was  himself  most  anxiously  awaiting  his 
recall. 

A  synod  of  the  Reformed  churches  had  been  held  during 
the  month  of  June  at  Dort.  There  they  had  laid  down  a 
platform  of  their  principles  of  church  government  in  one 
hundred  and  one  articles.  In  the  same  month  the  leading 
members  of  the  Reformed  Church  had  drawn  up  an  ably 
reasoned  address  to  Matthias  and  the  council  of  state  on 
the  subject  of  a  general  peace  of  religion  for  the  provinces. 

William  of  Orange  did  his  utmost  to  improve  the  oppor- 
tunity. He  sketched  a  system  of  provisional  toleration, 
which  he  caused  to  be  signed  by  the  Archduke  Matthias, 
and  which,  at  least  for  a  season,  was  to  establish  religious 
freedom.  The  brave,  tranquil,  solitary  man  stih  held  his 
track  across  the  raging  waves,  shedding  as  much  light  as 
one  clear  human  soul  could  dispense  ;  yet  the  dim  lantern, 
so  far  in  advance,  was  swallowed  in  the  mist  ere  those 
who  sailed  in  his  wake  could  shape  their  course  by  his  ex- 
ample. No  man  understood  him.  Not  even  his  nearest 
friends  comprehended  his  views,  nor  saw  that  he  strove 
to  establish  not  freedom  for  Calvinism,  but  freedom  for 
conscience.  Sainte-Aldegonde  complained  that  the  Prince 
would  not  persecute  the  Anabaptists.  Peter  Dathenus 
denounced  him  as  an  atheist,  while  even  Count  John,  the 

86 


562  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1578 

only  one  left  of  his  valiant  and  generous  brothers,  opposed 
the  religious  peace — except  where  the  advantage  was  on 
the  side  of  the  new  religion.  "Where  the  Catholics  had 
been  effectually  put  down,  as  in  Holland  and  Zeeland, 
honest  John  saw  no  reason  for  allowing  them  to  lift  them- 
selves up  again.  In  the  popish  provinces,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  was  for  a  religious  peace.  In  this  bigoted  spirit 
he  was  followed  by  too  many  of  the  Reforming  mass,  while, 
on  their  part,  the  Walloons  were  already  banding  them- 
selves together  in  the  more  southern  provinces,  under  the 
name  of  Malcontents.  Stigmatized  by  the  Calvinists  as 
'^  Pater-noster  Jacks,"  they  were  daily  drawing  closer  their 
alliance  with  Alen9on,  and  weakening  the  bonds  which 
united  them  with  their  Protestant  brethren.  Count  John 
had  at  length  become  a  permanent  functionary  in  the 
Netherlands.  Urgently  solicited  by  the  leaders  and  the 
great  multitude  of  the  Reformers,  he  had  long  been  un- 
willing to  abandon  his  home  and  to  neglect  the  private 
affairs  which  his  devotion  to  the  Netherland  cause  had 
thrown  into  great  confusion.  Count  John  had  accepted 
the  office  of  governor  of  Gelderland,  to  which  he  had  been 
elected  by  the  estates  of  that  province  on  the  11th  of 
March.  That  important  bulwark  of  Holland,  Zeeland, 
and  Utrecht  on  the  one  side,  and  of  Groningen  and  Fries- 
land  on  the  other — the  main  buttress,  in  short,  of  the 
nascent  republic,  was  now  in  hands  which  would  defend 
it  to  the  last. 

As  soon  as  the  discussion  came  up  in  the  states-general 
on  the  subject  of  the  Dort  petitions.  Orange  requested  that 
every  member  who  had  formed  his  opinions  should  express 
them  fully  and  frankly.  The  result  was  a  projected  con- 
vention, a  draft  for  a  religious  jDeace,  which,  if  definitely 
established,  would  have  healed  many  wounds  and  averted 
much  calamity.  It  was  not,  however,  destined  to  be  ac- 
cepted at  that  time  by  the  states  of  the  different  provinces 
where  it  was  brought  up  for  discussion ;  and  several 
changes  were  made,  both  of  form  and  substance,  before 
the  system  was  adopted  at  all.  Meantime,  for  the  impor- 
tant city  of  Antwerp,  where  religious  broils  were  again  on 
the  point  of  breaking  out,  the  Prince  preferred  a  pro- 


1578]  PROJECT   OF  RELIGIOUS  PEACE  563 

visional  arrangement,  which  he  forthwith  carried  into 
execution. 

This  example  of  religions  peace,  together  with  the  ac- 
tive correspondence  thus  occasioned  with  the  different 
state  assemblies,  excited  the  jealousy  of  the  Catholic 
leaders  and  of  the  Walloon  population.  Champagny,  who, 
despite  his  admirable  qualities  and  brilliant  services,  was 
still  unable  to  place  himself  on  the  same  platform  of  tol- 
eration with  Orange,  now  undertook  a  decided  movement 
against  the  policy  of  the  Prince.  Catholic  to  the  core,  he 
drew  up  a  petition,  remonstrating  most  vigorously  against 
the  draft  for  a  religious  peace  then  in  circulation  through 
the  provinces.  This  petition  to  which  he  procured  many 
signatures  among  the  more  ardent  Catholic  nobles,  was 
carried  with  considerable  solemnity  by  Champagny,  at- 
tended by  many  of  his  confederates,  to  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  and  presented  to  the  magistracy  of  Brussels. 

Unfortunately,  the  mob  outside  the  City  Hall  misun- 
derstood the  purport  of  the  petition.  It  was  easily  rep- 
resented to  the  inflamed  imaginations  of  the  populace 
that  a  Brussels  Saint  Bartholomew  had  been  organized, 
and  that  Champagny,  who  stood  there  before  them,  was 
its  originator  and  manager.  This  was  the  mischievous  in- 
tention ascribed  to  a  petition  which  Champagny  and  his 
friends  had  as  much  right  to  offer — however  narrow  and 
mistaken  their  opinions  might  now  be  considered — as  had 
the  synod  of  Dort  to  present  their  remonstrances.  Never 
was  a  more  malignant  or  more  stupid  perversion  of  a  sim- 
pie  and  not  very  alarming  phrase.  No  allusion  had  been 
made  to  the  Massacre  of  Saint  Bartholomew,  but  all  its 
horrors  were  supposed  to  be  concealed  in  the  sentence 
which  referred  to  Paris.  The  nobles  were  arrested  on  the 
spot  and  hurried  to  prison,  with  the  exception  of  Cham- 
pagny, who  made  his  escape  at  first,  and  lay  concealed 
for  several  days.  He  was,  however,  finally  ferreted  out  of 
his  hiding-place  and  carried  off  to  Ghent.  There  he  was 
thrown  into  strict  confinement,  being  treated  in  all  re- 
spects as  the  accomplice  of  Aerschot  and  the  other  nobles 
who  had  been  arrested  in  the  time  of  Ryhove's  revolu- 
tion.    In  these  views  the  people  were  entirely  wrong. 


564  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1578 

While  these  events  were  taking  place  in  Brussels  and 
Antwerp,  the  two  armies  of  the  states  and  of  Don  John 
were  indolently  watching  each  other.  The  sinews  of  war 
had  been  cut  upon  both  sides.  Both  parties  were  cramped 
by  the  most  abject  poverty.  The  troops  under  Bossu  and 
Casimir,  in  the  camp  near  Mechlin,  were  already  discon- 
tented for  want  of  pay.  The  one  hundred  thousand 
pounds  of  Elizabeth  had  already  been  spent,  and  it  was 
not  probable  that  the  oifended  Queen  would  soon  furnish 
another  subsidy.  The  states  could  with  difficulty  extort 
anything  like  the  assessed  quotas  from  the  different  prov- 
inces. The  Duke  of  AleuQon  was  still  at  Mons,  from 
which  place  he  had  issued  a  violent  proclamation  of  war 
against  Don  John — a  manifesto  which  had,  however,  not 
been  followed  up  by  very  vigorous  demonstrations.  Don 
John  himself  was  in  his  fortiiSed  camp  at  Bouge,  within  a 
league  of  Namur,  but  the  hero  was  consuming  with  men- 
tal and  with  bodily  fever.  He  was,  as  it  were,  besieged. 
He  was  left  entirely  without  funds,  while  his  royal  brother 
obstinately  refused  compliance  with  his  earnest  demands 
to  be  recalled,  and  coldly  neglected  his  importunities  for 
pecuniary  assistance. 

He  wrote  to  the  King,  stating  that  he  was  confined  to 
his  chamber  with  a  fever,  by  which  he  was  already  as 
much  reduced  as  if  he  had  been  ill  for  a  month.  "  I  as- 
sure your  Majesty,"  said  he,  '''that  the  work  here  is 
enough  to  destroy  any  constitution  and  any  life."  He  re- 
minded Philip  how  often  he  had  been  warned  by  him  as 
to  the  insidious  practices  of  the  French.  Those  prophe- 
cies had  now  become  facts.  The  French  had  entered  the 
country  while  some  of  the  inhabitants  were  frightened, 
others  disaffected.  He  felt  deeply  pained,  he  said,  at  be- 
ing disgraced  and  abandoned  by  the  King,  having  served 
him,  both  as  a  brother  and  a  man,  with  love  and  faith 
and  heartiness.  The  pest  was  ravaging  his  little  army. 
Twelve  hundred  were  now  in  hospital,  besides  those 
nursed  in  private  houses,  and  he  had  no  means  or  money 
to  remedy  the  evil. 

Since  the  assassination  of  Escovedo,  a  consuming  mel- 
ancholy had  settled  upon  his  spirits,  and  a  burning  fever 


1678]  DEATH  OF  DON   JOHN  565 

came  in  the  month  of  September  to  destroy  his  physical 
strength.  The  house  where  he  lay  was  a  hovel,  the  only 
chamber  of  which  had  long  been  used  as  a  pigeon-house. 
This  wretched  garret  was  cleansed  as  well  as  it  could  be 
of  its  filth  and  hung  with  tapestry  emblazoned  with  ar- 
morial bearings.  In  that  dove-cot  the  hero  of  Lepanto 
was  destined  to  expire.  During  the  last  few  days  of  his 
illness  he  was  delirious.  Tossing  upon  his  uneasy  couch, 
he  again  arranged  in  imagination  the  combinations  of 
great  battles,  again  shouted  his  orders  to  rushing  squad- 
rons, and  listened  with  brightening  eye  to  the  trumpet  of 
victory.  Reason  returned,  however,  before  the  hour  of 
death,  and  permitted  him  the  opportunity  to  make  the 
dispositions  rendered  necessary  by  his  condition.  He  ap- 
pointed his  nephew,  Alexander  of  Parma,  who  had  been 
watching  assiduously  over  his  death-bed,  to  succeed  him, 
provisionally,  in  the  command  of  the  army  and  in  his 
other  dignities,  received  the  last  sacraments  with  com- 
posure, and  tranquilly  breathed  his  last  upon  the  first  day 
of  October,  the  month  which,  since  the  battle  of  Lepanto, 
he  had  always  considered  a  festive  and  fortunate  one. 

The  body,  when  opened  that  it  might  be  embalmed,  was 
supposed  to  offer  evidence  of  poison.  The  heart  was  dry, 
the  other  internal  organs  were  likewise  so  desiccated  as  to 
crumble  when  touched,  and  the  general  color  of  the  inte- 
rior was  of  a  blackish  brown,  as  if  it  had  been  singed.  Va- 
rious persons  were  mentioned  as  the  probable  criminals  ; 
various  motives  assigned  for  the  commission  of  the  deed. 
Nevertheless,  it  must  be  admitted  that  there  were  causes, 
which  were  undisputed,  for  his  death,  sufficient  to  render 
a  search  for  the  more  mysterious  ones  comparatively  su- 
perfluous. A  disorder  called  the  pest  was  raging  in  his 
camp,  and  had  carried  off  a  thousand  of  his  soldiers  within 
a  few  days,  while  his  mental  sufferings  had  been  acute 
enough  to  turn  his  heart  to  ashes.  Disappointed,  tor- 
mented by  friend  and  foe,  suspected,  insulted,  broken- 
spirited,  it  was  not  strange  that  he  should  prove  an  easy 
victim  to  a  pestilent  disorder  before  which  many  stronger 
men  were  daily  falling. 

It  had  been  Don  John's  dying  request  to  Philip  that  his 


566  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1578 

remains  might  be  buried  in  the  Escorial  by  the  side  of  his 
imperial  father,  and  the  prayer  being  granted,  the  royal 
order  in  due  time  arrived  for  the  transportation  of  the 
corpse  to  Spain.  Permission  had  been  asked  and  given 
for  the  passage  of  a  small  number  of  Spanish  troops  through 
France.  The  thrifty  King  had,  however,  made  no  allu- 
sion to  the  fact  that  those  soldiers  were  to  bear  with  them 
the  mortal  remains  of  Lepanto's  hero,  for  he  was  disposed 
to  save  the  expense  which  a  public  transportation  of  the 
body  and  the  exchange  of  pompous  courtesies  with  the 
authorities  of  every  town  upon  the  long  journey  would 
occasion.  The  corpse  was  accordingly  divided  into  three 
part.s,  and  packed  in  three  separate  bags ;  and  thus — the 
different  portions,  to  save  weight,  being  suspended  at  the 
saddle-bows  of  different  troopers — the  body  of  the  conquer- 
or was  conveyed  to  its  distant  resting-place.  Thus  irrev- 
erently, almost  blasphemously,  the  disjointed  relics  of 
the  great  warrior  were  hurried  through  France — France, 
which  the  romantic  Saracen  slave  had  traversed  but  two 
short  years  before  filled  with  high  hopes  and  pursu- 
ing extravagant  visions.  It  has  been  recorded  by  classic 
historians  that  the  different  fragments,  after  their  arrival 
in  Spain,  were  reunited,  and  fastened  together  with  wire  ; 
that  the  body  was  then  stuffed,  attired  in  magnificent 
habiliments,  placed  upon  its  feet,  and  supported  by  a 
martial  staff,  and  that  thus  prepared  for  a  royal  interview, 
the  mortal  remains  of  Don  John  were  presented  to  his 
Most  Catholic  Majesty.  Philip  is  said  to  have  manifested 
emotion  at  sight  of  the  hideous  spectre — for  hideous  and 
spectral,  despite  of  jewels,  balsams,  and  brocades,  must 
have  been  that  unburied  corpse,  aping  life  in  attitude  and 
vestment,  but  standing  there  only  to  assert  its  privilege  of 
descending  into  the  tomb.  The  claim  was  granted,  and 
Don  John  of  Austria  at  last  found  repose  by  the  side  of  his 
imperial  father. 

A  sufficient  estimate  of  his  character  has  been  apparent 
in  the  course  of  the  narrative.  Dying  before  he  had  quite 
completed  his  thirty-third  year,  he  excites  pity  and  ad- 
miration almost  as  much  as  censure.  His  military  career 
was  a  blaze  of  glory.     Commanding  in  the  Moorish  wars 


1678]  LAST  OF  THE  CRtJSADERS  567 

at  twenty-three,  and  in  the  Turkish  campaigns  at  twenty- 
six,  he  had  achieved  a  matchless  renown  before  he  had 
emerged  from  early  youth  ;  but  his  sun  was  destined  to  go 
down  at  noon.  He  found  neither  splendor  nor  power  in 
the  Netherlands,  where  he  was  deserted  by  his  King  and 
crushed  by  the  superior  genius  of  the  Prince  of  Orange. 
Although  he  yindicated  his  martial  skill  at  Gembloux, 
the  victory  was  fruitless.  It  was  but  the  solitary  spring 
of  the  tiger  from  his  jungle,  and  after  that  striking  con- 
flict his  life  was  ended  in  darkness  and  obscurity.  Pos- 
sessing military  genius  of  a  high  order,  with  extraordinary 
personal  bravery,  he  was  the  last  of  the  Paladins  and  the 
Crusaders. 


part  m     ' 
ALEXANDER  OF  PARMA 
1578-1584 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  RECONCILED  PROVINCES — THE  UNION  OF  UTRECHT 

A  FIFTH  governor  now  stood  in  the  place  which  had 
been  successively  vacated  by  Margaret  of  Parma,  by  Alva, 
by  the  Grand  Commander,  and  by  Don  John  of  Austria. 
Of  all  the  eminent  personages  to  whom  Philip  had  con- 
fided the  reins  of  that  most  difficult  and  dangerous  admin- 
istration, the  man  who  was  now  to  rule  was  by  far  the 
ablest  and  the  best  fitted  for  his  post. 

He  was  now  in  his  thirty-third  year  —  his  uncle  Don 
John,  his  cousin  Don  Carlos,  and  himself,  having  all  been 
born  within  a  few  months  of  each  other.  His  father  was 
Ottavio  Farnese,  the  faithful  lieutenant  of  Charles  the 
Fifth,  and  grandson  of  Pope  Paul  the  Third  ;  his  mother 
was  Margaret  of  Parma,  first  Kegent  of  the  Netherlands 
after  the  departure  of  Philip  from  the  provinces.  His 
education  had  been  completed  at  Alcala,  and  at  Madrid, 
under  the  immediate  supervision  of  his  royal  uncle,  and 
in  the  companionship  of  the  Infant  Carlos  and  the  brill- 
iant Don  John.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  had  been  affi- 
anced to  Maria  of  Portugal,  daughter  of  Prince  Edward, 
granddaughter  of  King  Emanuel,  and  his  nuptials  with 
that  peerless  princess  were  celebrated  soon  afterwards  with 
much  pomp  in  Brussels.  Sons  and  daughters  were  born  to 
him  in  due  time,  during  his  subsequent  residence  in  Par- 
ma. Here,  however,  the  fiery  and  impatient  spirit  of  the 
future  illustrious  commander  was  doomed  for  a  time  to 
fret  under  restraint  and  to  corrode  in  distasteful  repose. 

At  last  the  Holy  League  was  formed,  the  new  and  last 
Crusade  proclaimed,  his  uncle  and  bosom  friend  appointed 
to  the  command  of  the  united  troops  of  Rome,  Spain,  and 


572  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1578 

Venice.  Alexander  Farnese  could  no  longer  be  restrained. 
Disdaining  the  pleadings  of  his  mother  and  of  his  spouse, 
he  extorted  permission  from  Philip,  and  flew  to  the  seat 
of  war  in  the  Levant.  Placed  in  command  of  several 
Genoese  galleys  at  the  battle  of  Lepanto,  he  performed  a 
most  brilliant  exploit  of  personal  daring,  capturing  Mus- 
tapha  Bey's  treasure-ship.  After  a  few  years  of  peaceful 
life,  Philip  sent  him  to  the  Netherlands. 

He  reached  Luxemburg  on  the  18th  of  December,  1577, 
in  time  to  participate,  and  in  fact  to  take  the  lead,  in 
the  signal  victory  of  Gembloux.  He  was  struck  with 
the  fatal  change  which  disappointment  and  anxiety  had 
wrought  upon  the  beautiful  and  haughty  features  of  his 
illustrious  kinsman.  He  closed  his  eyes  in  the  camp,  and 
erected  a  marble  tablet  over  his  heart  in  the  little  church. 
He  now  governed  in  his  stead. 

His  personal  appearance  corresponded  with  his  char- 
acter. He  had  the  head  of  a  gladiator — round,  compact, 
combative,  with  something  alert  and  snake -like  in  its 
movements.  The  black,  closely  shorn  hair  was  erect  and 
bristling.  The  forehead  was  lofty  and  narrow.  The 
features  were  handsome,  the  nose  regularly  aquiline,  the 
eyes  well  opened,  dark,  piercing,  but  with  something 
dangerous  and  sinister  in  their  expression.  There  was 
an  habitual  look  askance,  as  of  a  man  seeking  to  parry 
or  inflict  a  mortal  blow — the  look  of  a  swordsman  and 
professional  fighter.  The  lower  part  of  the  face  was 
swallowed  in  a  bushy  beard,  the  mouth  and  chin  being 
quite  invisible.  He  was  of  middle  stature,  well  formed 
and  graceful  in  person,  princely  in  demeanor,  sumptuous 
and  stately  in  apparel.  His  high  ruff  of  point -lace,  his 
badge  of  the  Golden  Fleece,  his  gold-inlaid  Milan  armor, 
marked  him  at  once  as  one  of  high  degree.  On  the  field 
of  battle  he  possessed  the  rare  gift  of  inspiring  his  sol- 
diers with  his  own  impetuous  and  chivalrous  courage. 
He  ever  led  the  way  upon  the  most  dangerous  and  des- 
perate ventures,  and,  like  his  uncle  and  his  imperial 
grandfather,  well  knew  how  to  reward  the  devotion  of 
his  readiest  followers  with  a  poniard,  a  feather,  a  ribbon, 
a  jewel,  taken  with  his  own  hands  from  his  own  attire. 


1578]       CHARACTERISTICS  OF  ALEXANDER   OF  PARMA        573 

His  military  abilities — now  for  the  first  time  to  be 
largely  called  into  employment — were  unquestionably  su- 
perior to  those  of  Don  John,  whose  name  had  been  sur- 
rounded with  such  splendor  by  the  world-renowned  battle 
of  Lepanto.  Moreover,  he  possessed  far  greater  power 
for  governing  men,  whether  in  camp  or  cabinet.  Less 
attractive  and  fascinating,  he  was  more  commanding  than 
his  kinsman.  He  had  a  single  and  concentrated  kind  of 
character.  He  knew  precisely  the  work  which  Philip  re- 
quired, and  felt  himself  to  be  precisely  the  workman  that 
had  so  long  been  wanted.  Cool,  incisive,  fearless,  artful, 
he  united  the  unscrupulous  audacity  of  a  condottiere  with 
the  wily  patience  of  a  Jesuit.  He  could  coil  unperceived 
through  unsuspected  paths,  could  strike  suddenly,  sting 
mortally.  He  came  prepared,  not  only  to  smite  the 
Netherlanders  in  the  open  field,  but  to  cope  with  them 
in  tortuous  policy — to  outwatch  and  outweary  them  in 
the  game  to  which  his  impatient  predecessor  had  fallen 
a  baffled  victim.  He  possessed  the  art  and  the  patience 
— as  time  was  to  prove — not  only  to  undermine  their  most 
impregnable  cities,  but  to  delve  below  the  intrigues  of 
their  most  accomplished  politicians. 

As  for  religion,  Alexander  Farnese  was,  of  oiourse, 
strictly  Catholic,  regarding  all  seceders  from  Romanism 
as  mere  heathen  dogs.  Not  that  he  practically  troubled 
himself  much  with  sacred  matters — for,  during  the  life- 
time of  his  wife,  he  had  cavalierly  thrown  the  whole 
burden  of  his  personal  salvation  upon  her  saintly  shoul- 
ders. Romanism  was  the  creed  of  his  caste.  It  was  the 
religion  of  princes  and  gentlemen  of  high  degree.  As  for 
Lutheranism,  Zwinglism,  Calvinism,  and  similar  systems, 
they  were  but  the  fantastic  rites  of  weavers,  brewers,  and 
the  like — an  ignoble  herd,  whose  presumption  in  entitling 
themselves  Christian,  while  rejecting  the  Pope,  called  for 
their  instant  extermination.  His  personal  habits  were 
extremely  temperate.  He  was  accustomed  to  say  that  he 
ate  only  to  support  life ;  and  he  rarely  finished  a  dinner 
without  having  risen  three  or  four  times  from  table  to 
attend  to  some  public  business  which,  in  his  opinion, 
ought  not  to  be  deferred. 


574  HISTORY  OP  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1578 

His  previous  connections  in  the  Netherlands  were  of  nse 
to  him,  and  he  knew  how  to  turn  them  to  immediate  ac- 
count. The  great  nobles,  who  had  been  uniformly  actu- 
ated by  jealousy  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who  had  been 
baffled  in  their  intrigue  with  Matthias,  whose  half-blown 
designs  upon  Anjou  had  already  been  nipped  in  the  bud, 
were  now  peculiarly  in  a  position  to  listen  to  the  wily 
tongue  of  Alexander  Farnese.  The  Montignys,  the  La 
Mottes,  the  Meluns,  the  Egmonts,  the  Aerschots,  the 
Havres,  foiled  and  doubly  foiled  in  all  their  small  in- 
trigues and  their  base  ambition,  were  ready  to  sacrifice 
their  country  to  the  man  they  hated,  and  to  the  ancient 
religion  which  they  thought  that  they  loved.  The  Mal- 
contents ravaging  the  land  of  Hainault  and  threatening 
Ghent,  the  "  Pater-noster  Jacks"  who  were  only  waiting 
for  a  favorable  opportunity  and  a  good  bargain  to  make 
their  peace  with  Spain,  were  the  very  instruments  which 
Parma  most  desired  to  use  at  this  opening  stage  of  his 
career.  The  position  of  affairs  was  far  more  favorable 
for  him  than  it  had  been  for  Don  John  when  the  latter 
first  succeeded  to  power.  On  the  whole,  there  seemed  a 
bright  prospect  of  success. 

It  was  at  Ghent  that  the  opening  scenes  in  Parma's 
administration  took  place.  Of  the  high-born  suitors  for 
the  Netherland  bride,  two  were  still  watching  each  other 
with  jealous  eyes.  Anjou  was  at  Mons,  which  city  he  had 
secretly,  but  unsuccessfully  attempted  to  master  for  his 
own  purposes.  John  Casimir  was  at  Ghent,  fomenting  an 
insurrection  which  he  had  neither  skill  to  guide  nor  in- 
telligence to  comprehend.  There  was  a  talk  of  making 
him  Count  of  Flanders,  and  his  paltry  ambition  was  daz- 
zled by  the  glittering  prize.  Anjou — disgusted  with  the 
temporary  favor  accorded  to  Casimir,  a  rival  whom  he 
affected  to  despise — disbanded  his  troops  in  dudgeon,  and 
prepared  to  retire  to  France.  Several  thousand  of  these 
mercenaries  took  service  immediately  with  the  Malcon- 
tents under  Montigny,  thus  swelling  the  ranks  of  the 
deadliest  foes  to  that  land  over  which  Anjou  had  assumed 
the  title  of  protector.  The  states'  army,  meanwhile,  had 
been  rapidly  dissolving.     There  were  hardly  men  enough 


ALEXANDER  FARNESE,  DUKE  OF  PARMA 


1578]  GHENT  575 

left  to  make  a  demonstration  in  the  field  or  properly  to 
garrison  the  more  important  towns.  The  unhappy  prov- 
inces, torn  by  civil  and  religious  dissensions,  were  over- 
run by  hordes  of  unpaid  soldiers  of  all  nations,  creeds, 
and  tongues — Spaniards,  Italians,  Burgundians,  Walloons, 
Germans,  Scotch,  and  English ;  some  who  came  to  attack 
and  others  to  protect,  but  who  all  achieved  nothing,  and 
agreed  in  nothing,  save  to  maltreat  and  to  outrage  the 
defenceless  peasantry  and  denizens  of  the  smaller  towns. 
The  contemporary  chronicles  are  full  of  harrowing  domes- 
tic tragedies  in  which  the  actors  are  always  the  insolent 
foreign  soldiery  and  their  desperate  victims. 

Ghent  was  now  the  focus  of  discord,*  the  centre  whence 
radiated  not  the  light  and  warmth  of  reasonable  and 
intelligent  liberty,  but  the  bale-fires  of  murderous  li- 
cense and  savage  anarchy.*  The  second  city  of  the 
Netherlands,  one  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  powerful 
cities  of  Christendom,  it  had  been  its  fate  so  often  to 
overstep  the  bounds  of  reason  and  moderation  in  its  de- 
votion to  freedom,  so  often  to  incur  ignominious  chastise- 
ment from  power  which  its  own  excesses  had  made  more 
powerful,  that  its  name  was  already  becoming  a  byword. 
It  now,  most  fatally  and  forever,  was  to  misunderstand 
its  true  position.  The  Prince  of  Orange,  the  great  archi- 
tect of  his  country's  fortunes,  would  have  made  it  the 
keystone  of  the  arch  which  he  was  laboring  to  construct. 
Had  he  been  allowed  to  perfect  his  plan,  the  structure 
might  have  endured  for  ages,  a  perpetual  bulwark  against 

*  The  ultra-Calvinistic  Protestants  burned  at  the  stake,  after  torture, 
four  Minor  Friars  and  two  Augustiiiian  fathers  at  Ghent,  and  two  Minor 
Friars  at  Bruges,  during  the  violence  described  further  on.  In  Ghent  this 
imitation  of  the  acts  of  the  inquisition  took  place  on  the  very  spot  in  the 
Friday  Market  where  the  Duke  of  Alva  had  held  his  autos-da-fe,  and  where 
first  stood  the  statue  of  Charles  the  Fifth  (pulled  down  by  the  French  repub- 
licans in  17^4),  but  which  is  now  occupied  by  the  bronze  effigy  of  the  great 
people's  leader,  Jacques  Van  Artevelde.  The  turbulence  of  these  Prot- 
estant fanatics  made  a  union  of  all  the  Netherlands  impossible.  A 
monument  in  honor  of  the  Pacification  of  Ghent  was  unveiled,  with  an  ap- 
propriate historical  address  by  Professor  Paul  Frederick,  September  3, 1876, 
on  the  three  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  signing  of  that  famous  instru- 
ment. 


576  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1578 

tyranny  and  wrong.  The  temporary  and  slender  frame 
by  which  the  great  artist  had  supported  his  arch  while 
still  unfinished  was  plucked  away  by  rude  and  ribald 
hands ;  the  keystone  plunged  into  the  abyss,  to  be  lost 
forever,  and  the  great  work  of  Orange  remained  a  frag- 
ment from  its  commencement. 

The  grass  was  growing  and  the  cattle  were  grazing  in 
the  streets  of  Ghent,  where  once  the  tramp  of  workmen 
going  to  and  from  their  labor  was  like  the  movement 
of  a  mighty  army.  The  great  majority  of  the  burghers 
were  of  the  Keformed  religion,  and  disposed  to  make 
effectual  resistance  to  the  Malcontents,  led  by  the  dis- 
affected nobles.  The  city,  considering  itself  the  natural 
head  of  all  the  southern  country,  was  indignant  that  the 
AYalloon  provinces  should  dare  to  reassert  that  supremacy 
of  Romanism  which  had  been  so  effectually  suppressed,  and 
to  admit  the  possibility  of  friendly  relations  with  a  sov- 
ereign who  had  been  virtually  disowned.  There  were  two 
parties,  however,  in  Ghent.  Both  were  led  by  men  of 
abandoned  and  dangerous  character.  Imbize,  the  worse 
of  the  two  demagogues,  was  inconstant,  cruel,  cowardly, 
and  treacherous,  but  possessed  of  eloquence  and  a  talent 
for  intrigue.  Ryhove  was  a  bolder  ruffian  —  wrathful, 
bitter,  and  unscrupulous.  Imbize  was  at  the  time  op- 
posed to  Orange,  disliking  his  moderation,  and  trembling 
at  his  firmness.  Ryhove  considered  himself  the  friend 
of  the  Prince.  We  have  seen  that  he  had  consulted  him 
previously  to  his  memorable  attack  upon  Aerschot,  in 
the  autumn  of  the  preceding  year,  and  we  know  the  re- 
sult of  that  conference. 

The  Prince,  with  the  slight  dissimulation  which  be- 
longed less  to  his  character  than  to  his  theory  of  politics, 
and  which  was  perhaps  not  to  be  avoided  in  that  age  of 
intrigue  by  any  man  who  would  govern  his  fellow-men, 
whether  for  good  or  evil,  had  winked  at  a  project  which 
he  would  not  openly  approve.  He  was  not  thoroughly 
acquainted,  however,  with  the  desperate  character  of  the 
man,  for  he  would  have  scorned  an  instrument  so  thor- 
oughly base  as  Ryhove  subsequently  proved.  The  vio- 
lence of  that  personage  on  the  occasion  of  the  arrest  of 


15V8]  FATE  OF  VISCH  AND  HESSELS  577 

Aerschot  and  his  colleagues  was  mildness  compared  with 
the  deed  with  which  he  now  disgraced  the  cause  of  free- 
dom. He  had  been  ordered  out  from  Ghent  to  oppose 
a  force  of  Malcontents  which  was  gathering  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Courtray;  but  he  swore  that  he  would  not 
leave  the  gates  so  long  as  two  of  the  gentlemen  whom  he 
had  arrested  on  the  28th  of  the  previous  October,  and  who 
yet  remained  in  captivity,  were  still  alive.  These  were  ex- 
Procurator  Visch  and  Blood-councillor  Hessels.  On  the 
fourth  day  of  the  same  month  in  1578,  these  two  aged 
prisoners  were  taken  out  of  the  city  and  forthwith  hanged 
on  a  tree  without  the  least  pretence  of  trial,  or  even  sen- 
tence. 

KSuch  was  the  end  of  Hessels,  the  famous  councillor  who 
had  been  wont  to  shout  *'  ad patibulum  "  in  his  sleep.  It 
was  cruel  that  the  fair  face  of  civil  liberty,  showing  itself 
after  years  of  total  eclipse,  should  be  insulted  by  such 
bloody  deeds  on  the  part  of  her  votaries.  It  was  sad  that 
the  crimes  of  men  like  Imbize  and  Ryhove  should  have 
cost  more  to  the  cause  of  religious  and  political  free- 
dom than  the  lives  of  twenty  thousand  such  ruffians  were 
worth.  But  for  the  influence  of  demagogues  like  these, 
counteracting  the  lofty  efforts  and  pure  life  of  Orange,  the 
separation  might  never  have  occurred  between  the  two 
portions  of  the  Netherlands.  The  Prince  had  not  power 
enough,  however,  nor  the  nascent  commonwealth  sufficient 
consistency,  to  repress  the  disorganizing  tendency  of  a 
fanatical  Romanism  on  the  one  side  and  a  retaliatory  and 
cruel  ochlocracy  on  the  other. 

Such  events,  with  the  hatred  growing  daily  more  in- 
tense between  the  Walloons  and  the  Ghenters,  made  it 
highly  important  that  some  kind  of  an  accord  should  be 
concluded,  if  possible.  In  the  country,  the  Malcontents, 
under  pretence  of  protecting  the  Catholic  clergy,  were 
daily  abusing  and  plundering  the  people,  while  in  Ghent 
the  clergy  were  maltreated,  the  cloisters  pillaged,  under 
the  pretence  of  maintaining  liberty.  In  this  emergency 
the  eyes  of  all  honest  men  turned  naturally  to  Orange. 

Deputies  went  to  and  fro  between  Antwerp  and  Ghent. 
Three  points  were  laid  down  by  the  Prince  as  indispensa- 
37 


578  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1578 

ble  to  any  arrangement — first,  that  the  Catholic  clergy 
should  be  allowed  the  free  use  of  their  property ;  second- 
ly, that  they  should  not  be  disturbed  in  the  exercise  of 
their  religion  ;  thirdly,  that  the  gentlemen  kept  in  prison 
since  the  memorable  28th  of  October  should  be  released. 

In  a  considerably  modified  form  these  terius  were  ac- 
cepted and  a  formal  act  of  acceptance  signed  at  Antwerp 
on  the  3d  of  November,  1578.  The  Prince  of  Orange, 
Davison,*  the  envoy  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  delegates 
from  the  states-general  and  the  city  of  Brussels  also  urged, 
in  various  interviews,  the  faithful  execution  of  the  act  of 
acceptance. 

Yet  even  while  they  were  reasoning,  a  fresh  tumult  oc- 
curred at  Ghent.  The  people  had  been  inflamed  by  dema- 
gogues, and  by  the  insane  bowlings  of  Peter  Dathenus, 
the  unfrocked  monk  of  Poperingen,  who  had  been  the  ser- 
vant and  minister  both  of  the  Pope  and  of  Orange,  and 
who  now  hated  each  with  equal  fervor.  The  populace, 
under  these  influences,  rose  in  its  wrath  upon  the  Catho- 
lics, smote  all  their  images  into  fragments,  destroyed  all 
their  altar  pictures,  robbed  them  of  much  valuable  prop- 
erty, and  turned  all  the  papists  themselves  out  of  the 
city.  The  riot  was  so  furious  that  it  seemed,  says  a 
chronicler,  as  if  all  the  inhabitants  had  gone  raving  mad. 
The  drums  beat  the  alarm,  the  magistrates  went  forth  to 
expostulate,  but  no  commands  were  heeded  till  the  work 
of  destruction  had  been  accomplished,  when  the  tumult 
expired  at  last  by  its  own  limitation. 

Affairs  seemed  more  threatening  than  ever.  Nothing 
more  excited  the  indignation  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  than 
such  senseless  iconomachy.  In  fact,  he  had  at  one  time 
procured  an  enactment  by  the  Ghent  authorities,  making 
it  a  crime  punishable  with  death.  Therefore  it  may  be 
well  supposed  that  this  fresh  act  of  senseless  violence,  in 
the  very  teeth  of  his  remonstrances,  in  the  very  presence 

*  Davison  had  lived  long  in  Antwerp  and  was  an  officer  in  the  English 
church  there,  afterwards  visiting  The  Hague,  with  his  page,  William  Brew- 
ster, who  led  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  to  America.  The  earlier  years  of  Eng- 
lish relations  with  Antwerp,  1558  -  156Y,  have  been  ably  treated  in  Dr. 
Hajo  Brugraan's  England  en  de  Hederlanden,  Groningen,  1892. 


1578]  DIFFICULTIES  SMOOTHED  579 

of  his  envoys,  met  with  his  stern  disapprobation.  He  was 
on  the  point  of  publishing  his  defence  against  the  calum- 
nies which  his  toleration  had  drawn  upon  him  from  both 
Catholic  and  Calvinist.  He  was  deeply  revolving  the 
question  whether  it  were  not  better  to  turn  his  back  at 
once  upon  a  country  which  seemed  so  incapable  of  com- 
prehending his  high  purposes  or  seconding  his  virtuous 
efforts.  From  both  projects  he  was  dissuaded ;  and  al- 
though bitterly  wronged  by  both  friend  and  foe,  althqugh 
feeling  that  even  in  his  own  Holland  there  were  whispers 
against  his  purity,  since  his  favorable  inclinations  towards 
Anjou  had  become  the  general  topic,  yet  he  still  preserved 
his  majestic  tranquillity,  and  smiled  at  the  arrows  which 
fell  harmless  at  his  feet. 

The  Prince  had  that  year  been  chosen  unanimously  by 
the  four  "  members  "  of  Flanders  to  be  governor  of  that 
province,  but  had  again  declined  the  office.  The  inhabi- 
tants, notwithstanding  the  furious  transactions  at  Ghent, 
professed  attachment  to  his  person  and  respect  for  his 
authority.  He  was  implored  to  go  to  the  city.  His  pres- 
ence, and  that  alone,  would  restore  the  burghers  to  their 
reason,  but  the  task  was  not  a  grateful  one.  It  was  also 
not  unattended  with  danger.  Nevertheless,  on  the  4th 
of  December,  the  Prince  came  to  Ghent.  He  held  con- 
stant and  anxious  conferences  with  the  magistrates.  He 
was  closeted  daily  with  John  Casimir,  whose  vanity  and  ex- 
travagance of  temper  he  managed  with  his  usual  skill.  He 
even  dined  with  Imbize,  and  thus,  by  smoothing  diffi- 
culties and  reconciling  angry  passions,  he  succeeded  at 
last  in  obtaining  the  consent  of  all  to  a  religious  peace, 
which  was  published  on  the  27th  of  December,  1578.  It 
contained  the  same  provisions  as  those  of  the  project 
prepared  and  proposed  during  the  previous  summer 
throughout  the  Netherlands.  Exercise  of  both  religions 
was  established  ;  mutual  insults  and  irritations — whether 
by  word,  book,  picture,  song,  or  gesture — were  prohibited, 
under  severe  penalties,  while  all  persons  were  sworn  to 
protect  the  common  tranquillity  by  blood,  purse,  and  life. 
The  Catholics,  by  virtue  of  this  accord,  re-entered  into 
possession  of  their  churches  and  cloisters,  but  nothing 


580  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [U18 

could  be  obtained  in  favor  of  the  imprisoned  gentle- 
men. 

The  Walloons  and  Malcontents  were  now  summoned  to 
lay  down  their  arms ;  but,  as  might  be  supposed,  they 
expressed  dissatisfaction  with  the  religious  peace,  pro- 
claiming it  hostile  to  the  Ghent  treaty  and  the  Brussels 
union.  In  short,  nothing  would  satisfy  them  but  total 
suppression  of  the  Keformed  religion,  as  nothing  would 
content  Imbize  and  his  faction  but  the  absolute  extermi- 
nation of  Romanism.  A  strong  man  might  well  seem 
powerless  in  the  midst  of  such  obstinate  and  worthless 
fanatics. 

It  was  some  relief  to  the  situation  when  John  Casimir 
took  himself  out  of  the  Netherlands  into  Germany,  whence 
he  paid  a  visit  to  Britain.  There  he  was  feasted,  flat- 
tered, and  Gartered  by  the  coquette  who  occupied  Eng- 
land's throne.  The  unpaid  mercenaries  soon  after  marched 
homeward  into  Germany.  Casimir  received  the  news  of 
the  departure  of  his  ragged  soldiery  on  the  very  day 
which  witnessed  his  investment  with  the  Garter  by  the 
fair  hands  of  Elizabeth  herself.  A  few  days  afterwards 
he  left  England,  accompanied  by  an  escort  of  lords  and 
gentlemen,  especially  appointed  for  that  purpose  by  the 
Queen.  He  landed  in  Flushing,  where  he  was  received 
with  distinguished  hospitality,  by  order  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  and  on  the  14th  of  February,  1579,  he  passed 
through  Utrecht. 

The  Duke  of  Anjou,  meantime,  after  disbanding  his 
troops,  had  lingered  for  a  while  near  the  frontier.  Upon 
taking  his  final  departure,  he  sent  his  resident  minister, 
Des  Fruneaux,  with  a  long  communication  to  the  states- 
general,  complaining  that  they  had  not  published  their 
contract  with  himself,  nor  fulfilled  its  conditions.  He 
excused,  as  well  as  he  could,  the  awkward  fact  that  his 
disbanded  troops  had  taken  refuge  with  the  Walloons, 
and  he  affected  to  place  his  own  departure  upon  the 
ground  of  urgent  political  business  in  France,  to  arrange 
which  his  royal  brother  had  required  his  immediate  at- 
tendance. He  furthermore  most  hypocritically  expressed 
a  desire  for  a  speedy  reconciliation  of  the  provinces  with 


1578]  ADIEUX  OF  ANJOU  581 

their  sovereign,  and  a  resolution  that — although  for  their 
sake  he  had  made  himself  a  foe  to  his  Catholic  Majesty — 
he  would  still  interpose  no  obstacle  to  so  desirable  a  result. 

To  such  shallow  discourse  the  states  answered  with  in- 
finite urbanity,  for  it  was  the  determination  of  Orange 
not  to  make  enemies,  at  that  juncture,  of  France  and 
England  in  the  same  breath.  They  had  foes  enough  al- 
ready, and  it  seemed  obvious  at  that  moment,  to  all  per- 
sons most  observant  of  the  course  of  affairs,  that  a  matri- 
monial alliance  was  soon  to  unite  the  two  crowns.  The 
probability  of  Anjou's  marriage  with  Elizabeth  was,  in 
truth,  a  leading  motive  with  Orange  for  his  close  alliance 
with  the  Duke.  The  political  structure,  according  to 
which  he  had  selected  the  French  Prince  as  protector  of 
the  Netherlands,  was  sagaciously  planned,  but  unfortu- 
nately its  foundation  was  the  shifting  sand-bank  of  female 
and  royal  coquetry. 

The  estates  addressed  elaborate  apologies  and  unlimited 
professions  to  the  Duke.  They  thanked  him  heartily  for 
his  achievements,  expressed  unbounded  regret  at  his  de- 
parture, with  sincere  hopes  for  his  speedy  return,  and 
promised  "eternal  remembrance  of  his  heroic  virtues.'' 
They  assured  him,  moreover,  that  should  the  1st  of  the 
following  March  arrive  without  bringing  with  it  an  hon- 
orable peace  with  his  Catholic  Majesty,  they  should  then 
feel  themselves  compelled  to  declare  that  the  King  had 
forfeited  his  right  to  the  sovereignty  of  these  provinces. 
In  this  case  they  concluded  that,  as  the  inhabitants  would 
be  then  absolved  from  their  allegiance  to  the  Spanish 
monarch,  it  would  then  be  in  their  power  to  treat  with 
his  Highness  of  Anjou  concerning  the  sovereignty,  ac- 
cording to  the  contract  already  existing. 

These  assurances  were  ample,  but  the  states,  knowing 
the  vanity  of  the  man,  offered  other  inducements,  some 
of  which  seemed  sufficiently  puerile.  They  promised  that 
'Miis  statue,  in  copper,  should  be  placed  in  the  public 
squares  of  Antwerp  and  Brussels,  for  the  eternal  admira- 
tion of  posterity,"  and  that  a  "crown  of  olive -leaves 
should  be  presented  to  him  every  year.^'  The  Duke — 
not  inexorable  to  such  courteous  solicitations — was  willing 


582  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1578 

to  achieve  both  immortality  and  power  by  continuing  his 
friendly  relations  with  the  states,  and  he  answered  ac- 
cordingly in  the  most  courteous  terms. 

The  personal  courage  and  profound  military  science  of 
Parma  were  invaluable  to  the  royal  cause  ;  but  his  subtle, 
unscrupulous,  and  subterranean  combinations  of  policy 
were  even  more  fruitful  at  this  period.  No  man  ever 
understood  the  art  of  bribery  more  thoroughly  or  prac- 
tised it  more  skilfully.  He  bought  a  politician,  or  a  gen- 
eral, or  a  grandee,  or  a  regiment  of  infantry,  usually  at 
the  cheapest  price  at  which  those  articles  could  be  pur- 
chased, and  always  with  the  utmost  delicacy  with  which 
such  traffic  could  be  conducted.  Men  conveyed  them- 
selves to  government  for  a  definite  price  —  fixed  accu- 
rately in  florins  and  groats,  in  places  and  pensions — while 
a  decent  gossamer  of  conventional  phraseology  was  ever 
allowed  to  float  over  the  nakedness  of  unblushing  treason. 
Men  high  in  station,  illustrious  by  ancestry,  brilliant  in 
valor,  huckstered  themselves,  and  swindled  a  confiding 
country  for  as  ignoble  motives  as  ever  led  counterfeiters 
or  bravoes  to  the  gallows,  but  they  were  dealt  with  in 
public  as  if  actuated  only  by  the  loftiest  principles.  Be- 
hind their  ancient  shields,  ostentatiously  emblazoned  with 
fidelity  to  Church  and  King,  they  thrust  forth  their  itch- 
ing palms  with  the  mendacity  which  would  be  hardly 
credible,  were  it  not  attested  by  the  monuments,  more 
perennial  than  brass,  of  their  own  letters  and  recorded 
conversations. 

One  striking  example  is  seen  in  the  treason  by  which 
the  Walloon  provinces  were  won  over  to  Spain.  John 
Sarrasin,  a  monk,  in  Artois,  was  Parma's  tool,  and  Gos- 
son,  a  Catholic  advocate  in  Arras,  was  the  champion  of 
law  and  freedom.  The  partisans  of  Parma  and  of  Orange 
were  active,  and  many  dramatic  scenes  occurred  during  the 
revolution  and  counter-revolution  called  ''The  Troubles 
of  Arras.''  Bribery  and  treason  won  the  day.  Gosson  was 
beheaded  October  25, 1578.  Sarrasin  became  Archbishop 
of  Cambrai,  and  some  of  the  nobles  received  due  reward 
from  Madrid. 

This  municipal  revolution  and  counter-revolution  in 


1578]  REMONSTRANCES  583 

Arras  was  the  last  blow  struck  for  freedom  in  the  Walloon 
country.  The  failure  of  the  movement  made  that  scis- 
sion of  the  Netherlands  certain,  which  has  endured  till 
our  days,  for  the  influence  of  the  ecclesiastics  in  the 
states  of  Artois  and  Hainault,  together  with  the  military 
power  of  the  Malcontent  grandees,  whom  Parma  and  John 
Sarrasin  had  purchased,  could  no  longer  be  resisted.  The 
liberty  of  the  Celtic  provinces  was  sold,  and  a  few  high- 
born traitors  received  the  price.  The  private  treaty,  by 
which  tlie  Walloon  provinces  of  Artois,  Hainault,  Lille, 
Douai,  and  Orchies  united  themselves  in  a  separate  league, 
was  signed  upon  the  6th  of  January,  1579,  but  the  final 
arrangements  for  the  reconciliation  of  the  Malcontent 
nobles  and  their  soldiers  were  not  completed  until  the 
6th  of  April,  upon  which  day  a  secret  paper  was  signed  at 
Mount  Saint  Eloi. 

The  states-general  and  the  whole  national  party  regard- 
ed, with  prophetic  dismay,  the  approaching  dismember- 
ment of  their  common  country.  They  sent  deputation 
after  deputation  to  the  Walloon  states  to  warn  them  of 
their  danger,  and  to  avert,  if  possible,  the  fatal  measure. 
Meantime,  as  by  the  already  accomplished  movement  the 
'' generality"  was  fast  disappearing,  and  was  indeed  but 
the  shadow  of  its  former  self,  it  seemed  necessary  to  make 
a  vigorous  effort  to  restore  something  like  unity  to  the 
struggling  country.  The  Ghent  Pacification  had  been 
their  outer  wall,  ample  enough  and  strong  enough  to  in- 
close and  to  protect  all  the  provinces.  Treachery  and 
religious  fanaticism  had  undermined  the  bulwark  almost 
as  soon  as  reared.  The  whole  beleaguered  country  was 
in  danger  of  becoming  utterly  exposed  to  a  foe  who  grew 
daily  more  threatening.  As  in  besieged  cities  a  sudden 
breastwork  is  thrown  up  internally  when  the  outward  de- 
fences are  crumbling,  so  the  energy  of  Orange  had  been 
silently  preparing  the  Union  of  Utrecht  as  a  temporary 
defence,  until  the  foe  should  be  beaten  back  and  there 
should  be  time  to  decide  on  their  future  course  of  action. 

During  the  whole  month  of  December  an  active  corre- 
spondence had  been  carried  on  by  the  Prince  and  his 
brother  John  with  various  agents  in  Gelderland,  Fries- 


584  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1579 

land,  and  Groningen,  as  well  as  with  influential  personages 
in  the  more  central  provinces  and  cities.  Gelderland, 
the  natural  bulwark  to  Holland  and  Zeeland,  commanding 
the  four  great  rivers  of  the  country,  had  been  fortunately 
placed  under  the  government  of  the  trusty  John  of  Nas- 
sau, that  province  being  warmly  in  favor  of  a  closer 
union  with  its  sister  provinces,  and  particularly  with 
those  more  nearly  allied  to  itself  in  religion  and  in  lan- 
guage. 

Already,  in  December  (1578),  Count  John,  in  behalf 
of  his  brother,  had  laid  before  the  states  of  Holland  and 
Zeeland,  assembled  at  Gorcum,  the  project  of  a  new  union 
with  "  Gelderland,  Ghent,  Friesland,  Utrecht,  Overyssel, 
and  Groningen."  The  proposition  had  been  favorably 
entertained,  and  commissioners  had  been  appointed  to 
confer  with  other  commissioners  at  Utrecht,  whenever 
they  should  be  summoned  by  Count  John.  The  Prince, 
with  the  silence  and  caution  which  belonged  to  his  whole 
policy,  chose  not  to  be  the  ostensible  mover  in  the  plan 
himself.  He  did  not  choose  to  startle  unnecessarily  the 
Archduke  Matthias — the  cipher  who  had  been  placed  by 
his  side,  whose  sudden  subtraction  would  occasion  more 
loss  than  his  presence  had  conferred  benefit.  He  did  not 
choose  to  be  cried  out  upon  as  infringing  the  Ghent  Pac- 
ification, although  the  whole  world  knew  that  treaty  to 
be  hopelessly  annulled.  For  these  and  many  other  weighty 
motives  he  proposed-  that  the  new  Union  should  be  the 
apparent  work  of  other  hands,  and  only  offered  to  him 
and  to  the  country  when  nearly  completed. 

After  various  preliminary  meetings  in  December  and 
January,  the  deputies  of  Gelderland  and  Zutphen,  with 
Count  John,  stadholder  of  these  provinces,  at  their  head, 
met  with  the  deputies  of  Holland,  Zeeland,  and  the  prov- 
inces between  the  Ems  and  the  Lauwer  Zee,  early  in  Jan- 
uary, 1579,  and  on  the  23d  of  that  month,  without  wait- 
ing longer  for  the  deputies  of  the  other  provinces,  they 
agreed  provisionally  upon  a  treaty  of  union,  which  was 
published  afterwards,  on  the  29th,  from  the  Town-house 
of  Utrecht. 

This  memorable  document — which  is  ever  regarded  as 


1579]  THE   UNION   OF   UTRECHT  585 

the  foundation  of  the   Netherland  Republic — contained 
twenty-six  articles.* 

The  preamble  stated  the  object  of  the  union.  It  was  to 
strengthen,  not  to  forsake,  the  Ghent  Pacification,  already 
nearly  annihilated  by  the  force  of  .foreign  soldiery.  For 
this  purpose,  and  in  order  more  conveniently  to  defend 
themselves  against  their  foes,  the  deputies  of  Gelderland, 
Zutphen,  Holland,  Zeeland,  Utrecht,  and  the  Frisian  prov- 
inces thought  it  desirable  to  form  a  still  closer  union.  The 
contracting  provinces  agreed  to  remain  eternally  united, 
as  if  they  were  but  one  province.  At  the  same  time,  it  was 
understood  that  each  was  to  retain  its  particular  privi- 
leges, liberties,  laudable  and  traditionary  customs,  and 
other  laws.  The  cities,  corporations,  and  inhabitants  of 
every  province  were  to  be  guaranteed  as  to  their  ancient 
constitutions.  Disputes  concerning  these  various  statutes 
and  customs  were  to  be  decided  by  the  usual  tribunals,  by 
''  good  men,"  or  by  amicable  compromise.  The  provinces, 
by  virtue  of  the  union,  were  to  defend  one  another  '*  with 
life,  goods,  and  blood"  against  all  force  brought  against 
them  in  the  King's  name  or  behalf.  They  were  also  to 
defend  one  another  against  all  foreign  or  domestic  po- 
tentates, provinces,  or  cities,  provided  such  defence  were 
controlled  by  the  '* generality"  of  the  union.  For  the 
expense  occasioned  by  the  protection  of  the  provinces,  cer- 
tain imposts  and  excises  were  to  be  equally  assessed  and 
collected.  No  truce  or  peace  was  to  be  concluded,  no 
war  commenced,  no  impost  established  affecting  the  ^' gen- 
erality," but  by  unanimous  advice  and  consent  of  the 
provinces.  Upon  other  matters  the  majority  was  to  de- 
cide, the  votes  being  taken  in  the  manner  then  custom- 
ary in  the  assembly  of  states-general.  In  case  of  difficulty 
in  coming  to  a  unanimous  vote  when  required,  the  matter 

*  In  his  John  of  Barneveld  Mr.  Motley  refers  frequently  to  the  Union 
of  Utrecht,  which  for  over  two  centuries,  until  the  fall  of  the  Republic  in 
1*795,  was  the  supreme  law  of  tlie  land,  and  the  basis  of  the  Dutch  confed- 
eracy of  states.  The  native  literature  of  comment,  criticism,  and  explana- 
tion is  quite  large,  the  chief  writers  being  Paulus  and  Klint.  See  also  a 
paper  on  "  The  Union  of  Utrecht,"  by  Mrs.  L.  M.  Salmon,  in  the  "  Annual 
Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association  for  1893." 


586  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1579 

was  to  be  referred  to  the  stadholders  then  in  office.  In 
case  of  their  inability  to  agree,  they  were  to  appoint  arbi- 
trators, by  whose  decision  the  parties  were  to  be  governed. 
None  of  the  united  provinces,  or  of  their  cities  or  corpo- 
rations, was  to  make  treaties  with  other  potentates  or 
states  without  consent  of  its  confederates.  If  neigh- 
boring princes,  provinces,  or  cities  wished  to  enter  into 
this  confederacy,  they  were  to  be  received  by  the  unani- 
mous consent  of  the  united  provinces.  A  common  cur- 
rency was  to  be  established  for  the  confederacy. 

In  the  matter  of  divine  worship,  Holland  and  Zeeland 
were  to  conduct  themselves  as  they  should  think  proper. 
The  other  provinces  of  the  union,  however,  were  either  to 
conform  to  the  religious  peace  already  laid  down  by  Arch- 
duke Matthias  and  his  council,  or  to  make  such  other  ar- 
rangements as  each  province  should  for  itself  consider  ap- 
propriate for  the  maintenance  of  its  internal  tranquillity — 
provided  always  that  every  individual  should  remain  free 
in  his  religion,  and  that  no  man  should  be  molested  or 
questioned  on  the  subject  of  divine  worship,  as  had  been 
already  established  by  the  Grhent  Pacification.  As  a  cer- 
tain dispute  arose  concerning  the  meaning  of  this  impor- 
tant clause,  an  additional  paragraph  was  inserted  a  few 
days  afterwards.  In  this  it  was  stated  that  there  was  no 
intention  of  excluding  from  the  confederacy  any  province 
or  city  which  was  wholly  Catholic,  or  in  which  the  number 
of  the  Reformed  was  not  sufficiently  large  to  entitle  them, 
by  the  religious  peace,  to  public  worship.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  intention  was  to  admit  them,  provided  they 
obeyed  the  articles  of  union,  and  conducted  themselves  as 
good  patriots  ;  it  being  intended  that  no  province  or  city 
should  interfere  with  another  in  the  matter  of  divine  ser- 
vice. Disputes  between  two  provinces  were  to  be  decided 
by  the  others,  or — in  case  the  generality  were  concerned — 
by  the  provisions  of  the  ninth  article. 

The  confederates  were  to  assemble  at  Utrecht  whenever 
summoned  by  those  commissioned  for  that  purpose.  A 
majority  of  votes  was  to  decide  on  matters  then  brought 
before  them,  even  in  case  of  the  absence  of  some  mem- 
bers of  the  confederacy,  who  might,  however,  send  written 


1679].  THE  DOCUMENT  SIGNED  587 

proxies.  Additions  or  amendments  to  these  articles  could 
only  be  made  by  unanimous  consent.  The  articles  were 
to  be  signed  by  the  stadholders,  magistrates,  and  principal 
officers  of  each  province  and  city,  and  by  all  the  train- 
bands, fraternities,  and  sodalities  which  might  exist  in  the 
cities  or  villages  of  the  union. 

Such  were  the  simple  provisions  of  that  instrument 
which  became  the  foundation  of  the  powerful  Common- 
wealth of  the  United  Netherlands.  On  the  day  when  it 
was  concluded  there  were  present  deputies  from  five  prov- 
inces only.  Count  John  of  Nassau  signed  first,  as  stad- 
holder  of  Gelderland  and  Zutphen.  His  signature  was 
followed  by  those  of  four  deputies  from  that  double  prov- 
ince ;  and  the  envoys  of  Holland,  Zeeland,  Utrecht,  and 
the  Frisian  provinces  then  signed  the  document. 

The  Prince  himself,  although  in  reality  the  principal 
director  of  the  movement,  delayed  appending  his  signa- 
ture until  the  3d  of  May,  1579.  Herein  he  was  actuated  by 
the  reasons  already  stated,  and  by  the  hope  which  he  still 
entertained  that  a  wider  union  might  be  established,  with 
Matthias  for  its  nominal  chief.  His  enemies,  as  usual, 
attributed  this  patriotic  delay  to  baser  motives.  They  ac- 
cused him  of  a  desire  to  assume  the  governor-generalship 
himself,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Archduke — an  insinuation 
which  the  states  of  Holland  took  occasion  formally  to  de- 
nounce as  a  calumny.  For  those  who  have  studied  the 
character  and  history  of  the  man,  a  defence  against  such 
slander  is  superfluous.  Matthias  was  but  the  shadow, 
Orange  the  substance.  The  Archduke  had  been  accepted 
only  to  obviate  the  evil  effects  of  a  political  intrigue,  and 
with  the  express  condition  that  the  Prince  should  be  his 
lieutenant-general  in  name,  his  master  in  fact.  Directly 
after  his  departure  in  the  following  year,  the  Prince's  au- 
thority, which  nominally  departed  also,  was  re-established 
in  his  own  person,  and  by  express  act  of  the  states-general. 

The  Union  of  Utrecht  was  the  foundation-stone  of  the 
Netherland  Republic  ;  but  the  framers  of  the  confederacy 
did  not  intend  the  establishment  of  a  republic,  or  of  an 
independent  commonwealth  of  any  kind.  They  had  not 
forsworn  the  Spanish  monarch.     It  was  not  yet  their  in- 


588  HISTORY  OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  .[1579 

tention  to  forswear  him.  Certainly  the  act  of  union  con- 
tained no  allusion  to  such  an  important  step.  On  the 
contrary,  in  the  brief  preamble  they  expressly  stated  their 
intention  to  strengthen  the  Ghent  Pacification,  and  the 
Ghent  Pacification  acknowledged  obedience  to  the  King. 
They  intended  no  political  innovation  of  any  kind.  They 
expressly  accepted  matters  as  they  were.  All  statutes, 
charters,  and  privileges  of  provinces,  cities,  or  corpora- 
tions were  to  remain  untouched.  They  intended  to  form 
neither  an  independent  state  nor  an  independent  federal 
system.  No  doubt  the  formal  renunciation  of  allegiance, 
which  was  to  follow  within  two  years,  was  contemplated 
by  many  as  a  future  probability,  but  it  could  not  be  fore- 
seen with  certainty. 

The  simple  act  of  union  was  not  regarded  as  the  con- 
stitution of  a  commonwealth.  Its  object  was  a  single  one 
— defence  against  a  foreign  oppressor.  The  contracting 
parties  bound  themselves  together  to  spend  all  their  treas- 
ure and  all  their  blood  in  expelling  the  foreign  soldiery 
from  their  soil.  To  accomplish  this  purpose,  they  care- 
fully abstained  from  intermeddling  with  internal  politics 
and  with  religion.  Every  man  was  to  worship  God  ac- 
cording to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience.  Every  combi- 
nation of  citizens,  from  the  provincial  states  down  to  the 
humblest  '^  rhetoric  "  club,  was  to  retain  its  ancient  con- 
stitution. 

The  establishment  of  a  Republic,  which  lasted  two  cen- 
turies, which  threw  a  girdle  of  rich  dependencies  entirely 
round  the  globe,  and  which  attained  so  remarkable  a 
height  of  commercial  prosperity  and  political  influence, 
was  the  result  of  the  Utrecht  Union,  but  it  was  not  a 
premeditated  result.  A  state,  single  towards  the  rest  of 
the  world,  a  unit  in  its  external  relations,  while  permit- 
ting internally  a  variety  of  sovereignties  and  institutions 
— in  many  respects  the  prototype  of  our  own  much  more 
extensive  and  powerful  union  —  was  destined  to  spring 
from  the  act  thus  signed  by  the  envoys  of  five  provinces. 
Those  envoys  were  acting,  however,  under  the  pressure 
of  extreme  necessity,  and  for  what  was  believed  an  eva- 
nescent purpose. 


1619]  THE    ACT   CHARACTERIZED  589 

The  future  confederacy  was  not  to  resemble  the  system 
of  the  German  Empire,  for  it  was  to  acknowledge  no  single 
head.  It  was  to  differ  from  the  Achaean  League  in  the 
far  inferior  amount  of  power  which  it  permitted  to  its 
general  assembly,  and  in  the  consequently  greater  pro- 
portion of  sovereign  attributes  which  were  retained  by 
the  individual  states.  It  was,  on  the  other  hand,  to  fur- 
nish a  closer  and  more  intimate  bond  than  that  of  the 
Swiss  Confederacy,  which  was  only  a  union  for  defence 
and  external  purposes,  of  cantons  otherwise  independent. 
It  was,  finally,  to  differ  from  the  American  federal  com- 
monwealth in  the  great  feature  that  it  was  to  be  merely 
a  confederacy  of  sovereignties,  not  a  representative  re- 
public. Its  foundation  was  a  compact,  not  a  constitution. 
The  contracting  parties  were  states  and  corporations,  who 
considered  themselves  as  representing  small  nationalities 
de  jure  et  de  facto,  and  as  succeeding  to  the  supreme 
power  at  the  very  instant  in  which  allegiance  to  the  Span- 
ish monarch  was  renounced.  The  general  assembly  was 
a  collection  of  diplomatic  envoys,  bound  by  instructions 
from  independent  states.  The  voting  was  not  by  heads, 
but  by  states.  The  deputies  were  not  representatives 
of  the  people,  but  of  the  states ;  for  the  people  of  the 
United  States  of  the  Netherlands  never  assembled — as  did 
the  people  of  the  United  States  of  America  two  cen- 
turies later — to  lay  down  a  constitution,  by  which  they 
granted  a  generous  amount  of  power  to  the  Union,  while 
they  reserved  enough  of  sovereign  attributes  to  secure 
that  local  self-government  which  is  the  life-blood  of  lib- 
erty. 

The  Union  of  Utrecht,  narrowed  as  it  was  to  the  nether 
portion  of  that  country  which,  as  a  whole,  might  have 
formed  a  commonwealth  so  much  more  powerful,  was  in 
origin  a  proof  of  this  lamentable  want  of  patriotism.  Could 
the  jealousy  of  great  nobles,  the  rancor  of  religious  dif- 
ferences, the  Catholic  bigotry  of  the  Walloon  population 
on  the  one  side  contending  with  the  democratic  insanity 
of  the  Ghent  populace  on  the  other,  have  been  restrained 
within  bounds  by  the  moderate  counsels  of  William  of 
Orange,  it  would  have  been  possible  to  unite  seventeen 


590  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1579 

provinces  instead  of  seven,  and  to  save  many  long  and 
blighting  years  of  civil  war. 

The  Utrecht  Union  was,  however,  of  inestimable  value. 
It  was  time  for  some  step  to  be  taken,  if  anarchy  were  not 
to  reign  until  the  inquisition  and  absolutism  were  restored. 
Already,  out  of  Chaos  and  Night,  the  coming  Republic 
was  assuming  substance  and  form.  The  union,  if  it 
created  nothing  else,  at  least  constructed  a  league  against 
a  foreign  foe  whose  armed  masses  were  pouring  faster  and 
faster  into  the  territory  of  the  provinces.  Farther  than 
this  it  did  not  propose  to  go.  It  maintained  what  it  found. 
It  guaranteed  religious  liberty,  and  accepted  the  civil  and 
political  constitutions  already  in  existence.  Meantime, 
the  defects  of  those  constitutions,  although  visible  and 
sensible,  had  not  grown  to  the  large  proportions  which 
they  were  destined  to  attain. 

Thus,  by  the  Union  of  Utrecht  on  the  one  hand  and 
the  fast-approaching  reconciliation  of  the  Walloon  prov- 
inces on  the  other,  the  work  of  decomposition  and  of 
construction  went  hand  in  hand. 


CHAPTER  II 
MASSACRE  AT  MAASTRICHT— TURBULENCE  AT  GHENT 

The  political  movements  in  both  directions  were  to  be 
hastened  by  the  military  operations  of  the  opening  season. 
On  the  night  of  the  2d  of  March,  1579,  the  Prince  of 
Parma  made  a  demonstration  against  Antwerp.  A  body 
of  three  thousand  Scotch  and  English,  lying  at  Barger- 
hout,  was  rapidly  driven  in,  and  a  warm  skirmish  ensued, 
directly  under  the  walls  of  the  city.  The  Prince  of 
Orange,  with  the  Archduke  Matthias,  being  in  Antwerp 
at  the  time,  remained  on  the  fortifications  superintend- 
ing the  action,  and  Parma  was  obliged  to  retire  after  an 
hour  or  two  of  sharp  fighting,  with  a  loss  of  four  hundred 
men.  This  demonstration  was,  however,  only  a  feint. 
His  real  design  was  upon  Maastricht,  before  which  im- 
portant city  he  appeared  in  great  force  ten  days  after- 
wards when  he  was  least  expected. 

Well  fortified,  surrounded  by  a  broad  and  deep  moat, 
built  upon  both  sides  of  the  Meuse,  upon  the  right  bank 
of  which  river,  however,  the  portion  of  the  town  was  so 
inconsiderable  that  it  was  merely  called  the  village  of 
Wyk,  this  key  to  the  German  gate  of  the  Netherlands 
was,  unfortunately,  in  brave  but  feeble  hands.  The  gar- 
rison was  hardly  one  thousand  strong  ;  the  trained  bands 
of  burghers  amounted  to  twelve  hundred  more  ;  while  be- 
tween three  and  four  thousand  peasants,  who  had  taken 
refuge  within  the  city  walls,  did  excellent  service  as  sap- 
pers and  miners.  Parma,  on  the  other  hand,  had  appeared 
before  the  walls  with  twenty  thousand  men,  to  which  num- 
ber he  received  constant  reinforcements.  The  Bishop  of 
Liege,  too,  had  sent  him  four  thousand  pioneers — a  most 


592  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1579 

important  service,  for  mining  and  countermining  was  to 
decide  the  fate  of  Maastricht. 

Early  in  January  the  royalists  had  surprised  the  strong 
cliateau  of  Oarpen,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city,  upon 
which  occasion  the  garrison  were  all  hanged  by  moon- 
light on  the  trees  in  the  orchard.  The  commandant 
shared  their  fate  ;  and  it  is  a  curious  fact  that  he  had, 
precisely  a  year  previously,  hanged  the  royalist  captain, 
Blomaert,  on  the  same  spot,  who,  with  the  rope  around  his 
neck,  had  foretold  a  like  doom  to  his  destroyer. 

The  Prince  of  Orange,  feeling  the  danger  of  Maastricht, 
lost  no  time  in  warning  the  states  to  take  necessary  meas- 
ures, imploring  them  ^'^not  to  fall  asleep  in  the  shade  of  a 
peace  negotiation  ";  while,  meantime,  Parma  threw  two 
bridges  over  the  Meuse,  above  and  below  the  city,  and 
then  invested  the  place  so  closely  that  all  communication 
was  absolutely  suspended.  Letters  could  pass  to  and  fro 
only  at  extreme  peril  to  the  messengers,  and  all  possibility 
of  reinforcing  the  city  at  the  moment  was  cut  off. 

While  this  eventful  siege  was  proceeding  the  negotia- 
tions with  the  Walloons  were  ripening.  The  siege  and  the 
conferences  went  hand  in  hand.  Besides  the  secret  ar- 
rangements already  described  for  the  separation  of  the 
Walloon  provinces,  there  had  been  much  earnest  and  elo- 
quent remonstrance  on  the  part  of  the  states-general  and 
of  Orange  —  many  solemn  embassies  and  public  appeals. 
As  usual,  the  Pacification  of  Ghent  was  the  two-sided 
shield  which  hung  between  the  parties  to  cover  or  to  jus- 
tify the  blows  which  each  dealt  at  the  other.  There  is  no 
doubt  as  to  the  real  opinion  entertained  concerning  that 
famous  treaty  by  the  royal  party.  "  Through  the  peace 
of  Ghent,"  said  Saint  Vaast,  "all  ;our  woes  have  been 
brought  upon  us."  La  Motte  informed  Parma  that  it  was 
necessary  to  pretend  a  respect  for  the  Pacification,  how- 
ever, on  account  of  its  popularity,  but  that  it  was  well  un- 
derstood by  the  leaders  of  the  Walloon  movement  that 
the  intention  was  to  restore  the  system  of  Charles  the 
Fifth.  Parma  signified  his  consent  to  make  use  of  that 
treaty  as  a  basis,  "provided  always  it  were  interpreted 
healthily,  and  not  dislocated  by  cavillations  and  sinister 


1579]  DEPUTATIONS  TO  THE   WALLOONS  593 

interpolations,  as  had  been  done  by  the  Prince  of  Orange/' 
The  Malcontent  generals  of  the  Walloon  troops  were  inex- 
pressibly anxious  lest  the  cause  of  religion  should  be  en- 
dangered ;  but  the  arguments  by  which  Parma  convinced 
those  military  casuists  as  to  the  compatibility  of  the  Ghent 
peace  with  sound  doctrine  have  already  been  exhibited. 
The  influence  of  the  reconciled  nobles  was  brought  to  bear 
with  fatal  effect  upon  the  states  of  Artois,  Hainault,  and 
of  a  portion  of  French  Flanders.  The  Gallic  element  in 
their  blood,  and  an  intense  attachment  to  the  Roman 
ceremonial,  which  distinguished  the  Walloon  population 
from  their  Batavian  brethren,  were  used  successfully  by 
the  wily  Parma  to  destroy  the  unity  of  the  revolted  Neth- 
erlands. Moreover,  the  King  offered  good  terms.  The 
monarch,  feeling  safe  on  the  religious  point,  was  willing 
to  make  liberal  promises  upon  the  political  questions.  In 
truth,  the  great  grievance  of  which  the  Walloons  com- 
plained was  the  insolence  and  intolerable  outrages  of  the 
foreign  soldiers.  This,  they  said,  had  alone  made  them 
malcontent.  It  was,  therefore,  obviously  the  cue  of  Par- 
ma to  promise  the  immediate  departure  of  the  troops. 
This  could  be  done  the  more  easily  as  he  had  no  intention 
of  keeping  the  promise. 

Meantime  the  efforts  of  Orange  and  of  the  states-gen- 
eral, where  his  influence  was  still  paramount,  were  un- 
ceasing to  counteract  the  policy  of  Parma.  A  deputation 
was  appointed  by  the  generality  to  visit  the  estates  of  the 
Walloon  provinces.  Another  was  sent  by  the  authorities 
of  Brussels.  The  states-general,  too,  inspired  by  William 
of  Orange,  addressed  a  solemn  appeal  to  their  sister  prov- 
inces thus  about  to  abjure  the  bonds  of  relationship  for- 
ever. It  seemed  right,  once  for  all,  to  grapple  with  the 
Ghent  Pacification  for  the  last  time,  and  to  strike  a  final 
blow  in  defence  of  that  large,  statesmanlike  interpretation 
which  alone  could  make  the  treaty  live.  This  was  done 
eloquently  and  logically. 

In  various  fervently  written  appeals  by  Orange,  by  the 
states-general,  and  by  other  bodies,  the  wavering  prov- 
inces were  warned  against  seduction.  They  were  remind- 
ed that  the  Prince  of  Parma  was  using  this  minor  nego- 

38 


594  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1579 

tiation  ^^as  a  second  string  to  his  bow";  that  nothing 
could  be  more  puerile  than  to  suppose  the  Spaniards  capa- 
ble, after  securing  Maastricht,  of  sending  away  their  troops. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  strong  deputation  now  went  forth 
from  the  Walloon  provinces,  towards  the  end  of  April, 
to  hold  a  final  colloquy  with  Parma,  then  already  busied 
with  the  investment  of  Maastricht.  They  were  met  upon 
the  road  with  great  ceremony,  and  with  drum,  trumpet, 
and  flaunting  banners  escorted  into  the  presence  of  Far- 
nese.  He  received  them  with  stately  affability,  in  a  mag- 
nificently decorated  pavilion,  carelessly  inviting  them  to 
a  repast,  which  he  called  an  afternoon  lunch,  but  which 
proved  a  most  sumptuous  and  splendidly  appointed  enter- 
tainment. This  "' trifling,  foolish  banquet"  finished,  the 
deputies  were  escorted,  with  great  military  parade,  to  the 
lodgings  which  had  been  provided  for  them  in  a  neigh- 
boring village.  During  the  period  of  their  visit  all  the 
chief  officers  of  the  army  and  the  household  were  directed 
to  entertain  the  Walloons  with  showy  festivals,  dinners, 
suppers,  dances,  and  carousals  of  all  kinds.  At  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  of  these  revels — a  magnificent  ball,  to 
which  all  the  matrons  and  maids  of  the  whole  country 
round  had  been  bidden  —  the  Prince  of  Parma  himself 
unexpectedly  made  his  appearance.  He  gently  rebuked 
the  entertainers  for  indulging  in  such  splendid  hospitality, 
without  at  least  permitting  him  to  partake  of  it.  Charm- 
ingly affable  to  the  ladies  assembled  in  the  ballroom, 
courteous,  but  slightly  reserved,  towards  the  Walloon  en- 
voys, he  excited  the  admiration  of  all  by  the  splendid 
decorum  of  his  manners.  As  he  moved  through  the 
halls,  modulating  his  steps  in  grave  cadence  to  the  mu- 
sic, the  dignity  and  grace  of  his  deportment  seemed  truly 
majestic  ;  but  when  he  actually  danced  a  measure  him- 
self, the  enthusiasm  was  at  its  height.  They  should,  in- 
deed, be  rustics,  cried  the  Walloon  envoys  in  a  breath, 
not  to  give  the  hand  of  fellowship  at  once  to  a  Prince  so 
condescending  and  amiable.  The  exclamation  seemed  to 
embody  the  general  wish  and  to  foreshadow  a  speedy  con- 
clusion. 

Very  soon  afterwards  a  preliminary  accord  was  signed 


1579]  THE  DEED   DONE  595 

between  the  King's  government  and  the  Walloon  prov- 
inces. The  provisions  on  his  Majesty's  part  were  suffi- 
ciently liberal.  Tho  religious  question  furnishing  no 
obstacle,  it  was  comparatively  easy  for  Philip  to  appear 
benignant.  It  was  stipulated  that  the  provincial  privi- 
leges should  be  respected,  that  a  member  of  the  King's 
own  family,  legitimately  born,  should  always  be  governor- 
general,  and  that  the  foreign  troops  should  be  imme- 
diately withdrawn.  The  official  exchange  and  ratifi- 
cation of  this  treaty  were  delayed  till  the  4th  of  the 
following  September,  but  the  news  that  the  reconcilia- 
tion had  been  definitely  settled  soon  spread  through  the 
country.  The  Catholics  were  elated,  the  patriots  dis- 
mayed. Orange — the  "Prince  of  Darkness,"  as  the  Wal- 
loons of  the  day  were  fond  of  calling  him — still  unwilling 
to  despair,  reluctant  to  accept  this  dismemberment,  which 
he  foresaw  was  to  be  a  perpetual  one,  of  his  beloved  coun- 
try, addressed  the  most  passionate  and  solemn  adjura- 
tions to  the  Walloon  provinces  and  to  their  military 
chieftains.  He  offered  all  his  children  as  hostages  for 
his  good  faith  in  keeping  sacredly  any  covenant  which 
his  Catholic  countrymen  might  be  willing  to  close  with 
him.  It  was  in  vain.  The  step  was  irretrievably  taken ;  re- 
ligious bigotry,  patrician  jealousy,  and  wholesale  bribery 
had  severed  the  Netherlands  in  twain  forever.  The  friends 
of  Komanism,  the  enemies  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
exulted  from  one  end  of  Christendom  to  the  other,  and 
it  was  recognized  that  Parma  had,  indeed,  achieved  a  vic- 
tory which,  although  bloodless,  was  as  important  to  the 
cause  of  absolutism  as  any  which  even  his  sword  was 
likely  to  achieve. 

The  success  attained  by  the  Catholic  party  in  the  Wal- 
loon negotiations  caused  a  corresponding  bitterness  in 
the  hearts  of  the  Reformers  throughout  the  country.  As 
usual,  bitterness  begot  bitterness  ;  intolerance  engendered 
intolerance.  On  the  28th  of  May,  1579,  as  the  Catholics 
of  Antwerp  were  celebrating  the  Ommegang — the  same 
festival  which  had  been  the  exciting  cause  of  the  memora- 
ble tumults  of  the  year  1565  —  the  irritation  of  the 
populace  could  not  be  repressed.     The  mob  rose  in  its 


596  HISTORY    OF   THE    NETHERLANDS  [1579 

wrath  to  put  down  these  demonstrations — which,  taken  in 
connection  with  recent  events,  seemed  ill-timed  and  inso- 
lent— of  a  religion  whose  votaries  then  formed  but  a  small 
minority  of  the  Antwerp  citizens.  There  was  a  great  tu- 
mult. Two  persons  were  killed.  The  Archduke  Mat- 
thias, who  was  himself  in  the  Cathedral  of  Notre  Dame 
assisting  at  the  ceremony,  was  in  danger  of  his  life.  The 
well-known  cry  of  '' paapen  uit"  (out  with  the  papists) 
resounded  through  the  streets,  and  the  priests  and  monks 
were  all  hustled  out  of  town  amid  a  tempest  of  execra- 
tions. 

Orange  did  his  utmost  to  quell  the  mutiny,  nor  were 
his  efforts  fruitless  —  for  the  uproar,  although  seditious 
and  disgraceful,  was  hardly  sanguinary.  Next  day  the 
Prince  summoned  the  magistracy,  the  Monday  council, 
the  guild  officers,  with  all  the  chief  municipal  function- 
aries, and  expressed  his  indignation  in  decided  terms. 
He  protested  that  if  such  tumults,  originating  in  that 
very  spirit  of  intolerance  which  he  most  deplored,  could 
not  be  repressed  for  the  future,  he  was  determined  to  re- 
sign his  offices,  and  no  longer  to  affect  authority  in  a 
city  where  his  counsels  were  derided.  The  magistrates, 
alarmed  at  his  threats,  and  sympathizing  with  his  anger, 
implored  him  not  to  desert  them,  protesting  that  if  he 
should  resign  his  offices  they  would  instantly  lay  down 
their  own.  An  ordinance  was  then  drawn  up  and  imme- 
diately proclaimed  at  the  Town  -  house,  permitting  the 
Catholics  to  re-enter  the  city  and  to  enjoy  the  privileges 
of  religious  worship.  At  the  same  time  it  was  announced 
that  a  new  draft  of  a  religious  peace  would  be  forthwith 
issued  for  the  adoption  of  every  city. 

A  similar  tumult,  arising  from  the  same  cause,  at 
Utrecht,  was  attended  with  the  like  result.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  city  of  Brussels  was  astonished  by  a  feeble  and 
unsuccessful  attempt  at  treason,  made  by  a  youth  who 
bore  an  illustrious  name.  Philip,  Count  of  Egmont,  el- 
dest son  of  the  unfortunate  Lamoral,  had  command  of  a 
regiment  in  the  service  of  the  states.  He  had,  besides,  a 
small  body  of  cavalry  in  immediate  attendance  upon  his 
person.     He  had  for  some  time  felt  inclined — like  the 


1579]  INVESTMENT   OF  MAASTRICHT  597 

Lalains,  Meluns,  La  Mottes,  and  others — to  reconcile  him- 
self with  the  crown,  and  he  wisely  thought  that  the  terms 
accorded  to  him  would  be  more  liberal  if  he  could  bring 
the  capital  of  Brabant  with  him  as  a  peace-offering  to  his 
Majesty.  His  residence  was  in  Brussels.  His  regiment 
was  stationed  outside  the  gates,  but  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  the  city.  On  the  morning  of  the  4th  of 
June  young  Egmont  actually  attempted  to  seize  the  city, 
but,  through  the  promptness  of  Colonel  Van  der  Tympel 
and  the  citizens,  his  plans  were  wholly  frustrated.  For  a 
day  and  a  night  his  hungry  soldiers  were  kept  penned  up 
in  the  Grande  Place.  Then,  by  an  inexplicable  indul- 
gence, he  and  his  troops  were  allowed  to  ride  out  of  the 
city  to  Montigny^s  headquarters.  He  soon  afterwards  made 
his  peace  with  Spain,  and  was  duly  rewarded. 

The  investment  of  Maastricht  was  commenced  upon  the 
12th  of  March,  1579.  In  the  city,  besides  the  population, 
there  were  two  thousand  peasants,  both  men  and  women, 
a  garrison  of  one  thousand  soldiers,  and  a  trained  burgher 
guard,  numbering  about  twelve  hundred.  There  were  six 
gates  to  the  town,  each  provided  with  ravelins,  and  there 
was  a  doubt  in  what  direction  the  first  attack  should  be 
made.  Opinions  wavered  between  the  gates  of  Bois-le- 
Duc,  next  the  river,  and  that  of  Tongres,  on  the  south- 
western side,  but  it  was  finally  decided  to  attempt  the  gate 
of  Tongres. 

Over  against  that  point  the  platforms  were  accordingly 
constructed,  and  after  a  heavy  cannonade  from  forty-six 
great  guns,  continued  for  several  days,  it  was  thought,  by 
the  25th  of  March,  that  an  impression  had  been  made 
upon  the  city.  A  portion  of  the  brick  curtain  had  crum- 
bled, but  through  the  breach  there  was  seen  a  massive 
terreplein,  well  moated,  which,  after  six  thousand  shots 
already  delivered  on  the  outer  wall,  still  remained  unin- 
jured. It  was  recognized  that  the  gate  of  Tongres  was 
not  the  most  assailable,  but  rather  the  strongest,  portion 
of  the  defences,  and  Alexander  therefore  determined  to 
shift  his  batteries  to  the  gate  of  Bois-le-Duc.  At  the 
same  time  the  attempt  upon  that  of  Tongres  was  to  be 
varied  but  not  abandoned.     Four  thousand  miners,  who 


598  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1579 

had  passed  half  their  lives  in  burrowing  for  coal  in  that 
anthracite  region,  had  been  furnished  by  the  Bishop  of 
Liege,  and  this  force  was  now  set  to  their  subterranean 
work.  A  mine  having  been  opened  at  a  distance,  the  be- 
siegers slowly  worked  their  way  towards  the  Tongres  Gate, 
while  at  the  same  time  the  more  ostensible  operations 
were  in  the  opposite  direction.  The  besieged  had  their 
miners  also,  for  the  peasants  in  the  city  had  been  used  to 
work  with  mattock  and  pickaxe.  The  women,  too,  en- 
rolled themselves  into  companies,  chose  their  officers — or 
"  mine  -  mistresses,"  as  they  were  called — and  did  good 
service  daily  in  the  caverns  of  the  earth.  Thus  a  whole 
army  of  gnomes  were  noiselessly  at  work  to  destroy  and 
defend  the  beleaguered  city.  The  mine  advanced  tow- 
ards the  gate  ;  the  besieged  delved  deeper,  and  intersected 
it  with  a  transverse  excavation,  and  the  contending  forcea 
met  daily  in  deadly  encounter  within  these  sepulchral 
gangways. 

The  siege  continued,  with  fightings  above  and  below 
ground,  until  the  29th  of  June,  1579,  by  which  time  the 
condition  of  the  reduced  garrison  was  most  woful.  At 
last,  exhausted  by  incessant  fatigue,  the  citizens  in  their 
sleep  were  surprised  by  assault.  The  Spaniards  rushed  in 
and  began  the  slaughter.  The  battle  within  the  walls 
soon  changed  to  a  massacre.  The  townspeople  rushed 
hither  and  thither,  but  there  was  neither  escape  nor 
means  of  resisting  an  enemy  who  now  poured  into  the 
town  by  thousands  upon  thousands.  Women,  old  men, 
and  children  had  all  been  combatants,  and  all,  therefore, 
had  incurred  the  vengeance  of  the  conquerors.  A  cry  of 
agony  arose  which  was  distinctly  heard  at  the  distance  of 
a  league.  Mothers  took  their  infants  in  their  arms  and 
threw  themselves  by  hundreds  into  the  Meuse  —  and 
against  women  the  blood-thirst  of  the  assailants  was  es- 
pecially directed.  Females  who  had  fought  daily  in  the 
trenches,  who  had  delved  in  mines  and  mustered  on  the 
battlements,  had  unsexed  themselves  in  the  opinion  of 
those  whose  comrades  they  had  helped  to  destroy.  It  was 
nothing  that  they  had  laid  aside  the  weakness  of  women 
in  order  to  defend  all  that  was  holy  and  dear  to  them  on 


1579]  CAPTURED  AND  DEPOPULATED  599 

earth.  It  was  sufficient  that  many  a  Spanish,  Burgundi- 
an,  or  Italian  mercenary  had  died  by  their  hands.  Wom- 
en were  pursued  from  house  to  house  and  hurled  from 
roof  and  window.  They  were  hunted  into  the  river,  they 
were  torn  limb  from  limb  in  the  streets.  Men  and  children 
fared  no  better ;  but  the  heart  sickens  at  the  oft-repeat- 
ed tale.  Horrors,  alas  !  were  commonplaces  in  the  Neth- 
erlands. Cruelty  too  monstrous  for  description,  too  vast 
to  be  believed  by  a  mind  not  familiar  with  the  outrages 
practised  by  the  soldiers  of  Spain  and  Italy  upon  their 
heretic  fellow -creatures,  were  now  committed  afresh  in 
the  streets  of  Maastricht. 

On  the  first  day  four  thousand  men  and  women  were 
slaughtered.  The  massacre  lasted  two  days  longer  ;  nor 
would  it  be  an  exaggerated  estimate  if  we  assume  that 
the  amount  of  victims  upon  the  two  last  days  was  equal  to 
half  the  number  sacrificed  on  the  first.  It  was  said  that 
not  four  hundred  citizens  were  left  alive  after  the  termi- 
nation of  the  siege.  These  soon  wandered  away,  their 
places  being  supplied  by  a  rabble  rout  of  Walloon  sutlers 
and  vagabonds.  Maastricht  was  depopulated  as  well  as 
captured. 

The  Prince  of  Orange,  as  usual,  was  blamed  for  the 
tragical  termination  to  this  long  drama.  A  letter,  brought 
by  an  unknown  messenger,  was  laid  before  the  states'  as- 
sembly, in  full  session,  and  sent  to  the  clerk's  table  to  be 
read  aloud.  After  the  first  few  sentences  that  function- 
ary faltered  in  his  recital.  Several  members  also  peremp- 
torily ordered  him  to  stop  ;  for  the  letter  proved  to  be  a 
violent  and  calumnious  libel  upon  Orange,  together  with 
a  strong  appeal  in  favor  of  the  peace  propositions  then 
under  debate  at  Cologne.  The  Prince  alone,  of  all  the 
assembly,  preserving  his  tranquillity,  ordered  the  docu- 
ment to  be  brought  to  him,  and  forthwith  read  it  aloud 
himself  from  beginning  to  end.  Afterwards  he  took  oc- 
casion to  express  his  mind  concerning  the  ceaseless  calum- 
nies of  which  he  was  the  mark.  He  especially  alluded  to 
the  oft-repeated  accusation  that  he  was  the  only  obstacle 
to  peace,  and  repeated  that  he  was  ready  at  that  moment 
to  leave  the  land,  and  to  close  his  lips  forever,  if  by  so 


600  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1579 

doing  he  could  benefit  his  country  and  restore  her  to 
honorable  repose.  The  outcry,  with  the  protestations  of 
attachment  and  confidence  which  at  once  broke  from  the 
assembly,  convinced  him,  however,  that  he  was  deeply 
rooted  in  the  hearts  of  all  patriotic  Netherlanders,  and 
that  it  was  beyond  the  power  of  slanderers  to  loosen  his 
hold  upon  their  affection. 

Meantime  his  efforts  had  again  and  again  been  de- 
manded to  restore  order  in  that  abode  of  anarchy,  the  city 
of  Ghent.  After  his  visit  during  the  previous  winter,  and 
the  consequent  departure  of  John  Casimir  to  the  palatinate, 
the  pacific  arrangements  made  by  the  Prince  had  for  a 
short  time  held  good.  Early  in  March,  however,  that 
master  of  misrule,  John  van  Imbize,  had  once  more  ex- 
cited the  populace  to  sedition.  Again  the  property  of 
Catholics,  clerical  and  lay,  was  plundered  ;  again  the  per- 
sons of  Catholics,  of  every  degree,  were  maltreated.  The 
magistrates,  with  first  senator  Imbize  at  their  head,  rather 
encouraged  than  rebuked  the  disorder ;  but  Orange,  as 
soon  as  he  received  official  intelligence  of  the  event,  hast- 
ened to  address  them  in  words  of  earnest  warning  and 
wisdom. 

His  exhortations  exerted  a  wholesome  effect  for  a  mo- 
ment, but  matters  soon  went  from  bad  to  worse.  Imbize, 
fearing  the  influence  of  the  Prince,  indulged  in  open- 
mouthed  abuse  of  a  man  whose  character  he  was  unable 
even  to  comprehend.  He  accused  him  of  intriguing  with 
France  for  his  own  benefit,  of  being  a  papist  in  disguise, 
of  desiring  to  establish  what  he  called  a  "  religious  peace," 
merely  to  restore  Roman  idolatry.  In  all  these  insane 
ravings  the  demagogue  was  most  ably  seconded  by  the  ex- 
monk.  Incessant  and  unlicensed  were  the  invectives 
hurled  by  Peter  Dathenus  from  his  pulpit  upon  William 
the  Silent^s  head.  He  denounced  him — as  he  had  often 
done  before — as  an  atheist  in  heart ;  as  a  man  who  changed 
his  religion  as  easily  as  his  garments  ;  as  a  man  who  knew 
no  God  but  state  expediency,  which  was  the  idol  of  his 
worship ;  a  mere  politician  who  would  tear  his  shirt  from 
his  back  and  throw  it  in  the  fire  if  he  thought  it  were 
tainted  with  religion. 


16Y9]  A  STiiTE-STROKE  601 

Such  witless  but  vehement  denunciation,  from  a  preach- 
er who  was  both  popular  and  comparatively  sincere,  could 
not  but  affect  the  imagination  of  the  weaker  portion  of 
his  hearers.  The  faction  of  Imbize  became  triumphant. 
Ryhove  —  the  ruffian  whose  hands  were  stained  with  the 
recent  blood  of  Visch  and  Hessels  —  rather  did  damage 
than  service  to  the  cause  of  order.  He  opposed  himself 
to  the  demagogue  who  was  prating  daily  of  Greece,  Rome, 
and  Geneva,  while  his  clerical  associate  was  denouncing 
William  of  Orange  ;  but  he  opposed  himself  in  vain.  An 
attempt  to  secure  the  person  of  Imbize  failed,  but  by  the 
influence  of  Ryhove,  however,  a  messenger  was  despatched 
to  Antwerp  in  the  name  of  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
community  of  Ghent.  The  counsel  and  the  presence  of 
the  man  to  whom  all  hearts  in  every  part  of  the  Nether- 
lands instinctively  turned  in  the  hour  of  need  were  once 
more  invoked. 

The  Prince  again  addressed  them  in  language  which 
none  but  he  could  employ  with  such  effect.  He  told 
them  that  his  life,  passed  in  service  and  sacrifice,  ought 
to  witness  sufficiently  for  his  fidelity.  Nevertheless,  he 
thought  it  necessary  —  in  view  of  the  calumnies  which 
were  circulated  —  to  repeat  once  more  his  sentiment  that 
no  treaty  of  peace,  war,  or  alliance  ought  to  be  negotiated, 
save  with  the  consent  of  the  people. 

On  the  following  day  Imbize  executed  a  coup  d'etat. 
Having  a  body  of  near  two  thousand  soldiers  at  his  dis- 
posal, he  suddenly  secured  the  persons  of  all  the  magis- 
trates and  other  notable  individuals  not  friendly  to  his 
policy,  and  then,  in  violation  of  all  law,  set  up  a  new 
board  of  eighteen  irresponsible  functionaries,  according 
to  a  list  prepared  by  himself  alone.  This  was  his  way  of' 
enforcing  the  democratic  liberty  of  Greece,  Rome,  and 
Geneva,  which  was  so  near  to  his  heart.  A  proclamation, 
in  fourteen  articles,  was  forthwith  issued,  justifying  this 
arbitrary  proceeding.  At  the  same  time  a  pamphlet, 
already  prepared  for  the  occasion  by  Dathenus,  was  ex- 
tensively circulated.  In  this  production  the  arbitrary 
revolution  effected  by  a  demagogue  was  defended  with 
effrontery,  while  the  character  of  Orange  was  loaded  with 


602  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1619 

customary  abuse.  To  prevent  the  traitor  from  coming  to 
Ghent  and  establishing  what  he  called  his  religious  peace, 
these  irregular  measures,  it  was  urged,  had  been  wisely 
taken. 

The  Prince  came  again  to  Ghent,  great  as  had  been  the 
efforts  of  Imbize  and  his  partisans  to  prevent  his  coming. 
His  presence  was  like  magic.  The  demagogue  and  his 
whole  flock  vanished  like  unclean  birds  at  the  first  rays 
of  the  sun.  Imbize  dared  not  look  the  Father  of  his  coun- 
try in  the  face.  Orange  rebuked  the  populace  in  the 
strong  and  indignant  language  that  public  and  private 
virtue,  energy,  and  a  high  purpose  enabled  such  a  leader 
of  the  people  to  use.  He  at  once  set  aside  the  board  of 
eighteen — the  Grecian-Roman-Genevese  establishment  of 
Imbize — and  remained  in  the  city  until  the  regular  elec- 
tion, in  conformity  with  the  privileges,  had  taken  place. 
Imbize  and  Dathenus  were  permitted  to  go  free.  They 
fled  to  their  friend,  John  Casimir,  who  received  both 
with  open  arms,  and  allowed  them  each  a  pension. 

Order  being  thus  again  restored  in  Ghent  by  the  exer- 
tions of  the  Prince,  when  no  other  human  hand  could  have 
dispelled  the  anarchy  which  seemed  to  reign  supreme, 
William  the  Silent,  having  accepted  the  government  of 
Flanders,  which  had  again  and  again  been  urged  upon 
him,  now  returned  to  Antwerp. 


CHAPTER  m 

TREASON  AND  INTRIGUES 

Since  the  beginning  of  May  the  Cologne  negotiations 
had  been  dragging  their  slow  length  along.  Few  persons 
believed  that  any  good  was  likely  to  result  from  these 
stately  and  ponderous  conferences,  yet  men  were  so  weary 
of  war,  so  desirous  that  a  termination  might  be  put  to  the 
atrophy  under  which  the  country  was  languishing,  that 
many  an  eager  glance  was  turned  towards  the  place  where 
the  august  assembly  was  holding  its  protracted  session. 
Certainly,  if  wisdom  were  to  be  found  in  mitred  heads — 
if  the  power  to  heal  angry  passions  and  to  settle  the  con- 
flicting claims  of  prerogative  and  conscience  were  to  be 
looked  for  among  men  of  lofty  station,  then  the  Cologne 
conferences  ought  to  have  made  the  rough  places  smooth 
and  the  crooked  paths  straight  throughout  all  Christen- 
dom. There  was  the  Archbishop  of  Rossano,  afterwards 
Pope  Urban  the  Seventh,  as  plenipotentiary  from  Rome ; 
there  was  Charles  of  Aragon,  Duke  of  Terranova,  sup- 
ported by  five  councillors,  as  ambassador  from  his  Catholic 
Majesty ;  there  were  the  Duke  of  Aerschot,  the  Abbot  of 
Saint  Gertrude,  the  Abbot  of  Marolles,  Doctor  Bucho 
Aytta,  Caspar  Schetz,  Lord  of  Grobbendonck,  that  learned 
Frisian,  Aggeus  van  Albada,  with  seven  other  wise  men, 
as  envoys  from  the  states-general.  There  were  their  Se- 
rene Highnesses  the  Elector  and  Archbishops  of  Cologne 
and  Treves,  with  the  Bishop  of  Wurtzburg.  There  was 
also  a  numerous  embassy  from  his  Imperial  Majesty,  with 
Count  Otto  de  Schwartzenburg  at  its  head. 

Here,  then,  were  holiness,  serenity,  dignity,  law,  and 
learning  in  abundance.     Here  was  a  Pope  in  posse,  with 


604  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1579 

archbishops,  princes,  dukes,  jurisconsults,  and  doctors  of 
divinity  in  esse,  sufficient  to  remodel  a  world,  if  worlds 
were  to  be  remodelled  by  such  instruments.  In  truth, 
the  envoys  came  from  Spain,  Kome,  and  Vienna,  provided 
with  but  two  ideas.  Was  it  not  a  diplomatic  masterpiece, 
that  from  this  frugal  store  they  could  contrive  to  eke  out 
seven  mortal  months  of  negotiation  ?  Two  ideas — the  su- 
premacy of  his  Majesty's  prerogative,  the  exclusive  exer- 
cise of  the  Roman  Catholic  religion — these  were  the  be-all 
and  the  end-all  of  their  commission.  Upon  these  two 
strings  they  were  to  harp,  at  least  till  the  walls  of  Maas- 
tricht had  fallen.  The  envoys  did  their  duty  well ;  they 
were  sent  to  enact  a  solemn  comedy,  and  in  the  most 
stately  manner  did  they  walk  through  their  several  parts. 
Not  that  the  King  was  belligerent ;  on  the  contrary,  he 
was  heartily  weary  of  the  war.  Prerogative  was  weary — 
Romanism  was  weary — Conscience  was  weary — the  Spirit 
of  Freedom  was  weary — but  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  not 
weary.  Blood  and  treasure  had  been  pouring  forth  so 
profusely  during  twelve  flaming  years  that  all  but  that 
one  tranquil  spirit  were  beginning  to  flag. 

It  is  not  desirable  to  disturb  much  of  that  learned  dust, 
after  its  three  centuries'  repose.  A  rapid  sketch  of  the 
course  of  the  proceedings,  with  an  indication  of  the  spirit 
which  animated  the  contending  parties,  will  be  all  that 
is  necessary.  They  came  and  they  separated  with  pre- 
cisely opposite  views. 

The  first  step  in  the  proceedings  had  been  a  secret  one. 
If  by  any  means  the  Prince  of  Orange  could  be  detached 
from  his  party  —  if  by  bribery,  however  enormous,  he 
could  be  induced  to  abandon  a  tottering  cause  and  depart 
for  the  land  of  his  birth — he  was  distinctly  but  indirectly 
given  to  understand  that  he  had  but  to  name  his  terms. 
It  was  all  in  vain.  The  indirect  applications  of  the  im- 
perial commissioners  made  to  his  servants  and  his  nearest 
relations  were  entirely  unsuccessful.  The  Prince  was 
not  to  be  drawn  into  a  negotiation  in  his  own  name  or 
for  his  own  benefit.  If  the  estates  were  satisfied,  he 
was  satisfied.  He  wanted  no  conditions  but  theirs; 
^'nor  would  he,  directly  or  indirectly," he  said,  ^'separate 


1579]  ^  PROTOCOLS  605 

himself  from  the  cause  on  which  hung  all  his  evil  or 
felicity." 

On  the  18th  of  May  the  states'  envoys  at  Cologne  pre- 
sented fourteen  articles,  demanding  freedom  of  religion 
and  the  ancient  political  charters.  Religion,  they  said, 
was  to  be  referred,  not  to  man,  but  to  God.  To  Him  the 
King  was  subject  as  well  as  the  people.  Both  King  and 
people — ^'and  by  people  toas  meant  every  individual  in  the 
land " — were  bound  to  serve  God  according  to  their  con- 
science. 

The  imperial  envoys  found  such  language  extremely 
reprehensible,  and  promptly  refused,  as  umpires,  to  en- 
tertain the  fourteen  articles.  Others,  drawn  up  by  Ter- 
ranova  and  colleagues,  embodying  the  claims  of  the  royal 
and  Roman  party,  were  then  solemnly  presented,  and 
as  promptly  rejected.  The  Netherland  envoys  likewise 
gave  the  imperial  commissioners  distinctly  to  under- 
stand that — in  case  peace  were  not  soon  made  —  "the 
states  would  forthwith  declare  the  King  fallen  from  his 
sovereignty";  would  forever  dispense  the  people  from 
their  oaths  of  allegiance  to  him,  and  would  probably  ac- 
cept the  Duke  of  Anjou  in  his  place.  The  states-general, 
to  which  body  the  imperial  propositions  had  been  sent, 
also  rejected  the  articles  in  a  logical  and  historical  argu- 
ment of  unmerciful  length. 

On  the  13 til  of  November,  1579,  the  states'  envoys  were 
invited  into  the  council  chamber  of  the  imperial  commis- 
sioners to  hear  the  last  solemn  commonplaces  of  those 
departing  functionaries.  After  seven  dreary  months  of 
negotiation,  after  protocols  and  memoranda  in  ten  thou- 
sand folios,  the  august  diplomatists  had  travelled  round  to 
points  from  which  they  had  severally  started.  On  the 
one  side,  unlimited  prerogative  and  exclusive  Catholicism  ; 
on  the  other,  constitutional  liberty,  with  freedom  of  con- 
science for  Catholic  and  Protestant  alike  :  these  were  the 
claims  which  each  party  announced  at  the  commence- 
ment, and  to  which  they  held  with  equal  firmness  at  the 
close  of  the  conferences. 

The  congress  had  been  expensive.  Though  not  much 
had  been  accomplished  for  the  political  or  religious  ad- 


606  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1579 

vancement  of  mankind,  there  had  been  much  excellent 
eating  and  drinking  at  Cologne  during  the  seven  months. 
Those  droughty  deliberations  -had  needed  moistening. 
The  Bishop  of  Wurtzburg  had  consumed  ^'  eighty  hogs- 
heads of  Rhenish  wine  and  twenty  great  casks  of  beer.'* 
The  expense  of  the  states'  envoys  was  twenty-four  thou- 
sand guldens.  Meantime  those  southern  provinces  had 
made  their  separate  treaty,  and  the  Netherlands  were 
permanently  dissevered.  Maastricht  had  fallen.  Dis- 
union and  dismay  had  taken  possession  of  the  country. 

During  the  course  of  the  year  other  severe  misfortunes 
had  happened  to  the  states.  Treachery,  even  among  the 
men  who  had  done  good  service  to  the  cause  of  freedom, 
was  daily  showing  her  hateful  visage.  Not  only  the  great 
chieftains  who  had  led  the  Malcontent  Walloon  party, 
with  the  fickle  Aerschot  and  the  wavering  Havre  besides, 
had  made  their  separate  reconciliation  with  Parma,  but 
the  epidemic  treason  had  mastered  such  bold  partisans  as 
the  Seigneur  de  Bours,  the  man  whose  services  in  rescu- 
ing the  citadel  of  Antwerp  had  been  so  courageous  and 
valuable.  He  was  governor  of  Mechlin  ;  Count  Renne- 
berg  was  governor  of  Friesland.  Both  were  trusted  im- 
plicitly by  Orange  and  by  the  estates ;  both  were  on  the 
eve  of  repaying  the  confidence  reposed  in  them  by  the 
most  venal  treason. 

Mechlin  was  also  lost  to  the  patriot  cause  through  the 
wiles  of  an  eloquent  friar,  who  persuaded  the  bold  but  un- 
principled commandant  De  Bours  to  admit  a  garrison 
which  Parma,  after  due  negotiation,  sent.  The  archie- 
piscopal  city  was  thus  transferred  to  the  royal  party, 
but  the  gallant  Van  der  Tympel,  governor  of  Brussels,  re- 
took it  by  surprise  within  six  months  of  its  acquisition 
by  Parma,  and  once  more  restored  it  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  states.  Peter  Lupus,  the  Carmelite,  armed  to  the 
teeth  and  fighting  fiercely  at  the  head  of  the  royalists, 
was  slain  in  the  street. 

During  the  weary  progress  of  the  Cologne  negotiations, 
the  Prince  had  not  been  idle,  and  should  this  august  and 
slow-moving  congress  be  unsuccessful  in  restoring  peace, 
the  provinces  were  pledged  to  an  act  of  abjuration.    They 


1579]  VIEWS  OF  THE  SOCIAL  COMPACT  607 

would  then  be  entirely  without  a  head.  The  idea  of  a 
nominal  republic  was  broached  by  none.  The  contest 
had  not  been  one  of  theory,  but  of  facts  ;  for  the  war  had 
not  been  for  revolution,  but  for  conservation,  so  far  as 
political  rights  were  concerned.  In  religion  the  provinces 
had  advanced  from  one  step  to  another  till  they  now 
claimed  the  largest  liberty  —  freedom  of  conscience  —  for 
all.  Religion,  they  held,  was  God's  affair,  not  man's,  in 
which  neither  people  nor  King  had  power  over  each  other, 
but  in  which  both  were  subject  to  God  alone.  In  politics 
it  was  different.  Hereditary  sovereignty  was  acknowl- 
edged as  a  fact ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  the  spirit  of  free- 
dom was  already  learning  its  appropriate  language.  It 
already  claimed  boldly  the  natural  right  of  mankind  to  be 
governed  according  to  the  laws  of  reason  and  of  divine 
justice.  If  a  prince  were  a  shepherd,  it  was  at  least  law- 
ful to  deprive  him  of  his  crook  when  he  butchered  the 
flock  which  he  had  been  appointed  to  protect.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  hereditary  rule  were  an  established  fact,  so 
also  were  ancient  charters.  To  maintain,  not  to  over- 
throw, the  political  compact  was  the  purpose  of  the  states. 
**  Je  maintiendrai "'  was  the  motto  of  Orange's  escutcheon. 
That  a  compact  existed  between  prince  and  people,  and 
that  the  sovereign  held  office  only  on  condition  of  doing 
his  duty,  were  startling  truths  which  men  were  beginning 
not  to  whisper  to  each  other  in  secret,  but  to  proclaim  in 
the  market-place. 

William  of  Orange  always  recognized  these  truths,  but 
his  scheme  of  government  contemplated  a  permanent  chief, 
and  as  it  was  becoming  obvious  that  the  Spanish  sovereign 
would  soon  be  abjured,  it  was  necessary  to  fix  upon  a  sub- 
stitute. *'  As  to  governing  these  provinces  in  the  form  of 
a  republic,"  said  he,  speaking  for  the  states-general,  *Hhose 
who  know  the  condition,  privileges,  and  ordinances  of  the 
country  can  easily  understand  that  it  is  hardly  possible  to 
dispense  with  a  head  or  superintendent."  At  the  same 
time,  he  plainly  intimated  that  this  "  head  or  superintend- 
ent" was  to  be,  not  a  monarch — a  one-ruler — but  merely 
the  hereditary  chief  magistrate  of  a  free  commonwealth. 

The  negotiations  pointed  to  a  speedy  abjuration  of 


608  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1579 

Philip ;  the  republic  was  contemplated  by  none ;  the 
Prince  of  Orange  absolutely  refused  to  stretch  forth  his 
own  hand.  Who,  then,  was  to  receive  the  sceptre  which 
was  so  soon  to  be  bestowed  ?  There  was  not  much  hope 
from  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany.  The  day  had 
passed  for  generous  sympathy  with  those  engaged  in  the 
great  struggle  which  Martin  Luther  had  commenced.  The 
present  generation  of  German  Protestants  were  more  in- 
clined to  put  down  the  Calvinistic  schism  at  home  than 
to  save  it  from  oppression  abroad.  Men  were  more  dis- 
posed to  wrangle  over  the  thrice-gnawed  bones  of  ecclesi- 
astical casuistry  than  to  assist  their  brethren  in  the  field. 

In  England  there  was  much  sympathy  for  the  provinces, 
and  there — although  the  form  of  government  was  still  ar- 
bitrary—  the  instincts  for  civil  and  religious  freedom, 
which  have  ever  characterized  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  were 
not  to  be  repressed.  Upon  many  a  battle-field  for  liberty 
in  the  Netherlands  '^men  whose  limbs  were  made  in  Eng- 
land "  were  found  contending  for  the  right.  The  blood 
and  treasure  of  Englishmen  flowed  freely  in  the  cause  of 
their  relatives  by  religion  and  race,  but  these  were  the  ef- 
forts of  individuals.  Hitherto  but  little  assistance  had 
been  rendered  by  the  English  Queen,  who  had,  on  the  con- 
trary, almost  distracted  the  provinces  by  her  fast-and-loose 
policy,  both  towards  them  and  towards  Anjou.  The  po- 
litical rivalry  between  that  Prince  and  herself  in  the 
Netherlands  had,  however,  now  given  place  to  the  memo- 
rable love-passage  from  which  important  results  were  ex- 
pected, and  it  was  thought  certain  that  Elizabeth  would 
view  with  satisfaction  any  dignity  conferred  upon  her  lover. 
Orange  had  a  right  to  form  this  opinion.  At  the  same 
time,  it  is  well  known  that  the  chief  councillors  of  Eliza- 
beth —  while  they  were  all  in  favor  of  assisting  the  prov- 
inces— looked  with  anything  but  satisfaction  upon  the  An- 
jou marriage. 

The  provinces  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  notwithstanding 
the  love  they  bore  to  William  of  Orange,  could  never  be 
persuaded  by  his  arguments  into  favoring  Anjou.  Indeed, 
it  was  rather  on  account  of  the  love  they  bore  the  Prince 
— ^whom  they  were  determined  to  have  for  their  sovereign 


PRISON    GATE,    HAGUE 


1579]  DISUNION  AND   DISSENSION  609 

— that  they  refused  to  listen  to  any  persuasion  in  favor  of 
his  rival,  although  coming  from  his  own  lips.  The  states- 
general,  in  a  report  to  the  states  of  Holland,  drawn  up 
under  the  superintendence  of  the  Prince,  brought  forward 
all  the  usual  arguments  for  accepting  the  French  duke  in 
case  the  abjuration  should  take  place. 

Three  councils  were  now  established — one  to  be  in  at- 
tendance upon  the  Archduke  and  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
the  two  others  to  reside  respectively  in  Flanders  and  in 
Utrecht.  They  were  to  be  appointed  by  Matthias  and 
the  Prince,  upon  a  double  nomination  from  the  estates 
of  the  united  provinces.  Their  decisions  were  to  be  made 
according  to  a  majority  of  votes,  and  there  was  to  be  no 
secret  cabinet  behind  and  above  their  deliberations.  It 
was  long,  however,  before  these  councils  were  put  into 
working  order.  The  fatal  jealousy  of  the  provincial 
authorities,  the  small  ambition  of  local  magistrates,  inter- 
posed daily  obstacles  to  the  vigorous  march  of  the  gen- 
erality. Never  was  jealousy  more  mischievous,  never  cir- 
cumspection more  misapplied.  It  was  not  a  land  nor  a 
crisis  in  which  there  was  peril  of  centralization.  Local 
municipal  government  was,  in  truth,  the  only  force  left. 
There  was  no  possibility  of  its  being  merged  in  a  central 
authority  which  did  not  exist.  The  country  was  without 
a  centre.  There  was  small  chance  of  apoplexy  where  there 
was  no  head.  The  danger  lay  in  the  mutual  repulsive- 
ness  of  these  atoms  of  sovereignty — in  the  centrifugal  ten- 
dencies which  were  fast  resolving  a  nebulous  common- 
wealth into  chaos.  Disunion  and  dissension  would  soon 
bring  about  a  more  fatal  centralization — that  of  absorp- 
tion in  a  distant  despotism. 

At  the  end  of  November,  1579,  Orange  made  another 
remarkable  speech  in  the  states-general  at  Antwerp.  He 
handled  the  usual  topics  with  his  customary  vigor,  and 
with  that  grace  and  warmth  of  delivery  which  always 
made  his  eloquence  so  persuasive  and  impressive.  He 
spoke  of  the  countless  calumnies  against  himself,  the 
chaffering  niggardliness  of  the  provinces,  the  slender  result 
t)roduced  by  his  repeated  warnings.  He  told  them  blunt- 
ly the  great  cause  of  all  their  troubles.     It  was  the  ab- 

89 


610  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1580 

sence  of  a  broad  patriotism ;  it  was  the  narrow  power 
grudged  rather  than  given  to  the  deputies  who  sat  in  the 
general  assembly.  They  were  mere  envoys,  tied  by  in- 
structions. They  were  powerless  to  act,  except  after 
tedious  reference  to  the  will  of  their  masters,  the  provin- 
cial boards.  The  deputies  of  the  union  came  thither,  he 
said,  as  advocates  of  their  provinces  or  their  cities,  not 
as  councillors  of  a  commonwealth,  and  sought  to  further 
those  narrow  interests,  even  at  the  risk  of  destruction  to 
their  sister  states.  The  contributions,  he  complained, 
were  assessed  unequally  and  expended  selfishly.  Upon 
this  occasion,  as  upon  all  occasions,  he  again  challenged 
inquiry  into  the  purity  of  his  government,  demanded 
chastisement,  if  any  act  of  maladministration  on  his  part 
could  be  found,  and  repeated  his  anxious  desire  either  to 
be  relieved  from  his  functions  or  to  be  furnished  with  the 
means  of  discharging  them  with  efficiency. 

On  the  12th  of  December,  1579,  he  again  made  a 
powerful  speech  in  the  states-general.  Upon  the  9th  of 
January  following  he  made  an  elaborate  address  upon 
the  state  of  the  country,  urging  the  necessity  of  raising 
instantly  a  considerable  army  of  good  and  experienced 
soldiers.  He  fixed  the  indispensable  number  of  such  a 
force  at  twelve  thousand  foot,  four  thousand  horse,  and 
at  least  twelve  hundred  pioneers. 

Early  in  the  year  1580  the  Prince  was  doomed  to  a  bit- 
ter disappointment,  and  the  provinces  to  a  severe  loss,  in 
the  treason  of  Count  Kenneberg,  governor  of  Friesland. 
This  young  noble  was  of  the  great  Lalain  family.  He  was 
a  younger  brother  of  Anthony,  Count  of  Hoogstraaten, 
the  unwavering  friend  of  Orange.  The  bill  of  sale,  by 
which  he  agreed  with  a  certain  Quislain  le  Bailly  to  trans- 
fer himself  to  Spain,  fixed  the  terms  with  the  technical 
scrupulousness  of  any  other  mercantile  transaction.  Een- 
neberg  sold  himself  as  one  would  sell  a  yoke  of  oxen,  and 
his  motives  were  no  whit  nobler  than  the  cynical  contract 
would  indicate.  He  was  treacherous  from  the  most  sor- 
did of  motives — jealousy  of  his  friend  and  love  of  place 
and  pelf ;  but  his  subsequent  remorse  and  his  early  death 
have  cast  a  veil  over  the  blackness  of  his  crime.     On  the 


1580]  TREACHERY   OF  RENNEBERG  611 

4th  of  March,  1580,  Renneberg  carried  out  his  plot  and 
seized  the  capital  of  Groningen  province.  The  city  was 
formally  united  to  the  royal  government,  but  the  count's 
measures  had  been  precipitated  to  such  an  extent  that  he 
was  unable  to  carry  the  province  with  him,  as  he  had 
hoped.  On  the  contrary,  although  he  had  secured  the 
city,  he  had  secured  nothing  else.  He  was  immediately 
beleaguered  by  the  states'  force  in  the  province,  under  the 
command  of  Barthold  Entes,  Hohenlo,  and  Philip  Louis 
Nassau,  and  it  was  necessary  to  send  for  immediate  assis- 
tance from  Parma. 

The  Prince  of  Orange,  being  thus  bitterly  disappointed 
by  the  treachery  of  his  friend,  and  foiled  in  his  attempt 
to  avert  the  immediate  consequences,  continued  his  in- 
terrupted journey  to  Amsterdam.  Here  he  was  received 
with  unbounded  enthusiasm. 


CHAPTER    IV 
THE   DUTCH   DECLAEATIOK   OF   Iliq^DEPEN'DEIi^'CE 

The  war  continued  in  a  languid  and  desultory  manner 
in  different  parts  of  the  country.  At  an  action  near  In- 
gelmunster  the  brave  and  accomplished  De  la  None  was 
made  prisoner.  This  was  a  severe  loss  to  the  states,  a 
cruel  blow  to  Orange,  for  he  was  not  only  one  of  the  most 
experienced  soldiers,  but  one  of  the  most  accomplished 
writers  of  his  age.  His  pen  was  as  celebrated  as  his 
sword.  In  exchange  for  the  illustrious  Frenchman  the 
states  in  vain  offered  Count  Egmont,  who  had  been  made 
prisoner  a  few  weeks  before,  and  De  Selles,  who  was  capt- 
ured shortly  afterwards.  Parma  answered,  contemptu- 
ously, that  he  would  not  give  a  lion  for  two  sheep.  Even 
Champagny  was  offered  in  addition,  but  without  success. 
Parma  had  written  to  Philip,  immediately  upon  the  capt- 
ure, that,  were  it  not  for  Egmont,  Selles,  and  others, 
then  in  the  power  of  Orange,  he  should  order  the  execu- 
tion of  De  la  None.  Under  the  circumstances,  however,  he 
had  begged  to  be  informed  as  to  his  Majesty's  pleasure, 
and  in  the  mean  time  had  placed  the  prisoner  in  the  castle 
of  Limburg,  under  charge  of  De  Billy.  His  Majesty,  of 
course,  never  signified  his  pleasure,  and  the  illustrious 
soldier  remained  for  five  years  in  a  loathsome  dungeon 
more  befitting  a  condemned  malefactor  than  a  prisoner  of 
war.  It  was  in  the  donjon -keep  of  the  castle,  lighted 
only  by  an  aperture  in  the  roof,  and  was  therefore  ex- 
posed to  the  rain  and  all  inclemencies  of  the  sky,  while 
rats,  toads,  and  other  vermin  housed  in  the  miry  floor. 
At  last,  in  June,  1585,  he  was  exchanged,  on  extremely 
rigorous  terms,  for  Egmont.     During  his  captivity  i^i  this 


1680]  DEFEAT  ON   HARDENBERG  HEATH  613 

vile  dungeon  he  composed  not  only  his  famous  political 
and  military  discourses,  but  several  other  works,  among 
the  rest  Annotations  upon  Plutarch  and  upon  the  His- 
tories of  Guicciardini. 

The  siege  of  Groningen  proceeded,  and  Parma  ordered 
some  forces  under  Martin  Schenck  to  advance  to  its  relief. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  meagre  states'  forces  under  Sonoy, 
Hohenlo,  Entes,  and  Count  John  of  Nassau's  young  son, 
William  Louis,  had  not  yet  made  much  impression  upon 
the  city.  There  was  little  military  skill  to  atone  for  the 
feebleness  of  the  assailing  army,  although  there  was  plenty 
of  rude  valor. 

Count  Philip  Hohenlo,  upon  whom  devolved  the  entire 
responsibility  of  the  Groningen  siege  and  of  the  Friesland 
operations  after  the  death  of  Barthold  Entes,  had  never 
learned  the  art  of  war,  nor  had  he  the  least  ambition  to 
acquire  it.  Devoted  to  his  pleasures,  he  depraved  those 
under  his  command  and  injured  the  cause  for  which  he 
was  contending. 

After  a  few  trifling  operations  before  Groningen,  Ho- 
henlo was  summoned  to  the  neighborhood  of  Coevorden 
by  the  reported  arrival  of  Martin  Schenck,  at  the  head  of 
a  considerable  force.  On  the  15th  of  June  the  Count 
marched  all  night  and  a  part  of  the  following  morning  in 
search  of  the  enemy.  He  came  up  with  them  upon  Har- 
denberg  Heath,  in  a  broiling  summer  forenoon.  His  men 
were  jaded  by  the  forced  march,  overcome  with  the  heat, 
tormented  with  thirst,  and  unable  to  procure  even  a  drop 
of  water.  The  royalists  were  fresh,  so  that  the  result  of 
the  contest  was  easily  to  be  foreseen.  Hohenlo's  army 
was  annihilated  in  an  hour's  time,  the  whole  population 
fled  out  of  Coevorden,  the  siege  of  Groningen  was  raised, 
Kenneberg  was  set  free  to  resume  his  operations  on  a 
larger  scale,  and  the  fate  of  all  the  northeastern  prov- 
inces was  once  more  swinging  in  the  wind.  The  boors  of 
Drenthe  and  Friesland  rose  again.  They  had  already 
mustered  in  the  field,  at  an  earlier  season  of  the  year,  in 
considerable  force.  Calling  themselves  ''the  desperates," 
and  bearing  on  their  standard  an  egg-shell  with  the  yolk 
running  out — to  indicate  that,  having  lost  the  meat  they 


614  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1580 

were  yet  ready  to  figlit  for  the  shell  —  they  had  swept 
through  the  open  country,  pillaging  and  burning.  Ho- 
henlo  had  defeated  them  in  two  encounters,  slain  a  large 
number  of  their  forces,  and  reduced  them  for  a  time  to 
tranquillity.  His  late  overthrow  once  more  set  them 
loose.  Renneberg,  always  apt  to  be  over-elated  in  prosper- 
ity, as  he  was  unduly  dejected  in  adversity,  now  assumed 
all  the  airs  of  a  conqueror.  He  had  hardly  eight  thousand 
men  under  his  orders,  but  his  strength  lay  in  the  weak- 
ness of  his  adversaries.  A  small  war  now  succeeded,  with 
small  generals,  small  armies,  small  campaigns,  small  sieges. 
For  the  time,  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  even  obliged  to  con- 
tent himself  with  such  a  general  as  Hohenlo.  As  usual, 
he  was  almost  alone,  and  he  was  this  summer  doomed  to  a 
still  harder  deprivation  by  the  final  departure  of  his  brother 
John  from  the  Netherlands. 

The  Count  had  been  wearied  out  by  petty  miseries.  His 
stadholderate  of  Gelderland  had  overwhelmed  him  with 
annoyance,  for  throughout  the  northeastern  provinces  there 
was  neither  system  nor  subordination.  The  magistrates 
could  exercise  no  authority  over  an  army  which  they  did  not 
pay  or  a  people  whom  they  did  not  protect.  There  were 
endless  quarrels  between  the  various  boards  of  municipal 
and  provincial  government — particularly  concerning  con- 
tributions and  expenditures.  During  this  wrangling,  the 
country  was  exposed  to  the  forces  of  Parma,  to  the  private 
efforts  of  the  Malcontents,  to  the  unpaid  soldiery  of  the 
states,  to  the  armed  and  rebellious  peasantry.  Little 
heed  was  paid  to  the  admonitions  of  Count  John,  who 
was  of  a  hotter  temper  than  was  the  tranquil  Prince. 
Having  already  loaded  himself  with  a  debt  of  six  hundred 
thousand  florins,  which  he  had  spent  in  the  states'  ser- 
vice, and  having  struggled  manfully  against  the  petty  tort- 
ures of  his  situation,  he  cannot  be  severely  censured  for  re- 
linquishing his  post.  The  affairs  of  his  own  Countship 
were  in  great  confusion.  His  children — boys  and  girls — 
were  many,  and  needed  their  father's  guidance,  while  the 
eldest,  William  Louis,  was  already  in  arms  for  the  Neth- 
erlands, following  the  instincts  of  his  race.  Distinguished 
for  a  rash  valor,  which  had  already  gained  the  rebuke  of 


1580]  ASSEMBLY   AT  ANTWERP  615 

his  father  and  the  applause  of  his  comrades,  he  had  com- 
menced his  long  and  glorious  career  by  receiving  a  severe 
wound  at  Ooevorden,  which  caused  him  to  halt  for  life. 
Leaving  so  worthy  a  representative,  the  Count  was  more 
justified  in  his  departure. 

On  the  22d  of  July,  1580,  the  Archduke  Matthias,  being 
fully  aware  of  the  general  tendency  of  affairs,  summoned 
a  meeting  of  the  generality  in  Antwerp.  He  did  not 
make  his  appearance  before  the  assembly,  but  requested 
that  a  deputation  might  wait  upon  him  at  his  lodgings, 
and  to  this  committee  he  unfolded  his  griefs.  He  ex- 
pressed his  hope  that  the  states  were  not — in  violation  of 
the  laws  of  God  and  man  —  about  to  throw  themselves 
into  the  arms  of  a  foreign  prince.  He  reminded  them  of 
their  duty  to  the  holy  Catholic  religion,  and  to  the  illus- 
trious house  of  Austria,  while  he  also  pathetically  called 
their  attention  to  the  necessities  of  his  own  household, 
and  hoped  that  they  would,  at  least,  provide  for  the  ar- 
rears due  to  his  domestics. 

The  states-general  replied  with  courtesy  as  to  the  per- 
sonal claims  of  the  Archduke.  For  the  rest,  they  took  high- 
er grounds,  and  the  coming  declaration  of  independence 
already  pierced  through  the  studied  decorum  of  their  lan- 
guage. They  defended  their  negotiation  with  Anjou  on 
the  ground  of  necessity,  averring  that  the  King  of  Spain 
had  proved  inexorable  to  all  intercession,  while,  through 
the  intrigues  of  their  bitterest  enemies,  they  had  been  en- 
tirely forsaken  by  the  empire. 

Soon  afterwards  a  special  legation,  with  Sainte-Alde- 
gonde  at  its  head,  was  despatched  to  France  to  consult 
with  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  and  settled  terms  of  agreement 
with  him  by  the  treaty  of  Plessis  les  Tours  (on  the  29th  of 
September,  1580),  afterwards  definitely  ratified  by  the 
convention  of  Bordeaux,  signed  on  the  23d  of  the  follow- 
ing January. 

The  states  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  however,  kept  en- 
tirely aloof  from  this  transaction,  being  from  the  begin- 
ning opposed  to  the  choice  of  Anjou.  From  the  first 
to  the  last  they  would  have  no  master  but  Orange,  and 
to  him,  therefore,  this  year  they  formally  offered  the 


616  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1580 

sovereignty  of  their  provinces ;  but  they  offered  it  in 
vain. 

The  conquest  of  Portugal  had  effected  a  diversion  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Netherlands.  It  was  but  a  transitory  one. 
The  provinces  found  the  hopes  which  they  had  built  upon 
the  necessity  of  Spain  for  large  supplies  in  the  peninsula 
— to  their  own  consequent  relief — soon  changed  into  fears, 
for  the  rapid  success  of  Alva  in  Portugal  gave  his  master 
additional  power  to  oppress  the  heretics  of  the  north. 
When,  in  1579,  Philip  received  homage  at  Lisbon  as  King 
of  Portugal,  he  was  more  disposed,  and  more  at  leisure 
than  ever,  to  vent  his  wrath  against  the  Netherlands,  and 
against  the  man  whom  he  considered  the  incarnation  of 
their  revolt. 

Cardinal  Granvelle  had  ever  whispered  in  the  King's 
ear  the  expediency  of  taking  off  the  Prince  by  assassina- 
tion. It  was  in  accordance  with  his  suggestions  that  the 
famous  ban  was  accordingly  drawn  up,  and  dated  on  the 
15th  of  March,  1580.  It  was,  however,  not  formally  pub- 
lished in  the  Netherlands  until  the  month  of  June  of  the 
same  year. 

This  edict  will  remain  the  most  lasting  monument  to 
the  memory  of  Cardinal  Granvelle.  It  will  be  read  when 
all  his  other  state-papers  and  epistles — able  as  they  incon- 
testably  are  —  shall  have  passed  into  oblivion.  No  pane- 
gyric of  friend,  no  palliating  magnanimity  of  foe,  can  roll 
away  this  rock  of  infamy  from  his  tomb.  It  was  by  Car- 
dinal Granvelle  and  by  Philip  that  a  price  was  set  upon 
the  head  of  the  foremost  man  of  his  age,  as  if  he  had  been 
a  savage  beast,  and  that  admission  into  the  ranks  of  Spain's 
haughty  nobility  was  made  the  additional  bribe  to  tempt 
the  assassin. 

The  ban  consisted  of  a  preliminary  narrative  to  justify 
the  penalty  with  which  it  was  concluded.  It  referred  to 
the  favors  conferred  by  Philip  and  his  father  upon  the 
Prince ;  to  his  signal  ingratitude  and  dissimulation.  It 
accused  him  of  originating  the  Request,  the  image-break- 
ing, and  the  public  preaching.  It  censured  his  marriage 
with  an  abbess — even  during  the  lifetime  of  his  wife  ;  al- 
luded to  his  campaigns  against  Alva,  to  his  rebellion  in 


1580]  THE   BAN  61 7 

Holland,  and  to  the  horrible  massacres  committed  by 
Spaniards  in  that  province — as  the  necessary  consequences 
of  his  treason.  It  accused  him  of  introducing  liberty  of 
conscience,  of  procuring  his  own  appointment  as  Ruward, 
of  violating  the  Ghent  treaty,  of  foiling  the  efforts  of  Don 
John,  and  of  frustrating  the  counsels  of  the  Cologne  com- 
missioners by  his  perpetual  distrust.  It  charged  him  with 
a  newly  organized  conspiracy,  in  the  erection  of  the 
Utrecht  Union  ;  and  for  these  and  similar  crimes  —  set 
forth  with  involutions,  slow,  spiral,  and  cautious  as  the 
head  and  front  of  the  indictment  was  direct  and  deadly — 
it  announced  the  chastisement  due  to  the  "  wretched  hyp- 
ocrite "  who  had  committed  such  offences. 

"For  these  causes,"  concluded  the  ban,  ''we  declare 
him  traitor  and  miscreant,  enemy  of  ourselves  and  of  the 
country.  As  such  we  banish  him  perpetually  from  all  our 
realms,  forbidding  all  our  subjects,  of  whatever  quality,  to 
communicate  with  him  openly  or  privately — to  administer 
to  him  victuals,  drink,  fire,  or  other  necessaries.  We  al- 
low all  to  injure  him  in  property  or  life.  We  expose  the 
said  William  Nassau  as  an  enemy  of  the  human  race — giv- 
ing his  property  to  all  who  may  seize  it.  And  if  any  one 
of  our  subjects  or  any  stranger  should  be  found  sufficient- 
ly generous  of  heart  to  rid  us  of  this  pest,  delivering  him 
to  us,  alive  or  dead,  or  taking  his  life,  we  will  cause  to  be 
furnished  to  him,  immediately  after  the  deed  shall  have 
been  done,  the  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  crowns  in 
gold.  If  he  have  committed  any  crimen  however  heinous, 
we  promise  to  pardon  him  ;  and  if  he  he  not  already  noble, 
we  will  ennoble  him  for  his  valor." 

Such  was  the  celebrated  ban  against  the  Prince  of 
Orange.  It  was  answered  before  the  end  of  the  year  by 
the  memorable  ''Apology  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,"  one  of 
the  most  startling  documents  in  history.  No  defiance  was 
ever  thundered  forth  in  the  face  of  a  despot  in  more  ter- 
rible tones.  It  had  become  sufficiently  manifest  to  the 
royal  party  that  the  Prince  was  not  to  be  purchased  by 
"millions  of  money,"  or  by  unlimited  family  advancement 
— ^not  to  be  cajoled  by  flattery  or  offers  of  illustrious  friend- 
ship.    It  had  been  decided,  therefore,  to  terrify  him  into 


618  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1580 

retreat,  or  to  remove  him  by  murder.  The  government 
had  been  thoroughly  convinced  that  the  only  way  to  finish 
the  revolt  was  to  ''  finish  Orange/"  according  to  the  an- 
cient advice  of  Antonio  Perez.  The  mask  was  thrown  off. 
It  had  been  decided  to  forbid  the  Prince  bread,  water,  fire, 
and  shelter  ;  to  give  his  wealth  to  the  fisc,  his  heart  to  the 
assassin,  his  soul,  as  it  was  hoped,  to  the  Father  of  Evil. 
The  rupture  being  thus  complete,  it  was  right  that  the 
^'  wretched  hypocrite  "  should  answer  ban  with  ban,  royal 
denunciation  with  sublime  scorn.  He  had  ill-deserved, 
however,  the  title  of  hypocrite,  he  said.  When  the  friend 
of  government,  he  had  warned  them  that  by  their  com- 
plicated and  perpetual  persecutions  they  were  twisting  the 
rope  of  their  own  ruin.  Was  that  hypocrisy  ?  Since  be- 
coming their  enemy,  there  had  likewise  been  little  hypoc- 
risy found  in  him — unless  it  were  hypocrisy  to  make  open 
war  upon  government,  to  take  their  cities,  to  expel  their 
armies  from  the  country. 

The  proscribed  rebel,  towering  to  a  moral  and  even 
social  superiority  over  the  man  who  affected  to  be  his  mas- 
ter by  right  divine,  swept  down  upon  his  antagonist  with 
crushing  effect.  He  repudiated  the  idea  of  a  king  in  the 
Netherlands.  The  word  might  be  legitimate  in  Castile, 
or  Naples,  or  the  Indies,  but  the  provinces  knew  no  such 
title.  Philip  had  inherited  in  those  countries  only  the 
power  of  Duke  or  Count — a  power  closely  limited  by  con- 
stitutions more  ancient  than  his  birthright.  Orange  was 
no  rebel  then — Philip  no  legitimate  monarch.  Even  were 
the  Prince  rebellious,  it  was  no  more  than  Philip^s  ances- 
tor, Albert  of  Austria,  had  been  towards  his  anointed 
sovereign,  Emperor  Adolphus  of  Nassau,  ancestor  of 
William.  The  ties  of  allegiance  and  conventional  author- 
ity being  severed,  it  had  become  idle  for  the  King  to  af- 
fect superiority  of  lineage  to  the  man  whose  family  had 
occupied  illustrious  stations  when  the  Hapsburgs  were 
obscure  squires  in  Switzerland,  and  had  ruled  as  sovereign 
in  the  Netherlands  before  that  overshadowing  house  had 
ever  been  named. 

But  whatever  the  hereditary  claims  of  Philip  in  the 
country,  he  had  forfeited  them  by  the  violation  of  his 


1580]  THE  APOLOGY  619 

oaths,  by  his  tyrannical  suppression  of  the  charters  of  the 
land  ;  while  by  his  personal  crimes  he  had  lost  all  preten- 
sion to  sit  in  judgment  upon  his  fellow -man.  Was  a 
people  not  justified  in  rising  against  authority  when  all 
their  laws  had  been  trodden  under  foot,  "  not  once  only, 
but  a  million  of  times  ?" — and  was  William  of  Orange, 
lawful  husband  of  the  virtuous  Charlotte  de  Bourbon,  to 
be  denounced  for  moral  delinquency  by  a  lascivious,  in- 
cestuous, adulterous,  and  murderous  king  ?  With  horri- 
ble distinctness  he  laid  before  the  monarch  all  the  crimes 
of  which  he  believed  him  guilty,  and  having  thus  told 
Philip  to  his  beard,  "  thus  diddest  thou,^'  he  had  a  wither- 
ing word  for  the  priest  who  stood  at  his  back.  ^'  Tell 
me,"  he  cried,  ^'by  whose  command  Cardinal  Granvelle 
administered  poison  to  the  Emperor  Maximilian  ?  I  know 
what  the  Emperor  told  me,  and  how  much  fear  he  felt 
afterwards  for  the  King  and  for  all  Spaniards." 

He  ridiculed  the  effrontery  of  men  like  Philip  and  Gran- 
velle in  charging  '^distrust"  upon  others  when  it  was 
the  very  atmosphere  of  their  own  existence.  He  pro- 
claimed that  sentiment  to  be  the  only  salvation  for  the 
country.  He  reminded  Philip  of  the  words  which  his 
namesake  of  Macedon — a  school-boy  in  tyranny  compared 
to  himself — had  heard  from  the  lips  of  Demosthenes — 
that  the  strongest  fortress  of  a  free  people  against  a  ty- 
rant was  distrust.  That  sentiment,  worthy  of  eternal 
memory,  the  Prince  declared  that  he  had  taken  from 
the  "  divine  philippic,"  to  engrave  upon  the  heart  of 
the  nation,  and  he  prayed  God  that  he  might  be  more 
readily  believed  than  the  great  orator  had  been  by  his 
people. 

He  treated  with  scorn  the  price  set  upon  his  head,  ridi- 
culing this  project  to  terrify  him  for  its  want  of  novelty, 
and  asking  the  monarch  if  he  supposed  the  rebel  ignorant 
of  the  various  bargains  which  had  frequently  been  made 
before  with  cutthroats  and  poisoners  to  take  away  his  life. 
^^  I  am  in  the  hand  of  God,"  said  William  of  Orange  ; 
"my  worldly  goods  and  my  life  have  been  long  since  dedi- 
cated to  His  service.  He  will  dispose  of  them  as  seems 
best  for  His  glory  and  my  salvation." 


620  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1580 

On  the  contrary,  however,  if  it  could  be  demonstrated, 
or  even  hoped,  that  his  absence  would  benefit  the  cause 
of  the  country,  he  proclaimed  himself  ready  to  go  into 
exile.  ''Would  to  God,"  said  he,  in  conclusion,  "that 
my  perpetual  banishment,  or  even  my  death,  could  bring 
you  a  true  deliverance  from  so  many  calamities.  Oh,  how 
consoling  would  be  such  banishment — how  sweet  such  a 
death  !  For  why  have  I  exposed  my  property  ?  Was  it 
that  I  might  enrich  myself  ?  Why  have  I  lost  my  brothers  ? 
Was  it  that  I  might  find  new  ones  ?  Why  have  I  left  my 
son  so  long  a  prisoner  ?  Can  you  give  me  another  ?  Why 
have  I  put  my  life  so  often  in  danger  ?  What  reward  can 
I  hope  after  my  long  services,  and  the  almost  total  wreck 
of  my  earthly  fortunes,  if  not  the  prize  of  having  ac- 
quired, perhaps  at  the  expense  of  my  life,  your  liberty  ? 
If  then,  my  masters,  you  judge  that  my  absence  or  my 
death  can  serve  you,  behold  me  ready  to  obey.  Command 
me — send  me  to  the  ends  of  the  earth — I  will  obey.  Here 
is  my  head,  over  which  no  prince,  no  monarch  has  power 
but  yourselves.  Dispose  of  it  for  your  good,  for  the 
preservation  of  your  republic,  but  if  you  judge  that  the 
moderate  amount  of  experience  and  industry  which  is  in 
me,  if  you  judge  that  the  remainder  of  my  property  and 
of  my  life  can  yet  be  of  service  to  you,  I  dedicate  them 
afresh  to  you  and  to  the  country." 

His  motto — most  appropriate  to  his  life  and  character — 
"  Je  maintiendraiy''  yf^^  the  concluding  phrase  of  the  docu- 
ment. His  arms  and  signature  were  also  formally  ap- 
pended, and  the  Apology,  translated  into  most  modern 
languages,  was  sent  to  nearly  every  potentate  in  Chris- 
tendom. It  had  been  previously,  on  the  13th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1580,  read  before  the  assembly  of  the  united  states, 
at  Delft,  and  approved  as  cordially  as  the  ban  was  indig- 
nantly denounced. 

During  the  remainder  of  the  year  1580,  and  the  half  of 
the  following  year,  the  seat  of  hostilities  was  mainly  in 
the  northeast,  Parma,  while  waiting  the  arrival  of  fresh 
troops,  being  inactive.  The  operations,  like  the  armies 
and  the  generals,  were  petty.  Hohenlo  was  opposed  to 
Reuueberg.     After  ^  few  insignificant  victories,  the  latter 


1881]  THE  NATlOls^AL  COUNCIL  621 

laid  siege  to  Steenwyk,  a  city  in  itself  of  no  great  impor- 
tance, but  the  key  to  the  province  of  Drenthe.  The  gar- 
rison consisted  of  six  hundred  soldiers,  and  half  as  many 
trained  burghers.  Renneberg,  having  six  thousand  foot 
and  twelve  hundred  horse,  summoned  the  place  to  sur- 
render, but  was  answered  with  defiance.  Captain  Cornput, 
who  had  escaped  from  Groningen,  after  unsuccessfully 
warning  the  citizens  of  Renneberg^s  meditated  treason, 
commanded  in  Steenwyk,  and  his  courage  and  cheerful- 
ness sustained  the  population  of  the  city  during  a  close 
winter  siege.  On  the  22d  of  February,  1581,  Sir  John 
Norris  succeeded  in  victualling  the  town,  and  Count 
Renneberg  abandoned  the  siege  in  despair. 

The  subsequent  career  of  that  unhappy  nobleman  was 
brief.  On  the  19th  of  July  his  troops  were  signally  de- 
feated by  Sonoy  and  Norris,  the  fugitive  royalists  retreat- 
ing into  Groningen  at  the  very  moment  when  their  gen- 
eral, who  had  been  prevented  by  illness  from  commanding 
them,  was  receiving  the  last  sacraments.  Remorse,  shame, 
and  disappointment  had  literally  brought  Renneberg  to 
his  grave.  His  regrets,  his  early  death,  and  his  many 
attractive  qualities  combined  to  save  his  character  from 
universal  denunciation,  and  his  name,  although  indelibly 
stained  by  treason,  was  ever  mentioned  with  pity  rather 
than  with  rancor. 

Great  changes,  destined  to  be  perpetual,  were  in  proc- 
ess in  the  internal  condition  of  the  provinces.  A  pre- 
liminary measure  of  an  important  character  had  been 
taken  early  this  year  by  the  assembly  of  the  united  prov- 
inces held  in  the  month  of  January  at  Delft.  This  was 
the  establishment  of  a  general  executive  council.  The 
constitution  of  the  board  was  arranged  on  the  13th  of  the 
month,  and  was  embraced  in  eighteen  articles.  The  num- 
ber of  councillors  was  fixed  at  thirty,  all  to  be  native 
Netherlanders,  a  certain  proportion  to  be  appointed  from 
each  province  by  its  estates.  The  advice  and  consent  of 
this  body  as  to  treaties  with  foreign  powers  were  to  be 
indispensable,  but  they  were  not  to  interfere  with  the 
rights  and  duties  of  the  states-general,  nor  to  interpose 
any  obstacle  to  the  arrangements  with  the  Duke  of  Anjou. 


62:3  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1581 

While  this  additional  machine  for  the  self-government 
of  the  provinces  was  in  the  course  of  creation^  the  Spanish 
monarch,  on  the  other  hand,  had  made  another  effort  to 
recover  the  authority  which  he  felt  slipping  from  his  grasp. 
Philip  was  in  Portugal,  preparing  for  his  coronation  in 
that  new  kingdom  —  an  event  destined  to  be  nearly  con- 
temporaneous with  his  deposition  from  the  Netherland 
sovereignty,  so  solemnly  conferred  upon  him  a  quarter  of 
a  century  before  in  Brussels ;  but  although  thus  distant, 
he  was  confident  that  he  could  more  wisely  govern  the 
Netherlands  than  the  inhabitants  could,  and  unwilling  as 
ever  to  confide  in  the  abilities  of  those  to  whom  he  had 
delegated  his  authority.  Provided,  as  he  unquestion- 
ably was  at  that  moment,  with  a  more  energetic  repre- 
sentative than  any  who  had  before  exercised  the  func- 
tions of  royal  governor  in  the  provinces,  he  was  still 
disposed  to  harass,  to  doubt,  and  to  interfere.  With  the 
additional  cares  of  the  Portuguese  conquest  upon  his 
hands,  he  felt  as  irresistibly  impelled  as  ever  to  superin- 
tend the  minute  details  of  provincial  administration.  To 
do  this  was  impossible.  It  was,  however,  not  impossible, 
by  attempting  to  do  it,  to  produce  much  mischief.  The 
King  had,  moreover,  recently  committed  the  profound 
error  of  sending  the  Duchess  Margaret  of  Parma  to  the 
Netherlands  again.  The  event  was  what  might  have  been 
foreseen.  The  Netherlanders  were  very  moderately  ex- 
cited by  the  arrival  of  their  former  regent,  but  the  Prince 
of  Parma  was  furious.  His  mother  actually  arrived  at 
Namur  in  the  month  of  August,  1580,  to  assume  the  civil 
administration  of  the  provinces,  and  he  was  himself,  ac- 
cording to  the  King's  request,  to  continue  in  the  com- 
mand of  the  army.  Margaret  of  Parma  was  instantly 
informed,  however,  by  Alexander,  that  a  divided  authority 
like  that  proposed  was  entirely  out  of  the  question.  Both 
offered  to  resign;  but  Alexander  was  unflinching  in  his 
determination  to  retain  all  the  power  or  none.  By  the 
end  of  the  year  1581  letters  arrived  confirming  the  Prince 
of  Parma  in  his  government,  but  requesting  the  Duchess 
of  Parma  to  remain  privately  in  the  Netherlands.  She 
accordingly  continued  to  reside  there  under  an  assumed 


1581]  PAPISTS   OPPRESSED  623 

name  until  the  autumn  of  1583,  when  she  was  at  last  per- 
mitted to  return  to  Italy. 

During  the  summer  of  1581  the  same  spirit  of  perse- 
cution which  had  inspired  the  Catholics  to  inflict  such 
infinite  misery  upon  those  of  the  Reformed  faith  in  the 
Netherlands  began  to  manifest  itself  in  overt  acts  against 
the  papists  by  those  who  had  at  last  obtained  political 
ascendency  over  them.  Edicts  were  published  in  Ant- 
werp, in  Utrecht,  and  in  different  cities  of  Holland,  sus- 
pending the  exercise  of  the  Roman  worship.  These  stat- 
utes were  certainly  a  long  way  removed  in  horror  from 
those  memorable  placards  which  sentenced  the  Reformers 
by  thousands  to  the  axe,  the  cord,  and  the  stake ;  but  it 
was  still  melancholy  to  see  the  persecuted  becoming  per- 
secutors in  their  turn.  They  were  excited  to  these  strin- 
gent measures  by  the  noisy  zeal  of  certain  Dominican 
monks  in  Brussels,  whose  extravagant  discourses  were 
daily  inflaming  the  passions  of  the  Catholics  to  a  danger- 
ous degree.  The  authorities  of  the  city  accordingly 
thought  it  necessary  to  suspend,  by  proclamation,  the 
public  exercise  of  the  ancient  religion,  assigning  as  their 
principal  reason  for  this  prohibition  the  shocking  jug- 
glery by  which  simple-minded  persons  were  constantly 
deceived.  They  alluded  particularly  to  the  practice  of 
working  miracles  by  means  of  relics,  pieces  of  the  holy 
cross,  bones  of  saints,  and  the  perspiration  of  statues. 
They  charged  that  bits  of  lath  were  daily  exhibited  as 
fragments  of  the  cross,  that  the  bones  of  dogs  and  mon- 
keys were  held  up  for  adoration  as  those  of  saints,  and 
that  oil  was  poured  habitually  into  holes  drilled  in  the 
heads  of  statues,  that  the  populace  might  believe  in  their 
miraculous  sweating.  For  these  reasons,  and  to  avoid  the 
tumult  and  possible  bloodshed  to  which  the  disgust  ex- 
cited by  such  charlatanry  might  give  rise,  the  Roman 
Catholic  worship  was  suspended  until  the  country  should 
be  restored  to  greater  tranquillity.  Similar  causes  led 
to  similar  proclamations  in  other  cities.  The  Prince  of 
Orange  lamented  the  intolerant  spirit  thus  showing  itself 
among  those  who  had  been  its  martyrs,  but  it  was  not  pos- 
sible at  that  moment  to  keep  it  absolutely  under  control. 


624  HISTORY  OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1581 

A  most  important  change  was  now  to  take  place  in  his 
condition — a  most  vital  measure  was  to  be  consummated 
by  the  provinces.  The  step,  which  could  never  be  re- 
traced, was,  after  long  hesitation,  finally  taken  upon  the 
26th  of  July,  1581,  upon  which  day  the  united  provinces, 
assembled  at  The  Hague,  solemnly  declared  their  inde- 
pendence of  Philip,  and  renounced  their  allegiance  for- 
ever. * 

This  act  was  accomplished  with  the  deliberation  due  to 
its  gravity  ;  at  the"  same  time  it  left  the  country  in  a  very 
divided  condition.  This  was  inevitable.  The  Prince  had 
done  all  that  one  man  could  do  to  hold  the  Netherlands 
together  and  unite  them  perpetually  into  one  body  politic, 
and  perhaps,  if  he  had  been  inspired  by  a  keener  personal 
ambition,  this  task  might  have  been  accomplished.  The 
seventeen  provinces  might  have  accepted  his  dominion, 
but  they  would  agree  to  that  of  no  other  sovereign.  Prov- 
idence had  not  decreed  that  the  country,  after  its  long 
agony,  should  give  birth  to  a  single  and  perfect  common- 
wealth. The  Walloon  provinces  had  already  fallen  off 
from  the  cause,  notwithstanding  the  entreaties  of  the 
Prince.  The  other  Netherlands,  after  long  and  tedious 
negotiation  with  Anjou,  had  at  last  consented  to  his  su- 
premacy, but  from  this  arrangement  Holland  and  Zeeland 
held  themselves  aloof.  By  a  somewhat  anomalous  pro- 
ceeding, they  sent  deputies  along  with  those  of  the  other 
provinces  to  the  conferences  with  the  Duke,  but  it  was 
expressly  understood  that  they  would  never  accept  him 
as  sovereign.  They  were  willing  to  contract  with  him 
and  with  their  sister  provinces — over  which  he  was  soon 
to  exercise  authority — a  firm  and  perpetual  league,  but 
as  to  their  own  chief  their  hearts  were  fixed.  The  Prince 
of  Orange  should  be  their  lord  and  master,  and  none 
other.     It  lay  only  in  his  self-denying  character  that  he 

*  The  full  text  of  the  English  translation  of  the  Act  of  Abjuration  is 
found  in  Lord  Somer's  Tracts,  and  is  reprinted  in  full  in  the  Old  South 
Historical  Leaflets,  No.  72.  Boston,  1896.  It  is  interesting  to  compare 
the  text  of  this  Dutch  document  with  that  of  the  Declaration  of  Rights  or 
Act  of  Abjuration  of  James  II.  of  Great  Britain,  and  with  the  American 
Declaration  of  July  4,  ITTB. 


1581]  DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE  625 

had  not  been  clothed  with  this  dignity  long  before.  He 
had,  however,  persisted  in  the  hope  that  all  the  provinces 
might  be  brought  to  acknowledge  the  Duke  of  Anjou  as 
their  sovereign,  under  conditions  which  constituted  a  free 
commonwealth  with  an  hereditary  chief,  and  in  this  hope 
he  had  constantly  refused  concession  to  the  wishes  of  the 
northern  provinces.  He  in  reality  exercised  sovereign 
power  over  nearly  the  whole  population  of  the  Nether- 
lands. Already,  in  1580,  at  the  assembly  held  in  April, 
the  states  of  Holland  had  formally  requested  him  to  as- 
sume the  full  sovereignty  over  them,  with  the  title  of 
Count  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  forfeited  by  Philip.  He 
had  not  consented,  and  the  proceedings  had  been  kept 
comparatively  secret.  As  the  negotiations  with  Anjou 
advanced,  and  as  the  corresponding  abjuration  of  Philip 
was  more  decisively  indicated,  the  consent  of  the  Prince 
to  this  request  was  more  warmly  urged.  As  it  was  evi- 
dent that  the  provinces,  thus  bent  upon  placing  him  at 
their  head,  could  by  no  possibility  be  induced  to  accept 
the  sovereignty  of  Anjou,  as,  moreover,  the  act  of  renun- 
ciation of  Philip  could  no  longer  be  deferred,  the  Prince 
of  Orange  reluctantly  and  provisionally  accepted  the  su-  s 
preme  power  over  Holland  and  Zeeland.  This  arrange-  J 
ment  was  finally  accomplished  upon  the  24th  of  July, 
1581,  and  the  Act  of  Abjuration  took  place  two  days  after- 
wards. The  offer  of  the  sovereignty  over  the  other  united 
provinces  had  been  accepted  by  Anjou  six  months  before. 
Thus  the  Netherlands  wer^  divided  into  three  portions 
— the  reconciled  provinces,  the  united  provinces  under 
Anjou,  and  the  northern  provinces  under  Orange  ;  the 
last  division  forming  the  germ,  already  nearly  developed, 
of  the  coming  republic. 

On  the  29th  of  March,  1580,  a  resolution  passed  the 
assembly  of  Holland  and  Zeeland  never  to  make  peace  or 
enter  into  any  negotiations  with  the  King  of  Spain  on  the 
basis  of  his  sovereignty.  The  same  resolution  provided 
that  his  name — hitherto  used  in  all  public  acts — should 
be  forever  discarded,  that  his  seal  should  be  broken,  and 
that  the  name  and  seal  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  should 
be  substituted  in  all  commissions  and  public  documents. 
40 


e26  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1581 

At  almost  the  same  time  the  states  of  Utrecht  passed  a 
similar  resolution.  These  offers  were,  however,  not  ac- 
cepted, and  the  affair  was  preserved  profoundly  secret.  On 
the  5th  of  July,  1581,  ^Hhe  knights,  nobles,  and  cities  of  Hol- 
land and  Zeeland  "  again,  in  an  urgent  and  solemn  manner, 
requested  the  Prince  to  accept  the  ^^  entire  authority  as 
sovereign  and  chief  of  the  land,  as  long  as  the  ivar  sliould 
continue."  This  limitation  as  to  time  was  inserted  most 
reluctantly  by  the  states,  and  because  it  was  perfectly  well 
understood  that  without  it  the  Prince  would  not  accept 
the  sovereignty  at  all.  The  act  by  which  this  dignity 
was  offered  conferred  full  power  to  command  all  forces  by 
land  and  sea,  to  appoint  all  military  officers,  and  to  con- 
duct all  warlike  operations  without  the  control  or  advice 
of  any  person  whatsoever.  It  authorized  him,  with  con- 
sent of  the  states,  to  appoint  all  financial  and  judicial 
officers,  created  him  the  supreme  executive  chief  and 
fountain  of  justice  and  pardon,  and  directed  him  "to 
maintain  the  exercise  only  of  the  Reformed  evangelical  re- 
ligion, without,  however,  permitting  that  inquiries  should 
be  made  into  any  man's  belief  or  conscience,  or  that  any 
injury  or  hinderance  should  be  offered  to  any  man  on  ac- 

..     count  of  his  religion." 

^y  The  sovereignty  thus  pressingly  offered,  and  thus  lim- 
ited as  to  time,  was  finally  accepted  by  William  of  Orange, 
according  to  a  formal  act  dated  at  The  Hague,  5th  of  July, 
1581,  but  it  will  be  perceived  that  no  powers  were  con- 
ferred by  this  new  instrument  beyond  those  already  exer- 
cised by  the  Prince.  It  was,  as  it  were,  a  formal  con- 
tinuance of  the  functions  which  he  had  exercised  since 
1576  as  the  King's  stadholder,  according  to  his  old  com- 
mission of  1555,  although  a  vast  difference  existed  in  re- 
ality. The  King's  name  was  now  discarded  and  his  sov- 
ereignty disowned,  while  the  proscribed  rebel  stood  in  his 
place,  exercising  supreme  functions,  not  vicariously,  but 
in  his  own  name.  The  limitation  as  to  time  was,  more- 
over, soon  afterwards  secretly,  and  without  the  knoivledge 
of  Orange,  cancelled  hy  the  states.  They  were  determined 
that  the  Prince  should  be  their  sovereign — if  they  could 
make  him  so — for  the  term  of  his  life. 


1581]  STYLE   OF  THE   ABJURATION  627 

The  offer  having  thus  been  made  and  accepted  npon 
the  5th  of  July,  oaths  of  allegiance  and  fidelity  were  ex- 
changed between  the  Prince  and  the  estates  upon  the  24th 
of  the  same  month.  In  these  solemnities  the  states,  as 
representing  the  provinces,  declared  that  because  the 
King  of  Spain,  contrary  to  his  oath  as  Count  of  Holland 
and  Zeeland,  had  not  only  not  protected  these  provinces, 
but  had  sought  with  all  his  might  to  reduce  them  to 
eternal  slavery,  it  had  been  found  necessary  to  forsake 
him.  They  therefore  proclaimed  every  inhabitant  ab- 
solved from  allegiance,  while  at  the  same  time,  in  the 
name  of  the  people,  they  swore  fidelity  to  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  as  representing  the  supreme  authority. 

Two  days  afterwards,  upon  the  26th  of  July,  1581,  the 
memorable  declaration  of  independence  was  issued  by  the 
deputies  of  the  united  provinces,  then  solemnly  assembled 
at  The  Hague.  It^was  called  the  Act  of  Abjuration.  It 
deposed  Philip  from  his  sovereignty,  but  was  not  the  proc- 
lamation of  a  new  form  of  government,  for  the  united 
provinces  were  not  ready  to  dispense  with  an  hereditary 
chief.  Unluckily,  they  had  already  provided  themselves 
with  a  very  bad  one  to  succeed  Philip  in  the  dominion 
over  most  of  their  territory,  while  the  northern  provinces 
were  fortunate  enough  and  wise  enough  to  take  the  Fa- 
ther of  the  country  for  their  supreme  magistrate. 

The  document  by  which  the  provinces  renounced  their 
allegiance  was  not  the  most  felicitous  of  their  state  papers. 
It  was  too  prolix  and  technical.  Its  style  had  more  of 
the  formal  phraseology  of  legal  documents  than  befitted 
this  great  appeal  to  the  whole  world  and  to  all  time. 
Nevertheless,  this  is  but  matter  of  taste.  The  Netherland- 
ers  were  so  eminently  a  law-abiding  people  that,  like  the 
American  patriots  of  the  eighteenth  century,  they  on  most 
occasions  preferred  punctilious  precision  to  florid  decla- 
mation. They  chose  to  conduct  their  revolt  according  to 
la.w.  At  the  same  time,  while  thus  decently  wrapping 
herself  in  conventional  garments,  the  spirit  of  Liberty  re- 
vealed none  the  less  her  majestic  proportions. 

At  the  very  outset  of  the  Abjuration,  these  fathers  of 
the  republic  laid  down  wholesome  truths,  which  at  that 


628  HISTORY   OF    THE    NETHERLANDS  [1581 

time  seemed  startling  blasphemies  in  the  ears  of  Christen- 
dom. ^^  All  mankind  know,"  said  the  preamble,  ''  that  a 
prince  is  appointed  by  God  to  cherish  his  subjects,  even 
as  a  shepherd  to  guard  his  sheep.  When,  therefore,  the 
prince  does  not  fulfil  his  duty  as  protector,  when  he  op- 
presses his  subjects,  destroys  their  ancient  liberties,  and 
treats  them  as  slaves,  he  is  to  be  considered,  not  a  prince, 
but  a  tyrant.  As  such,  the  estates  of  the  land  may  law- 
fully and  reasonably  depose  him,  and  elect  another  in  his 
room." 

Having  enunciated  these  maxims,  the  estates  proceeded 
to  apply  them  to  their  own  case,  and  certainly  never  was 
an  ampler  justification  for  renouncing  a  prince  since 
princes  were  first  instituted.  The  states  ran  through  the 
history  of  the  past  quarter  of  a  century,  patiently  accu- 
mulating a  load  of  charges  against  the  monarch,  a  tithe  of 
which  would  have  furnished  cause  for  his  dethronement. 
Without  passion  or  exaggeration,  they  told  the  world 
their  wrongs.  The  picture  was  not  highly  colored.  On 
the  contrary,  it  was  rather  a  feeble  than  a  striking  por- 
trait of  the  monstrous  iniquity  which  had  so  long  been  es- 
tablished over  them.  Nevertheless,  they  went  through 
the  narrative  conscientiously  and  earnestly.  They  spoke 
of  the  King's  early  determination  to  govern  the  Nether- 
lands, not  by  natives,  but  by  Spaniards  ;  to  treat  them  not 
as  constitutional  countries,  but  as  conquered  provinces  ; 
to  regard  the  inhabitants  not  as  liege  subjects,  but  as  en- 
emies ;  above  all,  to  supersede  their  ancient  liberty  by  the 
Spanish  Inquisition  ;  and  they  alluded  to  the  first  great 
step  in  this  scheme,  the  creation  of  the  new  bishoprics, 
each  with  its  staff  of  inquisitors. 

They  noticed  the  memorable  Petition,  the  mission  of 
Berghen  and  Montigny,  their  imprisonment  and  taking 
off,  in  violation  of  all  national  law,  even  that  which  had 
ever  been  held  sacred  by  the  most  cruel  and  tyrannical 
princes.  They  sketched  the  history  of  Alva's  administra- 
tion— his  entrapping  the  most  eminent  nobles  by  false 
promises,  and  delivering  them  to  the  executioner ;  his 
countless  sentences  of  death,  outlawry,  and  confiscation ; 
his  erection  of  citadels  to  curb,  his  imposition   of  the 


1681]  THEORY  AND  FACT  629 

tenth  and  twentieth  penny  to  exhanst  the  land ;  his  Coun- 
cil of  Blood  and  its  achievements ;  and  the  immeasurable 
woe  produced  by  hanging,  burning,  banishing,  and  plun- 
dering, during  his  seven  years  of  residence.  They  ad- 
verted to  the  Grand  Commander  as  having  been  sent,  not 
to  improve  the  condition  of  the  country,  but  to  pursue 
the  same  course  of  tyranny  by  more  concealed  ways. 
They  spoke  of  the  horrible  mutiny  which  broke  forth  at 
his  death  ;  of  the  Antwerp  Fury  ;  of  the  express  approba- 
tion rendered  to  that  great  outrage  by  the  King,  who  had 
not  only  praised  the  crime,  but  promised  to  recompense 
the  criminals.  They  alluded  to  Don  John  of  Austria  and 
his  duplicity ;  to  his  pretended  confirmation  of  the  Ghent 
treaty ;  to  his  attempts  to  divide  the  country  against  it- 
self ;  to  the  Escovedo  policy ;  to  the  intrigues  with  the 
German  regiments.  They  touched  upon  the  Cologne  ne- 
gotiations, and  the  fruitless  attempt  of  the  patriots  upon 
that  occasion  to  procure  freedom  of  religion,  while  the 
object  of  the  royalists  was  only  to  distract  and  divide  the 
nation.  Finally,  they  commented  with  sorrow  and  de- 
spair upon  that  last  and  crowning  measure  of  tyranny, 
the  ban  against  the  Prince  of  Orange. 

They  calmly  observed,  after  this  recital,  that  they  were 
sufficiently  justified  in  forsaking  a  sovereign  who  for  more 
than  twenty  years  had  forsaken  them.  Obeying  the  law 
of  nature,  desirous  of  maintaining  the  rights,  charters, 
and  liberties  of  their  fatherland,  determined  to  escape 
from  slavery  to  Spaniards,  and  making  known  their  de- 
cision to  the  world,  they  declared  the  King  of  Spain  de- 
posed from  his  sovereignty,  and  proclaimed  that  they 
should  recognize  thenceforth  neither  his  title  nor  juris- 
diction. Three  days  afterwards,  on  the  29th  of  July,  the 
assembly  adopted  a  formula  by  which  all  persons  were  to 
be  required  to  signify  their  abjuration. 

Such  were  the  forms  by  which  the  united  provinces 
threw  off  their  allegiance  to  Spain,  and  ipso  facto  estab- 
lished a  republic,  which  was  to  flourish  for  two  centuries. 
Acting  upon  the  principle  that  government  should  be  for 
the  benefit  of  the  governed,  and  in  conformity  to  the  dic- 
tates of  reason  and  Justice,  they  examined  the  facts  by 


630  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1581 

those  divine  lights,  and  discovered  cause  to  discard  their 
ruler.  They  did  not  object  to  being  ruled.  They  were 
satisfied  with  their  historical  institutions,  and  preferred 
the  mixture  of  hereditary  sovereignty  with  popular  repre- 
sentation, to  which  they  were  accustomed.  They  did  not 
devise  an  d priori  constitution.  Philip,  having  violated  the 
law  of  reason  and  the  statutes  of  the  land,  was  deposed, 
and  a  new  chief  magistrate  was  to  be  elected  in  his  stead. 
This  was  popular  sovereignty  in  fact,  but  not  in  words. 
The  deposition  and  election  could  be  legally  justified  only 
by  the  inherent  right  of  the  people  to  depose  and  to  elect; 
yet  the  provinces,  in  their  Declaration  of  Independence, 
spoke  of  the  divine  right  of  kings,  even  while  dethroning, 
by  popular  right,  their  own  King ! 

The  Netherlanders  dealt  with  facts.  They  possessed  a 
body  of  laws,  monuments  of  their  national  progress,  by 
which  as  good  a  share  of  individual  liberty  was  secured  to 
the  citizen  as  was  then  enjoyed  in  any  country  of  the 
world.  Their  institutions  admitted  of  great  improve- 
ment, no  doubt ;  but  it  was  natural  that  a  people  so  cir- 
cumstanced should  be  unwilling  to  exchange  their  condi- 
tion for  the  vassalage  of  "  Moors  or  Indians." 

At  the  same  time  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  in- 
stinct for  political  freedom  only  would  have  sustained 
them  in  the  long  contest,  and  whether  the  bonds  which 
united  them  to  the  Spanish  Crown  would  have  been 
broken  had  it  not  been  for  the  stronger  passion  for  relig- 
ious liberty  by  which  so  large  a  portion  of  the  people  was 
animated.  Boldly  as  the  united  states  of  the  Netherlands 
laid  down  their  political  maxims,  the  quarrel  might  per- 
haps have  been  healed  if  the  religious  question  had  ad- 
mitted of  a  peaceable  solution.  Philip's  bigotry  amount- 
ing to  frenzy,  and  the  Netherlanders  of  '^  the  religion " 
being  willing,  in  their  own  words,  "to  die  the  death" 
rather  than  abandon  the  Reformed  faith,  there  was 
upon  this  point  no  longer  room  for  hope.  In  the  Act 
of  Abjuration,  however,  it  was  thought  necessary  to  give 
offence  to  no  class  of  the  inhabitants,  but  to  lay  down 
such  principles  only  as  enlightened  Catholics  would  not 
oppose.     All  parties  abhorred  the  inquisition,  and  hatred 


1581]  ASSUMED   REPRESENTATION  631 

to  that  institution  is  ever  prominent  among  the  causes  as- 
signed for  the  deposition  of  the  monarch.  ''  Under  pre- 
tence of  maintaining  the  Koman  religion/'  said  the  estates, 
"  the  King  has  sought  by  evil  means  to  bring  into  opera- 
tion the  whole  strength  of  the  placards  and  of  the  inquisi- 
tion— the  first  and  true  cause  of  all  our  miseries.'' 

Without  making  any  assault  upon  the  Roman  Catholic 
faith,  the  authors  of  the  great  act  by  which  Philip  was  for- 
ever expelled  from  the  Netherlands  showed  plainly  enough 
that  religious  persecution  had  driven  them  at  last  to  ex- 
tremity. At  the  same  time,  they  were  willing — for  the 
sake  of  conciliating  all  classes  of  their  countrymen — to 
bring  the  political  causes  of  discontent  into  the  foreground, 
and  to  use  discreet  language  upon  the  religious  question. 

The  hour  had  not  arrived  for  more  profound  analysis  of 
the  social  compact.  Philip  was  accordingly  deposed  just- 
ly, legally,  formally — justly,  because  it  had  become  neces- 
sary to  abjure  a  monarch  who  was  determined  not  only  to 
oppress  but  to  exterminate  his  people  ;  legally,  because  he 
had  habitually  violated  the  constitutions  which  he  had 
sworn  to  support ;  formally,  because  the  act  was  done  in 
the  name  of  the  people,  by  the  body  historically  represent- 
ing the  people.  All  classes  of  individuals,  arranged  in 
various  political  or  military  combinations,  gave  their  ac- 
quiescence afterwards,  together  with  their  oaths  of  alle- 
giance. The  people  approved  the  important  steps  taken 
by  their  representatives. 

AVithout  a  direct  intention  on  the  part  of  the  people  or 
its  leaders  to  establish  a  republic,  the  republic  established 
itself.  Providence  did  not  permit  the  whole  country,  so 
full  of  wealth,  intelligence,  healthy  political  action,  so 
stocked  with  powerful  cities  and  an  energetic  population, 
to  be  combined  into  one  free  and  prosperous  common- 
wealth. The  factious  ambition  of  a  few  grandees,  the  cyn- 
ical venality  of  many  nobles,  the  frenzy  of  the  Ghent  de- 
mocracy, the  spirit  of  religious  intolerance,  the  consum- 
mate military  and  political  genius  of  Alexander  Farnese, 
the  exaggerated  self-abnegation  and  the  tragic  fate  of 
Orange,  all  united  to  dissever  this  group  of  flourishing  and 
kindred  provinces. 


632  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1581 

The  want  of  personal  ambition  on  the  part  of  William 
the  Silent  inflicted  perhaps  a  serious  damage  upon  his 
country.  He  believed  a  single  chief  requisite  for  the 
united  states ;  he  might  have  been,  but  always  refused  to 
become  that  chief.  The  unfortunate  negotiations  with 
Anjou,  to  which  no  man  was  more  opposed  than  Count 
John,  therefore  proceeded.  In  the  meantime  the  sover- 
eignty over  the  united  provinces  was  provisionally  held 
by  the  national  council  and,  at  the  urgent  solicitation 
of  the  states  general,  by  the  Prince. 

The  Archduke  Matthias,  whose  functions  were  most  un- 
ceremoniously brought  to  an  end  by  the  transactions  which 
we  have  been  recording,  took  his  leave  of  the  states,  and 
departed  in  the  month  of  October.  Brought  to  the  coun- 
try a  beardless  boy,  by  the  intrigues  of  a  faction  who 
wished  to  use  him  as  a  tool  against  William  of  Orange,  he 
had  quietly  submitted,  on  the  contrary,  to  serve  as  the 
instrument  of  that  great  statesman.  His  personality  dur- 
ing his  residence  was  null,  and  he  had  to  expiate,  by 
many  a  petty  mortification,  by  many  a  bitter  tear,  the 
boyish  ambition  which  brought  him  to  the  Netherlands. 
He  had  certainly  had  ample  leisure  to  repent  the  haste 
with  which  he  had  got  out  of  his  warm  bed  in  Vienna  to 
take  his  bootless  journey  to  Brussels.  Nevertheless,  in  a 
country  where  so  much  baseness,  cruelty,  and  treachery 
was  habitually  practised  by  men  of  high  position  as  was 
the  case  in  the  Netherlands,  it  is  something  in  favor  of 
Matthias  that  he  had  not  been  base  or  cruel  or  treacher- 
ous. The  states  voted  him,  on  his  departure,  a  pension  of 
fifty  thousand  guldens  annually,  which  was  probably  not 
paid  with  exemplary  regularity. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    DUKE    OF    ANJOU  —  ORANGE    OFFERED    THE    SOVER- 
EIGNTY 

Thus  it  was  arranged  that,  for  the  present  at  least,  the 
Prince  should  exercise  sovereignty  over  Holland  and  Zee- 
land,  although  he  had  himself  used  his  utmost  exertions 
to  induce  those  provinces  to  join  the  rest  of  the  United 
Netherlands  in  the  proposed  election  of  Anjou.  This, 
however,  they  sternly  refused  to  do.  There  was  also  a 
great  disinclination  felt  by  many  in  the  other  states  to 
this  hazardous  offer  of  their  allegiance,  and  it  was  the 
personal  influence  of  Orange  that  eventually  carried  the 
measure  through.  Looking  at  the  position  of  affairs  and 
at  the  character  of  Anjou,  as  they  appear  to  us  now,  it 
seems  difficult  to  account  for  the  Prince's  policy.  It  is  so 
natural  to  judge  only  by  the  result  that  we  are  ready  to 
censure  statesmen  for  consequences  which  beforehand 
might  seem  utterly  incredible,  and  for  reading  falsely 
human  characters  whose  entire  development  only  a  late 
posterity  has  had  full  opportunity  to  appreciate.  Still, 
one  would  think  that  Anjou  had  been  sufficiently  known 
to  inspire  distrust. 

There  was  but  little,  too,  in  the  aspect  of  the  French 
court  to  encourage  hopes  of  valuable  assistance  from  that 
quarter.  It  was  urged,  not  without  reason,  that  the 
French  were  as  likely  to  become  as  dangerous  as  the  Span- 
iards ;  that  they  would  prove  nearer  and  more  trouble- 
some masters ;  that  France  intended  the  incorporation  of 
the  Netherlands  into  her  own  kingdom  ;  that  the  prov- 
inces would  therefore  be  dispersed  forever  from  the  Ger- 
man Empire ;  and  that  it  was  as  well  to  hold  to  the  ty- 


634  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1581 

rant  under  whom  they  had  been  born  as  to  give  them- 
selves voluntarily  to  another  of  their  own  making.  In 
short,  it  was  maintained,  in  homely  language,  that  ^'France 
and  Spain  were  both  under  one  coverlet."  It  might  have 
been  added  that  only  extreme  misery  could  make  the 
provinces  take  either  bedfellow.  Moreover,  it  was  as- 
serted, with  reason,  that  Anjou  would  be  a  very  expensive 
master,  for  his  luxurious  and  extravagant  habits  were  no- 
torious— that  he  was  a  man  in  whom  no  confidence  could 
be  placed,  and  one  who  would  grasp  at  arbitrary  power  by 
any  means  which  might  present  themselves.  Above  all,  it 
was  urged  that  he  was  not  of  the  true  religion,  that  he 
hated  the  professors  of  that  faith  in  his  heart,  and  that  it 
was  extremely  unwise  for  men  whose  dearest  interests 
were  their  religious  ones,  to  elect  a  sovereign  of  oppo- 
site creed  to  their  own.  To  these  plausible  views  the 
Prince  of  Orange  and  those  who  acted  with  him  had, 
however,  sufficient  answers.  The  Netherlands  had  waited 
long  enough  for  assistance  from  other  quarters.  Ger- 
many would  not  lift  a  finger  in  the  cause ;  on  the  con- 
trary, the  whole  of  Germany,  whether  Protestant  or  Cath- 
olic, was  either  openly  or  covertly  hostile.  It  was  mad- 
ness to  wait  till  assistance  came  to  them  from  unseen 
sources.  It  was  time  for  them  to  assist  themselves,  and  to 
take  the  best  they  could  get ;  for  when  men  were  starving 
they  could  not  afford  to  be  dainty.  They  might  be  bound 
hand  and  foot,  they  might  be  overwhelmed  a  thousand 
times  before  they  would  receive  succor  from  Germany,  or 
from  any  land  but  France.  Under  the  circumstances  in 
which  they  found  themselves,  hope  delayed  was  but  a  cold 
and  meagre  consolation. 

'^  To  speak  plainly,"  said  Orange,  '^  asking  us  to  wait  is 
very  much  as  if  you  should  keep  a  man  three  days  with- 
out any  food  in  the  expectation  of  a  magnificent  banquet, 
should  persuade  him  to  refuse  bread,  and  at  the  end  of 
three  days  should  tell  him  that  the  banquet  was  not  ready, 
but  that  a  still  better  one  was  in  preparation.  Would 
it  not  be  better,  then,  that  the  poor  man,  to  avoid  star- 
vation, should  wait  no  longer,  but  accept  bread  wherever 
he  might  find  it  ?     Such  is  our  case  at  present." 


1681]  POLICY  OF  THE  FRENCH  COURT  635 

It  was  in  this  vein  that  he  ever  wrote  and  spoke.  The 
Netherlands  were  to  rely  upon  their  own  exertions,  and  to 
procure  the  best  alliance  together  with  the  most  efficient 
protection  possible.  They  were  not  strong  enough  to  cope 
single-handed  with  their  powerful  tyrant,  but  they  were 
strong  enough  if  they  used  the  instruments  which  Heaven 
offered.  It  is  only  by  listening  to  these  arguments  so  often 
repeated  that  we  can  comprehend  the  policy  of  Orange  at 
this  period. 

There  was  a  feeling  entertained  by  the  more  sanguine 
that  the  French  King  would  heartily  assist  the  Nether- 
lands after  his  brother  should  be  fairly  installed.  He 
had  expressly  written  to  that  effect,  assuring  Anjou  that 
he  would  help  him  with  all  his  strength,  and  would  enter 
into  close  alliance  with  those  Netherlands  which  should 
accept  him  as  prince  and  sovereign.  As  for  the  Queen- 
mother,  she  was  fierce  in  her  determination  to  see  fulfilled 
in  this  way  the  famous  prediction  of  Nostradamus.  Three 
of  her  sons  had  successively  worn  the  crown  of  France. 
That  she  might  be  "  the  mother  of  four  kings,"  without 
laying  a  third  child  in  the  tomb,  she  was  greedy  for  this 
proffered  sovereignty  to  her  youngest  and  favorite  son. 
This  well-known  desire  of  Catharine  de'  Medici  was  duly 
insisted  upon  by  the  advocates  of  the  election  ;  for  her  in- 
fluence, it  was  urged,  would  bring  the  whole  power  of 
France  to  support  the  Netherlands. 

At  any  rate,  France  could  not  be  worse  —  could  hardly 
be  so  bad — as  their  present  tyranny.  "Better  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Gaul,  though  suspect  and  dangerous," 
said  Everard  Reyd,  "  than  the  truculent  dominion  of  the 
Spaniard.  Even  thus  will  the  partridge  fly  to  the  hand  of 
man  to  escape  the  talons  of  the  hawk." 

As  for  the  religious  objection  to  Anjou,  on  which  more 
stress  was  laid  than  upon  any  other,  the  answer  was  equally 
ready.  Orange  professed  himself  "  not  theologian  enough" 
to  go  into  the  subtleties  brought  forward.  As  it  was  in- 
tended to  establish  most  firmly  a  religious  peace,  with  en- 
tire tolerance  for  all  creeds,  he  did  not  think  it  absolutely 
essential  to  require  a  prince  of  the  Reformed  faith.  It 
was  bigotry  to  dictate  to  the  sovereign  when  full  liberty 


636  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1581 

in  religious  matters  was  claimed  for  the  subject.  Orange 
was  known  to  be  a  zealous  professor  of  the  Keformed  wor- 
ship himself ;  but  he  did  not  therefore  reject  political  as- 
sistance, even  though  offered  by  a  not  very  enthusiastic 
member  of  the  ancient  Church.  ^'  If  the  priest  and  the 
Levite  pass  us  by  when  we  are  fallen  among  thieves,"  said 
he,  with  much  aptness  and  some  bitterness,  *'  shall  we  re- 
ject the  aid  proffered  by  the  Samaritan,  because  he  is  of  a 
different  faith  from  the  worthy  fathers  who  have  left  us 
to  perish  ?" 

By  midsummer  the  Duke  of  Anjou  made  his  appearance 
in  the  western  part  of  the  Netherlands.  The  Prince  of 
Parma  had  recently  come  before  Cambrai  with  the  inten- 
tion of  reducing  that  important  city.  On  the  arrival  of 
Anjou,  however,  at  the  head  of  five  thousand  cavalry — 
nearly  all  of  them  gentlemen  of  high  degree,  serving  as 
volunteers  —  and  of  twelve  thousand  infantry,  Alexander 
raised  the  siege  precipitately,  and  retired  towards  Tour- 
nai.  Anjou  victualled  the  city,  strengthened  the  garrison, 
and  then,  as  his  cavalry  had  only  enlisted  for  a  summer's 
amusement,  and  could  no  longer  be  held  together,  he  dis- 
banded his  forces.  The  bulk  of  the  infantry  took  service 
for  the  states  under  the  Prince  of  Espinoy,  governor  of 
Tournai.  The  Duke  himself,  finding  that,  notwithstand- 
ing the  treaty  of  Plessis  les  Tours  and  the  present  showy 
demonstration  upon  his  part,  the  states  were  not  yet  pre- 
pared to  render  him  formal  allegiance,  and  being,  more- 
over, in  the  heyday  of  what  was  universally  considered 
his  prosperous  courtship  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  soon  after- 
wards took  his  departure  for  England.  Parma,  being  thus 
relieved  of  his  interference,  soon  afterwards  advanced 
against  the  important  city  of  Tournai,  and  began  a  siege 
which  lasted  two  months.  Meantime,  it  became  impossi- 
ble for  Orange  and  the  estates,  notwithstanding  their  ef- 
forts, to  raise  a  sufficient  force  to  drive  Parma  from  his 
intrenchments.  The  city  was  becoming  gradually  and 
surely  undermined  from  without,  while  at  the  same  time 
the  insidious  art  of  a  Dominican  friar,  Father  Gery  by 
name,  had  been  as  surely  sapping  the  fidelity  of  the  garri- 
son from  within.     An  open  revolt  of  the  Catholic  popula- 


1581]  INVITATION   TO   ANJOU  637 

tion  being  on  the  point  of  taking  place,  it  became  impossi- 
ble any  longer  to  hold  the  city.  Those  of  the  Reformed 
faith  insisted  that  the  place  should  be  surrendered  ;  and 
the  Princess  of  Espinoy,  in  command,  being  thus  deserted 
by  all  parties,  made  an  honorable  capitulation  with  Parma. 
She  herself,  with  all  her  garrison,  was  allowed  to  retire 
with  personal  property,  and  with  all  the  honors  of  war, 
while  the  sack  of  the  city  was  commuted  for  one  hundred 
thousand  crowns,  levied  upon  the  inhabitants.  The 
Princess,  on  leaving  the  gates,  was  received  with  such  a 
shout  of  applause  from  the  royal  army  that  she  seemed  less 
like  a  defeated  commander  than  a  conqueror.  Upon  the 
30th  of  November,  Parma  accordingly  entered  the  place 
which  he  had  been  besieging  since  the  1st  of  October. 

By  the  end  of  the  autumn,  the  Prince  of  Orange,  more 
than  ever  dissatisfied  with  the  anarchical  condition  of  af- 
fairs, and  with  the  obstinate  jealousy  and  parsimony  of  the 
different  provinces,  again  summoned  the  country  in  the 
most  earnest  language  to  provide  for  the  general  defence, 
and  to  take  measures  for  the  inauguration  of  Anjou.  He 
painted  in  sombre  colors  the  prospect  which  lay  before 
them  if  nothing  were  done  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the 
internal  disorders  and  of  the  external  foe,  whose  forces 
were  steadily  augmenting. 

The  states,  thus  shamed  and  stimulated,  set  themselves 
in  earnest  to  obey  the  mandates  of  the  Prince,  and  sent  a 
special  mission  to  England  to  arrange  with  the  Duke  of 
Anjou  for  his  formal  installation  as  sovereign.  Sainte-Al- 
degonde  and  other  commissioners  were  already  there.  It 
was  the  memorable  epoch  in  the  Anjou  wooing  when  the 
rings  were  exchanged  between  Elizabeth  and  the  Duke, 
and  when  the  world  thought  that  the  nuptials  were  on 
the  point  of  being  celebrated.  Sainte-Aldegonde  wrote 
to  the  Prince  of  Orange  on  the  22d  of  November  that  the 
marriage  had  been  finally  settled  upon  that  day.  Through- 
out the  Netherlands  the  auspicious  tidings  were  greeted 
with  bonfires,  illuminations,  and  cannonading,  and  the 
measures  for  hailing  the  Prince,  thus  highly  favored  by 
so  great  a  Queen,  as  sovereign  master  of  the  provinces, 
were  pushed  forward  with  great  energy. 


638  HISTORY  OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1582 

Nevertheless,  the  marriage  ended  in  smoke.  There  were 
plenty  of  tourneys^,  pageants,  and  banquets ;  a  profusion 
of  nuptial  festivities,  in  short,  where  nothing  was  omitted 
but  the  nuptials.  By  the  end  of  January,  1582,  the  Duke 
was  no  nearer  the  goal  than  upon  his  arrival  three  months 
before.  Acceding,  therefore,  to  the  wishes  of  the  Neth- 
erland  envoys,  he  prepared  for  a  visit  to  their  country, 
where  the  ceremony  of  his  joyful  entrance  as  Duke  of 
Brabant  and  sovereign  of  the  other  provinces  was  to  take 
place.  No  open  rupture  with  Elizabeth  occurred.  On 
the  contrary,  the  Queen  accompanied  the  Duke,  with  a 
numerous  and  stately  retinue,  as  far  as  Canterbury,  and 
sent  a  most  brilliant  train  of  her  greatest  nobles  and  gen- 
tlemen to  escort  him  to  the  Netherlands,  communicat- 
ing at  the  same  time  by  special  letter  her  wishes  to  the 
estates-general  that  he  should  be  treated  with  as  much 
honor  ''  as  if  he  were  her  second  self.^^ 

On  the  10th  of  February  fifteen  large  vessels  cast  an- 
chor at  Flushing.  The  Duke  of  Anjou,  attended  by  the 
Earl  of  Leicester^  the  Lords  Hunsdon,  Willoughby,  Shef- 
field, Howard,  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  and  many  other  per- 
sonages of  high  rank  and  reputation,  landed  from  this 
fleet.  He  was  greeted  on  his  arrival  by  the  Prince  of 
Orange  who,  with  the  Prince  of  Espinoy  and  a  large  depu- 
tation of  the  states-general,  had  been  for  some  days  wait- 
ing to  welcome  him.  The  man  whom  the  Netherlands 
had  chosen  for  their  new  master  stood  on  the  shores  of 
Zeeland.  Francis  Hercules,  son  of  France,  Duke  of 
AlenQon  and  Anjou,  was  at  that  time  just  twenty-eight 
years  of  age  ;  yet  not  even  his  flatterers  or  his  *' minions," 
of  whom  he  had  as  regular  a  train  as  his  royal  brother, 
could  claim  for  him  the  external  graces  of  youth  or  of 
princely  dignity.  He  was  below  the  middle  height,  puny 
and  ill-shaped.  His  hair  and  eyes  were  brown,  his  face 
was  seamed  with  the  small -pox,  his  skin  covered  with 
blotches,  his  nose  so  swollen  and  distorted  that  it  seemed 
to  be  double.  This  prominent  feature  did  not  escape  the 
sarcasms  of  his  countrymen,  who,  among  other  gibes, 
were  wont  to  observe  that  the  man  who  always  wore  two 
faces  might  be  expected  to  have  two  noses  also.     It  was 


1582]  PORTRAIT   OF  ALEXgON  639 

thought  that  his  revolting  appearance  was  the  principal 
reason  for  the  rupture  of  the  English  marriage,  and  it 
was  in  vain  that  his  supporters  maintained  that  if  he 
could  forgive  her  age  she  might,  in  return,  excuse  his 
ugliness.  It  seemed  that  there  was  a  point  of  hideous- 
ness  beyond  which  even  royal  princesses  could  not  descend 
with  impunity,  and  the  only  wonder  seemed  that  Eliza- 
beth, with  the  handsome  Robert  Dudley  ever  at  her  feet, 
could  even  tolerate  the  addresses  of  Francis  Valois. 

His  intellect  was  by  no  means  contemptible.  He  was 
not  without  a  certain  quickness  of  apprehension  and  vi- 
vacity of  expression  which  passed  current  among  his  ad- 
mirers for  wit  and  wisdom.  Even  the  experienced  Sainte- 
Aldegonde  was  deceived  in  his  character,  and  described 
him,  after  an  hour  and  a  half  s  interview,  as  a  prince  over- 
flowing with  bounty,  intelligence,  and  sincerity.  That 
such  men  as  Sainte-Aldegonde  and  the  Prince  of  Orange 
should  be  at  fault  in  their  judgment  is  evidence  not  so 
much  of  their  want  of  discernment  as  of  the  difference 
between  the  general  reputation  of  the  Duke  at  that  period 
and  that  which  has  been  eventually  established  for  him  in 
history. 

No  more  ignoble  yet  more  dangerous  creature  had  yet 
been  loosed  upon  the  devoted  soil  of  the  Netherlands. 
Not  one  of  the  personages  who  had  hitherto  figured  in 
the  long  drama  of  the  revolt  had  enacted  so  sorry  a  part. 
Ambitious  but  trivial,  enterprising  but  cowardly,  an  in- 
triguer and  a  dupe,  without  religious  convictions  or  polit- 
ical principles  save  that  he  was  willing  to  accept  any  creed 
or  any  system  which  might  advance  his  own  schemes,  he 
was  the  most  unfit  protector  for  a  people  who,  whether 
wrong  or  right,  were  at  least  in  earnest,  and  who  were 
accustomed  to  regard  truth  as  one  of  the  virtues.  He 
was  certainly  not  deficient  in  self-esteem.  With  a  figure 
which  was  insignificant  and  a  countenance  which  was  re- 
pulsive, he  had  hoped  to  efface  the  impression  made 
upon  Elizabeth's  imagination  by  the  handsomest  man  in 
Europe.  With  a  commonplace  capacity  and  with  a  nar- 
row political  education  he  intended  to  circumvent  the 
most  profound  statesman  of  his  age.    And  there,  upon  the 


640  HISTORY  OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1582 

pier  at  Flushing,  he  stood  between  them  both — between 
the  magnificent  Leicester,  whom  he  had  thought  to  out- 
shine, and  the  silent  Prince  of  Orange,  whom  he  was  de- 
termined to  outwit. 

The  Duke's  arrival  was  greeted  with  the  roar  of  artil- 
lery, the  ringing  of  bells,  and  the  acclamations  of  a  large 
concourse  of  the  inhabitants ;  suitable  speeches  were 
made  by  the  magistrates  of  the  town,  the  deputies  of  Zee- 
land,  and  other  functionaries,  and  a  stately  banquet  was 
provided,  so  remarkable  '^for  its  sugar-work  and  other 
delicacies  as  to  entirely  astonish  the  French  and  English 
lords  who  partook  thereof."  The  Duke  visited  Middel- 
burg,  where  he  was  received  with  great  state,  and  to  the 
authorities  of  which  he  expressed  his  gratification  at  find- 
ing two  such  stately  cities  situate  so  close  to  each  other 
on  one  little  island. 

On  the  17th  of  February  he  set  sail  for  Antwerp.  A 
fleet  of  fifty -four  vessels,  covered  with  flags  and  stream- 
ers, conveyed  him  and  his  retinue,  together  with  the  large 
deputation  which  had  welcomed  him  at  Flushing,  to  the 
great  commercial  metropolis.  He  stepped  on  shore  at 
Kiel  within  a  bowshot  of  the  city — for,  like  other  Dukes 
of  Brabant,  he  was  not  to  enter  Antwerp  until  he  had 
taken  the  oaths  to  respect  the  constitution — and  the  cere- 
mony of  inauguration  was  to  take  place  outside  the  walls. 
A  large  platform  had  been  erected  for  this  purpose,  com- 
manding a  view  of  the  stately  city,  with  its  bristling  forti- 
fications and  shady  groves.  A  throne,  covered  with  vel- 
vet and  gold,  was  prepared,  and  here  the  Duke  took  his 
seat,  surrounded  by  a  brilliant  throng,  including  many  of 
the  most  distinguished  personages  in  Europe. 

It  was  a  bright  winter  morning.  The  gayly  bannered 
fleet  lay  conspicuous  in  the  river,  while  an  enormous  con- 
course of  people  were  thronging  from  all  sides  to  greet  the 
new  sovereign.  Twenty  thousand  burgher  troops,  in 
bright  uniforms,  surrounded  the  platform,  upon  the  tap- 
estried floor  of  which  stood  the  magistrates  of  Antwerp, 
the  leading  members  of  the  Brabant  estates,  with  the 
Prince  of  Orange  at  their  head,  together  with  many  other 
great  functionaries.     The   magnificence  everywhere  dis- 


1582]  ORATORY  641 

played,  and  especially  the  splendid  costumes  of  the  mili- 
tary companies,  excited  the  profound  astonisbment  of  the 
French,  who  exclaimed  that  every  soldier  seemed  a  cap- 
tain, and  who  regarded  with  vexation  their  own  inferior 
equipments. 

Inside  the  gate  a  stupendous  allegory  was  awaiting  the 
approach  of  the  new  sovereign,  and  the  procession  ad- 
vanced into  the  city.  The  streets  were  lined  with  troops 
and  with  citizens  ;  the  balconies  were  filled  with  fair 
women  ;  '^  the  very  gables,"  says  an  enthusiastic  contem- 
porary, '^seemed  to  laugh  with  ladies' eyes."'  The  mar- 
ket-place was  filled  with  waxen  torches  and  with  blazing 
tar-barrels,  while  in  its  centre  stood  the  giant  Antigonus 
— founder  of  the  city  thirteen  hundred  years  before  the 
Christian  era — the  fabulous  personage  who  was  accustomed 
to  throw  the  right  hands  of  all  smuggling  merchants  into 
the  Scheldt.  This  colossal  individual,  attired  in  a  "sur- 
coat  of  sky-blue,"  and  holding  a  banner  emblazoned  with 
the  arms  of  Spain,  turned  its  head  as  the  Duke  entered 
the  square,  saluted  the  new  sovereign,  and  then  dropping 
the  Spanish  scutcheon  upon  the  ground,  raised  aloft  an- 
other bearing  the  arms  of  Anjou. 

And  thus,  amid  exuberant  outpouring  of  confidence, 
another  lord  and  master  had  made  his  triumphal  entrance 
into  the  Netherlands.  Alas  !  how  often  had  this  sanguine 
people  greeted  with  similar  acclamations  the  advent  of 
their  betrayers  and  their  tyrants  !  How  soon  were  they 
to  discover  that  the  man  whom  they  were  thus  receiving 
with  the  warmest  enthusiasm  was  the  most  treacherous 
tyrant  of  all. 

It  was  nightfall  before  the  procession  at  last  reached 
the  palace  of  Saint  Michael,  which  had  been  fitted  up  for 
the  temporary  reception  of  the  Duke.  The  next  day  was 
devoted  to  speech  -  making  ;  various  deputations  waiting 
upon  the  new  Duke  of  Brabant  with  congratulatory  ad- 
dresses. There  were  oaths  enough,  orations  enough,  com- 
pliments enough,  to  make  any  agreement  steadfast,  so  far 
as  windy  suspirations  could  furnish  a  solid  foundation  for 
the  social  compact.  Bells,  trumpets,  and  the  brazen 
throats  of  men  and  of  cannon    made   a  sufficient   din, 

41 


642  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1582 

torches  and  tar-barrels  made  a  sufficient  glare^,  to  confirm 
— so  far  as  noise  and  blazing  pitch  could  confirm — the 
decorous  proceedings  of  church  and  Town -house,  but 
time  was  soon  to  show  the  value  of  such  demonstrations. 

The  terms  of  the  treaty  concluded  at  Plessis  les  Tours 
and  Bordeaux  were  made  public.  The  Duke  had  sub- 
scribed to  twenty-seven  articles,  which  made  as  stringent 
and  sensible  a  constitutional  compact  as  could  be  desired 
by  any  Netherland  patriot.  These  articles,  taken  in  con- 
nection with  the  ancient  charters  which  they  expressly  up- 
held, left  to  the  new  sovereign  no  vestige  of  arbitrary  pow- 
er. He  was  merely  the  hereditary  president  of  a  repre- 
sentative republic.  He  was  to  be  duke,  count,  mar- 
grave, or  seignior  of  the  different  provinces  on  the  same 
X  terms  which  his  predecessors  had  accepted. 
\,  It  w^ould  be  superfluous  to  point  out  the  great  differ- 
ence between  the  notions  entertained  upon  international 
law  in  the  sixteenth  century  and  in  our  own.  A  state  of 
nominal  peace  existed  between  Spain,  France,  and  Eng- 
land ;  yet  here  was  the  brother  of  the  French  monarch,  at 
the  head  of  French  troops  and  attended  by  the  grandees 
of  England,  solemnly  accepting  the  sovereignty  over  the 
revolted  provinces  of  Spain.  It  is  also  curious  to  observe 
that  the  constitutional  compact  by  which  the  new  sover- 
eign of  the  Netherlands  was  admitted  to  the  government 
would  have  been  repudiated  as  revolutionary  and  repub- 
lican by  the  monarchs  of  France  or  England,  if  an  at- 
tempt had  been  made  to  apply  it  to  their  own  realms,  for 
the  ancient  charters — which  in  reality  constituted  a  re- 
publican form  of  government — had  all  been  re-established 
by  the  agreement  with  Anjou. 

The  first-fruits  of  the  ban  now  began  to  display  them- 
selves. Sunday,  18th  of  March,  1582,  was  the  birthday 
of  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  and  a  great  festival  had  been  ar- 
ranged, accordingly,  for  the  evening,  at  the  palace  of 
Saint  Michael,  the  Prince  of  Orange  as  well  as  all  the 
great  French  lords  being  of  course  invited.  The  Prince 
dined,  as  usual,  at  his  house  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
citadel,  in  company  with  the  Counts  Hohenlo  and  Laval, 
and  the  two  distinguished  French  commissioners,  Bonni- 


1582]  ATTEMPT  TO  ASSASSINATE  ORANGE  643 

vet  and  Des  Pruneaux.  Young  Maurice  of  Nassau  and 
two  nephews  of  the  Prince,  sons  of  his  brother  John,  were 
also  present  at  table.  During  dinner  the  conversation 
was  animated,  many  stories  being  related  of  the  cruelties 
which  had  been  practised  by  the  Spaniards  in  the  prov- 
inces. On  rising  from  the  table.  Orange  led  the  way  from 
the  dining-room  to  his  own  apartments,  showing  the  noble- 
men in  his  company  as  he  passed  along  a  piece  of  tapes- 
try upon  which  some  Spanish  soldiers  were  represented. 
At  this  moment,  as  he  stood  upon  the  threshold  of  the 
antechamber,  a  youth  of  small  stature,  vulgar  mien,  and 
pale,  dark  complexion  appeared  from  among  the  servants 
and  offered  him  a  petition.  He  took  the  paper,  and  as  he 
did  so  the  stranger  suddenly  drew  a  pistol  and  discharged 
it  at  the  head  of  the  Prince.  The  ball  entered  the  neck 
under  the  right  ear,  passed  through  the  roof  of  the  mouth, 
and  came  out  under  the  left  jaw-bone,  carrying  with  it 
two  teeth.  The  pistol  had  been  held  so  near  that  the 
hair  and  beard  of  the  Prince  were  set  on  fire  by  the  dis- 
charge. He  remained  standing,  but  blinded,  stunned, 
and  for  a  moment  entirely  ignorant  of  what  had  occurred. 
As  he  afterwards  observed,  he  thought  perhaps  that  a 
part  of  the  house  had  suddenly  fallen.  Finding  very  soon 
that  his  hair  and  beard  were  burning,  he  comprehended 
what  had  occurred,  and  called  out  quickly,  '^  Do  not  kill 
him — I  forgive  him  my  death  !"  and  turning  to  the  French 
noblemen  present,  he  added,  "  Alas  !  what  a  faithful  ser- 
vant does  his  Highness  lose  in  me  !" 

These  were  his  first  words,  spoken  when,  as  all  believed, 
he  had  been  mortally  wounded.  The  message  of  mercy 
came,  however,  too  late  ;  for  two  of  the  gentlemen  pres- 
ent, by  an  irresistible  impulse,  had  run  the  assassin  through 
with  their  rapiers.  The  halberdiers  rushed  upon  him  im- 
mediately afterwards,  so  that  he  fell  pierced  in  thirty-two 
vital  places.  The  Prince,  supported  by  his  friends,  walked 
to  his  chamber,  where  he  was  put  to  bed,  while  the  sur- 
geons examined  and  bandaged  the  wound.  It  was  most 
dangerous  in  appearance,  but  a  very  strange  circumstance 
gave  more  hope  than  could  otherwise  have  been  enter- 
tained.    The  flame  from  the  pistol  Had  been  so  close  that 


644  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1582 

it  had  actnally  cauterized  the  wound  inflicted  by  the  ball. 
But  for  this,  it  was  supposed  that  the  flow  of  blood  from 
the  veins  which  had  been  shot  through  would  have  proved 
fatal  before  the  wound  could  be  dressed.  The  Prince,  af- 
ter the  first  shock,  had  recovered  full  possession  of  his 
senses,  and  believing  himself  to  be  dying,  he  expressed  the 
most  unaffected  sympathy  for  the  condition  in  which  the 
Duke  of  Anjou  would  be  placed  by  his  death.  ''Alas, 
poor  Prince!"  he  cried  frequently  ;  ''alas,  what  troubles 
will  now  beset  thee  !"  The  surgeons  enjoined  and  im- 
plored his  silence,  as  speaking  might  cause  the  wound  to 
prove  immediately  fatal.  He  complied,  but  wrote  inces- 
santly. As  long  as  his  heart  could  beat  it  was  impossi- 
ble for  him  not  to  be  occupied  with  his  country. 

Lion  Petit,  a  trusty  captain  of  the  city  guard,  forced 
his  way  to  the  chamber,  it  being  absolutely  necessary,  said 
the  honest  burgher,  for  him  to  see  with  his  own  eyes  that 
the  Prince  was  living,  and  report  the  fact  to  the  towns- 
people :  otherwise,  so  great  was  the  excitement,  it  was  im- 
possible to  say  what  might  be  the  result.  Captain  Petit 
was  urged  by  the  Prince,  in  writing,  to  go  forth  instantly 
with  the  news  that  he  yet  survived,  but  to  implore  the 
people,  in  case  God  should  call  him  to  Himself,  to  hold 
him  in  kind  remembrance,  to  make  no  tumult,  and  to 
serve  the  Duke  obediently  and  faithfully. 

Meantime,  the  youthful  Maurice  of  Nassau  was  giving 
proof  of  that  cool  determination  which  already  marked 
his  character.  It  was  natural  that  a  boy  of  fifteen  should 
be  somewhat  agitated  at  seeing  such  a  father  shot  through 
the  head  before  his  eyes.  His  situation  was  rendered 
doubly  grave  by  the  suspicions  which  were  instantly  en- 
gendered as  to  the  probable  origin  of  the  attempt.  It  was 
already  whispered  in  the  hall  that  the  gentlemen  who  had 
been  so  officious  in  slaying  the  assassin  were  his  accom- 
plices, who — upon  the  principle  that  dead  men  would  tell 
no  tales  —  were  disposed,  now  that  the  deed  was  done,  to 
preclude  inconvenient  revelations  as  to  their  own  share  in 
the  crime.  Maurice,  notwithstanding  these  causes  for 
perturbation,  and  despite  his  grief  at  his  father's  probable 
death,  remained  steadily  by  the  body  of  the  murderer.   He 


1582]  EXCITEMENT   AND  SUSPICIONS  645 

was  determined,  if  possible,  to  unravel  the  plot,  and  he 
waited  to  possess  himself  of  all  papers  and  other  articles 
which  might  be  found  upon  the  person  of  the  deceased. 

A  scrupulous  search  was  at  once  made  by  the  attend- 
ants, and  everything  placed  in  the  young  Count's  own 
hands.  This  done,  Maurice  expressed  a  doubt  lest  some 
of  the  villain's  accomplices  might  attempt  to  take  the  ar- 
ticles from  him,  whereupon  a  faithful  old  servant  of  his 
father  came  forward,  who  with  an  emphatic  expression  of 
the  importance  of  securing  such  important  documents, 
took  his  young  master  under  his  cloak  and  led  him  to  a 
retired  apartment  of  the  house.  Here,  after  a  rapid  ex- 
amination, it  was  found  that  the  papers  were  all  in  Span- 
ish, written  by  Spaniards  to  Spaniards,  so  that  it  was 
obvious  that  the  conspiracy,  if  one  there  were,  was  not  a 
French  conspiracy.  The  servant,  therefore,  advised  Mau- 
rice to  go  to  his  father,  while  he  would  himself  instantly  de- 
scend to  the  hall  with  this  important  intelligence.  Count 
Hohenlo  had,  from  the  instant  of  the  assault,  ordered  the 
doors  to  be  fastened,  and  had  permitted  no  one  to  enter  or 
to  leave  the  apartment  without  his  permission.  The  in- 
formation now  brought  by  the  servant  as  to  the  character 
of  the  papers  caused  great  relief  to  the  minds  of  all ;  for, 
till  that  moment,  suspicion  had  even  lighted  upon  men 
who  were  the  firm  friends  of  the  Prince. 

Sainte-Aldegonde,  who  had  meantime  arrived,  now  pro- 
ceeded, in  company  of  the  other  gentlemen,  to  examine 
the  papers  and  other  articles  taken  from  the  assassin. 
This  done,  he  hastened  to  lay  the  result  of  this  examina- 
tion before  the  Duke  of  Anjou.  Information  was  likewise 
instantly  conveyed  to  the  magistrates  at  the  Town-house, 
and  these  measures  were  successful  in  restoring  confidence 
throughout  the  city  as  to  the  intentions  of  the  new  govern- 
ment. Anjou  immediately  convened  the  state  council, 
issued  a  summons  for  an  early  meeting  of  the  states-gen- 
eral, and  published  a  proclamation  that  all  persons  having 
information  to  give  concerning  the  crime  which  had  just 
been  committed  should  come  instantly  forward,  upon 
pain  of  death.  The  body  of  the  assassin  was  forthwith  ex- 
posed upon  the  public  square,  and  was  soon  recognized  as 


646  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1582 

that  of  one  Jnan  Janreguy,  a  servant  in  the  employ  of 
Gaspar  d'Anastro,  a  Spanish  merchant  of  Antwerp.  The 
letters  and  bills  of  exchange  had  also,  on  nearer  examina- 
tion at  the  Town-house,  implicated  Anastro  in  the  affair. 
His  house  was  immediately  searched,  but  the  merchant 
had  taken  his  departure,  upon  the  previous  Tuesday,  un- 
der pretext  of  pressing  affairs  at  Calais.  His  cashier, 
Venero,  and  a  Dominican  friar,  named  Antonie  Timmer- 
man,  both  inmates  of  his  family,  were,  however,  arrested 
upon  suspicion.  On  the  following  day  the  watch  stationed 
at  the  gate  carried  the  foreign  post-bags,  as  soon  as  they 
arrived,  to  the  magistracy,  when  letters  were  found  from 
Anastro  to  Venero  which  made  the  affair  quite  plain. 
After  they  had  been  thoroughly  studied  they  were  shown 
to  Venero,  who,  seeing  himself  thus  completely  ruined, 
asked  for  pen  and  ink,  and  wrote  a  full  confession. 

It  appeared  that  the  crime  was  purely  a  commercial 
speculation  on  the  part  of  Anastro.  That  merchant,  be- 
ing on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy,  had  entered  with  Philip 
into  a  mutual  contract,  which  the  King  had  signed  with 
his  hand  and  sealed  with  his  seal,  and  according  to  which 
Anastro,  within  a  certain  period,  was  to  take  the  life  of 
William  of  Orange,  and  for  so  doing  was  to  receive  eighty 
thousand  ducats  and  the  cross  of  Santiago.  To  be  a 
knight  companion  of  Spain's  proudest  order  of  chivalry 
was  the  guerdon,  over  and  above  the  eighty  thousand 
pieces  of  silver,  which  Spain's  monarch  promised  the  mur- 
derer, if  he  should  succeed.  The  merchant  and  his  book- 
keeper concerted  between  them  that  Juan  Jaureguy  should 
be  intrusted  with  the  job.  Anastro  had  intended  —  as  he 
said  in  a  letter  afterwards  intercepted  —  ^'^  to  accomplish 
the  deed  with  his  own  hand  ;  but,  as  God  had  probably 
reserved  him  for  other  things,  and  particularly  to  be  of 
service  to  his  very  affectionate  friends,  he  had  thought 
best  to  intrust  the  execution  of  the  design  to  his  servant.'' 
The  price  paid  by  the  master  to  the  man  for  the  work 
seems  to  have  been  but  two  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-seven  crowns.  The  cowardly  and  crafty  principal 
escaped.  He  had  gone  post  haste  to  Dunkirk,  pretending 
that  the  sudden  death  of  his  agent  in  Calais  required  his 


1582]  CRITICAL   CONDITION   OF  ORANGE  647 

immediate  presence  in  that  city.  Governor  Swevezeele,  of 
Dunkirk,  sent  an  orderly  to  get  a  passport  for  him  from 
La  Motte,  commanding  at  Gravelingen.  Two  hours  after 
the  traveller's  departure  the  news  arrived  of  the  deed,  to- 
gether with  orders  to  arrest  Anastro,  but  it  was  too  late. 
The  merchant  had  found  refuge  within  the  lines  of  Parma. 

Meanwhile  the  Prince  lay  in  a  most  critical  condition. 
Believing  that  his  end  was  fast  approaching,  he  dictated 
letters  to  the  states-general  entreating  them  to  continue 
in  their  obedience  to  the  Duke,  than  whom  he  affirmed 
that  he  knew  no  better  prince  for  the  government  of  the 
provinces.  These  letters  were  despatched  by  Sainte-Alde- 
gonde  to  the  assembly,  from  which  body  a  deputation,  in 
obedience  to  the  wishes  of  Orange,  was  sent  to  Anjou  with 
expressions  of  condolence  and  fidelity. 

On  Wednesday  a  solemn  fast  was  held,  according  to 
proclamation,  in  Antwerp,  all  work  and  all  amusements 
being  prohibited,  and  special  prayers  commanded  in  all 
the  churches  for  the  recovery  of  the  Prince.  "  Never, 
within  men's  memory,"  says  an  account  published  at  the 
moment,  in  Antwerp,  *Miad  such  crowds  been  seen  in  the 
churches,  nor  so  many  tears  been  shed." 

The  process  against  Venero  and  Timmerman  was  rap- 
idly carried  through,  for  both  had  made  a  full  confession 
of  their  share  in  the  crime.  The  Prince  had  enjoined 
from  his  sick  bed,  however,  that  the  case  should  be  con- 
ducted with  strict  regard  to  justice,  and  when  the  exe- 
cution could  no  longer  be  deferred,  he  had  sent  a  written 
request  by  the  hands  of  Sainte-Aldegonde  that  they  should 
be  put  to  death  in  the  least  painful  manner.  The  request 
was  complied  with,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
criminals,  had  it  not  been  made,  would  have  expiated 
their  offence  by  the  most  lingering  tortures.  Owing  to 
the  intercession  of  the  man  who  was  to  have  been  their 
victim,  they  were  strangled,  before  being  quartered,  upon 
a  scaffold  erected  in  the  market-place,  opposite  the  Town- 
house. This  execution  took  place  on  Wednesday,  the 
28th  of  March. 

The  Prince,  meanwhile,  was  thought  to  be  mending, 
and  thanksgivings  began  to  be  mingled  with  the  prayers 


648  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1582 

offered  almost  every  hour  in  the  churches ;  but  for  eigh- 
teen days  he  lay  in  a  most  precarious  state.  His  wife  hardly 
left  his  bedside,  and  his  sister,  Catharine,  Countess  of 
Schwartzburg,  was  indefatigable  in  her  attentions.  The 
Duke  of  Anjou  visited  him  daily  and  expressed  the  most 
filial  anxiety  for  his  recovery,  but  the  hopes  which  had 
been  gradually  growing  stronger  were,  on  the  5th  of  April, 
exchanged  for  the  deepest  apprehensions.  Upon  that 
day  the  cicatrix  by  which  the  flow  of  blood  from  the  neck 
had  been  prevented,  almost  from  the  first  infliction  of  the 
wound,  fell  off.  The  veins  poured  forth  a  vast  quantity 
of  blood ;  it  seemed  impossible  to  check  the  hemorrhage, 
and  all  hope  appeared  to  vanish.  The  Prince  resigned 
himself  to  his  fate,  and  bade  his  children  "good-night  for 
ever,"  saying  calmly,  "it  is  now  all  over  with  me." 

It  was  difficult,  without  suffocating  the  patient,  to  fasten 
a  bandage  tightly  enough  to  stanch  the  wound,  but  Leo- 
nardo Botalli,  of  Asti,  body  physician  of  Anjou,  was  nev- 
ertheless fortunate  enough  to  devise  a  simple  mechanical 
expedient,  which  proved  successful.  By  his  advice  a 
succession  of  attendants,  relieving  each  other  day  and 
night,  prevented  the  flow  of  blood  by  keeping  the  orifice 
of  the  wound  slightly  but  firmly  compressed  with  the 
thumb.  After  a  period  of  anxious  expectation  the  wound 
again  closed,  and  by  the  end  of  the  month  the  Prince  was 
convalescent.  On  the  2d  of  May  he  went  to  offer  thanks- 
giving in  the  Great  Cathedral,  amid  the  joyful  sobs  of  a 
vast  and  most  earnest  throng. 

The  Prince  was  saved,  but,  unhappily,  the  murderer  had 
yet  found  an  illustrious  victim.  The  Princess  of  Orange, 
Charlotte  de  Bourbon — the  devoted  wife  who  for  seven  years 
had  so  faithfully  shared  his  joys  and  sorrows — lay  already 
on  her  death-bed.  Exhausted  by  anxiety,  long  watching, 
and  the  alternations  of  hope  and  fear  during  the  first 
eighteen  days,  she  had  been  prostrated  by  despair  at  the 
renewed  hemorrhage.  A  violent  fever  seized  her,  under 
which  she  sank  on  the  5th  of  May,  three  days  after  the 
solemn  thanksgiving  for  her  husband's  recovery.  The 
Prince,  who  loved  her  tenderly,  was  in  great  danger  of 
relapse  upon  the  sad  event,  which,  although  not  sudden. 


1582]  ACCEPTANCE   OF  SOVEREIGNTY  649 

had  not  been  anticipated.  She  was  laid  in  her  grave  on 
the  9th  of  May,  amid  the  lamentations  of  the  whole  coun- 
try, for  her  virtues  were  universally  known  and  cherished. 
She  was  a  woman  of  rare  intelligence,  accomplishment, 
and  gentleness  of  disposition,  whose  only  offence  had 
been  to  break,  by  her  marriage,  the  Church  vows  to  which 
she  had  been  forced  in  her  childhood,  but  which  had  been 
pronounced  illegal  by  competent  authority,  both  ecclesias- 
tical and  lay.  For  this,  and  for  the  contrast  which  her 
virtues  afforded  to  the  vices  of  her  predecessor,  she  was 
the  mark  of  calumny  and  insult.  These  attacks,  how- 
ever, had  cast  no  shadow  upon  the  serenity  of  her  mar- 
ried life,  and  so  long  as  she  lived  she  was  the  trusted 
companion  and  consoler  of  her  husband. 

The  Princess  left  six  daughters — Louisa  Juliana,  Eliza- 
beth, Catharina  Belgica,  Flandrina,  Charlotta  Brabantica, 
and  Emilia  Secunda. 

Parma  received  the  first  intelligence  of  the  attempt 
from  the  mouth  of  Anastro  himself,  who  assured  him 
that  the  deed  had  been  entirely  successful,  and  claimed 
the  promised  reward.  Alexander,  in  consequence,  ad- 
dressed circular  letters  to  the  authorities  of  Antwerp, 
Brussels,  Bruges,  and  other  cities,  calling  upon  them, 
now  that  they  had  been  relieved  of  their  tyrant  and  their 
betrayer,  to  return  again  to  the  path  of  their  duty  and  to 
the  ever  open  arms  of  their  lawful  monarch.  These  let- 
ters were  premature.  On  the  other  hand,  the  states  of 
Holland  and  Zeeland  remained  in  permanent  session, 
awaiting  with  extreme  anxiety  the  result  of  the  Prince's 
wound.  *'AVith  the  death  of  his  Excellency,  if  God 
should  please  to  take  him  to  Himself,"  said  the  magis- 
tracy of  Ley  den,  '^^in  the  death  of  the  Prince  we  all  fore- 
see our  own  death."  It  was,  in  truth,  an  anxious  moment, 
and  the  revulsion  of  feeling  consequent  on  his  recovery 
was  proportionately  intense. 

In  consequence  of  the  excitement  produced  by  this 
event,  it  was  no  longer  possible  for  the  Prince  to  decline 
accepting  the  countship  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  which 
he  had  refused  absolutely  two  years  before,  and  which  he 
had  again  rejected,  except  for  a  limited  period,  in  the  year 


650  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1582 

1581.  It  was  well  understood,  as  appears  by  the  treaty 
with  Anjou,  and  afterwards  formally  arranged,  ^'  that  the 
Duke  was  never  to  claim,  sovereignty  over  Holland  and 
Zeeland/'  and  the  offer  of  the  sovereign  countship  of  Hol- 
land was  again  made  to  the  Prince  of  Orange  in  most  ur- 
gent terms.  It  will  be  recollected  that  he  had  accepted 
the  sovereignty  on  the  5th  of  July,  1581,  only  for  the  term 
of  the  war.     In  a  letter  dated  Bruges,  14th  of  August, 

1582,  he  accepted  the  dignity  without  limitation.  This 
offer  and  acceptance,  however,  constituted  but  the  prelim- 
inaries, for  it  was  further  necessary  that  the  letters  of 
^'  Renversal"  should  be  drawn  up,  that  they  should  be 
formally  delivered,  and  that  a  new  constitution  should  be 
laid  down,  and  confirmed  by  mutual  oaths.  After  these 
steps  had  been  taken,  the  ceremonious  inauguration  or 
rendering  of  homage  was  to  be  celebrated. 

All  these  measures  were  duly  arranged,  except  the  last. 
The  installation  of  the  new  Count  of  Holland  was  prevent- 
ed by  his  death,  and  the  northern  provinces  remained  a 
Republic,  not  only  in  fact  but  in  name. 

In  political  matters,  the  basis  of  the  new  constitution 
was  the  ^'  Great  Privilege  "  of  the  Lady  Mary,  the  Magna 
Charta  of  the  country.  That  memorable  monument  in 
the  history  of  the  Netherlands  and  of  municipal  progress 
had  been  overthrown  by  Mary's  son,  with  the  forced  ac- 
quiescence of  the  states,  and  it  was  therefore  stipulated 
by  the  new  article  that  even  such  laws  and  privileges  as 
had  fallen  into  disuse  should  be  revived.  It  was  further- 
more provided  that  the  little  state  should  be  a  free  count- 
ship,  and  should  thus  silently  sever  its  connection  with  the 
empire. 

With  regard  to  the  position  of  the  Prince  as  hereditary 
chief  of  the  little  commonwealth,  his  actual  power  was 
rather  diminished  than  increased  by  his  new  dignity. 
What  was  his  position  at  the  moment  ?  He  was  sovereign 
during  the  loar,  on  the  general  basis  of  the  authority  orig- 
inally bestowed  upon  him  by  the  King's  commission  of 
stadholder.  In  1581  his  Majesty  had  been  abjured  and 
the  stadholder  had  become  sovereign.  He  held  in  his 
hands  the  supreme  power,  legislative,  judicial,  executive. 


1682]  A  NEW  CONSTITUTION  651 

The  Counts  of  Holland — and  Philip  as  their  successor  — 
were  the  great  fountains  of  that  triple  stream.  Conces- 
sions and  exceptions  had  become  so  extensive,  no  doubt, 
that  the  provincial  charters  constituted  a  vast  body  of 
"  liberties  "  by  which  the  whole  country  was  reasonably 
well  supplied.  At  the  same  time,  all  the  power  not  ex- 
pressly granted  away  remained  in  the  breast  of  the  Count. 
If  ambition,  then,  had  been  William's  ruling  principle,  he 
had  exchanged  substance  for  shadow,  for  the  new  state 
now  constituted  was  a  free  commonwealth — a  republic  in 
all  but  name. 

By  the  new  constitution  he  ceased  to  be  the  source  of 
governmental  life,  or  to  derive  his  own  authority  from 
above  by  right  divine.  The  sacred  oil  which  had  flowed 
from  Charles  the  Simple's  beard  was  dried  up.  Orange's 
sovereignty  was  from  the  estates,  as  legal  representatives 
of  the  people,  and,  instead  of  exercising  all  the  powers 
not  otherwise  granted  away,  he  was  content  with  those  es- 
pecially conferred  upon  him.  He  could  neither  declare 
war  nor  conclude  peace  without  the  co-operation  of  the 
representative  body.  The  appointing  power  was  scrupu- 
lously limited.  Judges,  magistrates,  governors,  sheriffs, 
provincial  and  municipal  officers,  were  to  be  nominated 
by  the  local  authorities  or  by  the  estates,  on  the  triple 
principle.  From  these  triple  nominations  he  had  only  the 
right  of  selection  by  advice  and  consent  of  his  council. 
He  was  expressly  enjoined  to  see  that  the  law  was  carried 
to  every  man's  door,  without  any  distinction  of  persons,  to 
submit  himself  to  its  behests,  to  watch  against  all  impedi- 
ments to  the  even  flow  of  justice,  to  prevent  false  impris- 
onments, and  to  secure  trials  for  every  accused  person  by 
the  local  tribunals.  This  was  certainly  little  in  accordance 
with  the  arbitrary  practice  of  the  past  quarter  of  a  century. 

With  respect  to  the  great  principle  of  taxation,  stricter 
bonds  even  were  provided  than  those  which  already  existed. 
Not  only  the  right  of  taxation  remained  with  the  states, 
but  the  Count  was  to  see  that,  except  for  war  purposes, 
every  impost  was  levied  by  a  unanimous  vote.  He  was  ex- 
pressly forbidden  to  tamper  with  the  currency.  As  execu- 
tive head,  save  in  his  capacity  as  commander-in-chief  by 


652  HISTORY  OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1582 

land  or  sea,  the  new  sovereign  was,  in  short,  strictly  lim- 
ited by  self-imposed  laws.  It  had  rested  with  him  to  dic- 
tate or  to  accept  a  constitution.  He  had  in  his  memorable 
letter  of  August,  1582,  from  Bruges,  laid  down  generally 
the  articles  prepared  at  Plessis  and  Bourdeaux,  for  Anjou 
—  together  with  all  applicable  provisions  of  the  Joyous 
Entry  of  Brabant — as  the  outlines  of  the  constitution  for 
the  little  commonwealth  then  forming  in  the  north.  To 
these  provisions  he  was  willing  to  add  any  others  which, 
after  ripe  deliberation,  might  be  thought  beneficial  to  the 
country. 

Thus  limited  were  his  executive  functions.  As  to  his 
judicial  authority,  it  had  ceased  to  exist.  The  Count  of 
Holland  was  now  the  guardian  of  the  laws,  but  the  judges 
were  to  administer  them.  He  held  the  sword  of  justice 
to  protect  and  to  execute,  while  the  scales  were  left  in  the 
hands  which  had  learned  to  weigh  and  to  measure. 

As  to  the  Count's  legislative  authority,  it  had  become 
co-ordinate  with,  if  not  subordinate  to,  that  of  the  rep- 
resentative body.  He  was  strictly  prohibited  from  inter- 
fering with  the  right  of  the  separate  or  the  general  states 
to  assemble  as  often  as  they  should  think  proper,  and 
he  was  also  forbidden  to  summon  them  outside  their 
own  territory.  This  was  one  immense  step  in  the  prog- 
ress of  representative  liberty,  and  the  next  was  equally 
important.  It  was  now  formally  stipulated  that  the 
estates  were  to  deliberate  upon  all  measures  which  ''  con- 
cerned justice  and  polity,"  and  that  no  change  was  to  be 
made — that  is  to  say,  no  new  law  was  to  pass — without 
their  consent  as  well  as  that  of  the  council. 

Thus  the  principle  was  established  of  two  legislative 
chambers,  with  the  right,  but  not  the  exclusive  right,  of 
initiation  on  the  part  of  government,  and  in  the  sixteenth 
century  one  would  hardly  look  for  broader  views  of  civil 
liberty  and  representative  government.  The  foundation 
of  a  free  commonwealth  was  thus  securely  laid,  which, 
had  William  lived,  would  have  been  a  representative  mon- 
archy, but  which  his  death  converted  into  a  federal  re- 
public. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  FRENCH  FURY — DEATH  OF  ANJOU. 

DuRiifG  the  course  of  the  year  1582  the  military  oper- 
ations on  both  sides  had  been  languid  and  desultory,  the 
Prince  of  Parma,  not  having  a  large  force  at  his  com- 
mand, being  comparatively  inactive.  In  consequence, 
however,  of  the  treaty  concluded  between  the  united 
states  and  Anjou,  Parma  had  persuaded  the  Walloon 
provinces  that  it  had  now  become  absolutely  necessary 
for  them  to  permit  the  entrance  of  fresh  Italian  and  Span- 
ish troops.  This,  then,  was  the  end  of  the  famous  pro- 
vision against  foreign  soldiery  in  the  Walloon  treaty  of 
reconciliation.  The  Abbot  of  Saint  Vaast  was  imme- 
diately despatched  on  a  special  mission  to  Spain,  and  the 
troops,  by  midsummer,  had  already  begun  to  pour  into 
the  Netherlands. 

In  the  meantime  Farnese,  while  awaiting  these  rein- 
forcements, had  not  been  idle,  but  had  been  quietly  pick- 
ing up  several  important  cities.  Early  in  the  spring  he 
had  laid  siege  to  Oudenarde,  a  place  of  considerable  im- 
portance upon  the  Scheldt,  and  celebrated  as  the  birth- 
place of  his  grandmother,  Margaret  van  Geest.  The 
burghers  were  obstinate ;  the  defence  was  protracted ; 
the  sorties  were  bold  ;  the  skirmishes  frequent  and  san- 
guinary. Alexander  commanded  personally  in  the  trenches, 
encottraging  his  men  by  his  example,  and  often  working 
with  the  mattock,  or  handling  a  spear  in  the  assault,  like 
a  private  pioneer  or  soldier.  The  city,  close  pressed  by 
so  determined  a  commander,  accepted  terms,  which  were 
more  favorable  by  reason  of  the  respect  which  Alexander 
chose  to  render  to  his  grandmother's  birthplace.     The 


654  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1582 

pillage  was  commuted  for  thirty  thousand  crowns,  and  on 
the  5th  of  July  the  place  was  surrendered  to  Parma  al- 
most under  the  very  eyes  of  Anjou,  who  was  making  a 
demonstration  of  relieving  the  siege. 

Ninove,  a  citadel  then  belonging  to  the  Egmont  famil}^ 
was  next  reduced.  Here,  too,  the  defence  was  more  ob- 
stinate than  could  have  been  expected  from  the  impor- 
tance of  the  place  ;  and  as  the  autumn  advanced  Parma's 
troops  were  nearly  starved  in  their  trenches  from  the  in- 
sufficient supplies  furnished  them.  The  famine  was  long 
familiarly  known  as  the  '^  Ninove  starvation,"  but  not- 
withstanding this  obstacle  the  place  was  eventually  sur- 
rendered. 

An  attempt  upon  Lochem,  an  important  city  in  Gelder- 
land,  was  unsuccessful,  the  place  being  relieved  by  the 
Duke  of  Anjou's  forces,  and  Parma's  troops  forced  to 
abandon  the  siege.  At  Steenwyk  the  royal  arms  were  more 
successful.  Colonel  Tassis,  conducted  by  a  treacherous 
Frisian  peasant,  having  surprised  the  city  which  had  so 
long  and  so  manfully  sustained  itself  against  Renneberg 
during  the  preceding  winter.  With  this  event  the  active 
operations  under  Parma  closed  for  the  year.  By  the  end 
of  the  autumn,  however,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  number- 
ing under  his  command  full  sixty  thousand  well-appointed 
and  disciplined  troops,  including  the  large  reinforcements 
recently  despatched  from  Spain  and  Italy.  The  monthly 
expense  of  this  army — half  of  which  was  required  for  gar- 
rison duty,  leaving  only  the  other  moiety  for  field  opera- 
tions— was  estimated  at  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
florins.  The  forces  under  Anjou  and  the  united  provinces 
were  also  largely  increased,  so  that  the  marrow  of  the 
land  was  again  in  a  fair  way  of  being  thoroughly  exhaust- 
ed by  its  defenders  and  its  foes. 

The  incidents  of  Anjou's  administration,  meantime, 
during  the  year  1582,  had  been  few  and  of  no  great  im- 
portance. After  the  pompous  and  elaborate  "homage- 
making"  at  Antwerp  he  had,  in  the  month  of  July,  been 
formally  accepted,  by  writing,  as  Duke  of  Guelders  and 
Lord  of  Friesland.  In  the  same  month  he  had  been 
ceremoniously  inaugurated  at  Bruges  as  Count  of  Flan- 


1682]        ATTEMPT  TO  DESTROY  ORANGE  AND  ANJOU  655 

ders — an  occasion  upon  which  the  Prince  of  Orange  had 
been  present.  In  the  midst  of  this  event  an  attempt  was 
made  upon  the  lives  both  of  Orange  and  Anjou.  An  Ital- 
ian named  Basa  and  a  Spaniard  called  Salseda  were  de- 
tected in  a  scheme  to  administer  poison  to  both  princes, 
and  when  arrested  confessed  that  they  had  been  hired  by 
the  Prince  of  Parma  to  compass  this  double  assassination. 
Basa  destroyed  himself  in  prison.  His  body  was,  how- 
ever, gibbeted,  with  an  inscription  that  he  had  attempted, 
at  the  instigation  of  Parma,  to  take  the  lives  of  Orange 
and  Anjou.  Salseda,  less  fortunate,  was  sent  to  Paris, 
where  he  was  found  guilty,  and  executed  by  being  torn 
to  pieces  by  four  horses.  Sad  to  relate,  Lamoral  Egmont, 
younger  son  and  namesake  of  the  great  general,  was  in- 
timate with  Salseda  and  implicated  in  this  base  design. 
The  young  noble  was  imprisoned  ;  his  guilt  was  far  from 
doubtful ;  but  the  powerful  intercessions  of  Orange  him- 
self, combined  with  Egmont's  near  relationship  to  the 
French  Queen,  saved  his  life,  and  he  was  permitted,  after 
a  brief  captivity,  to  take  his  departure  for  France. 

The  Duke  of  Anjou,  a  month  later,  was  received  with 
equal  pomp  in  the  city  of  Ghent.  Here  the  ceremonies 
were  interrupted  in  another  manner.  The  Prince  of 
Parma,  at  the  head  of  a  few  regiments  of  Walloons,  mak- 
ing an  attack  on  a  body  of  troops  by  which  Anjou  had 
been  escorted  into  Flanders,  the  troops  retreated  in  good 
order,  and  without  much  loss,  under  the  walls  of  Ghent, 
where  a  long  and  sharp  action  took  place,  much  to  the 
disadvantage  of  Parma.  The  Prince  of  Orange  and  the 
Duke  of  Anjou  were  on  the  city  walls  during  the  whole 
skirmish,  giving  orders  and  superintending  the  move- 
ments of  their  troops,  and  at  nightfall  Parma  was  forced 
to  retire,  leaving  a  large  number  of  dead  behind  him. 

The  15th  day  of  December  in  this  year  was  celebrated 
— according  to  the  new  ordinance  of  Gregory  the  Thir- 
teenth— as  Christmas.  It  was  the  occasion  of  more  than 
usual  merrymaking  among  the  Catholics  of  Antwerp,  who 
had  procured,  during  the  preceding  summer,  a  renewed 
right  of  public  worship  from  Anjou  and  the  estates. 
Many  nobles  of  high  rank  came  from  France  to  pay  their 


656  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1583 

homage  to  the  new  Duke  of  Brabant.  They  secretly  ex- 
pressed their  disgust,  however,  at  the  close  constitutional 
bonds  in  which  they  found  their  own  future  sovereign  im- 
prisoned by  the  provinces.  They  thought  it  far  beneath 
the  dignity  of  the  "  son  of  France  "  to  play  the  secondary 
part  of  titular  Duke  of  Brabant,  Count  of  Flanders,  Lord 
of  Friesland,  and  the  like,  while  the  whole  power  of  gov- 
ernment was  lodged  with  the  states.  They  whispered  that 
it  was  time  to  take  measures  for  the  incorporation  of  the 
Netherlands  into  France,  and  they  persuaded  the  false 
and  fickle  Anjou  that  there  would  never  be  any  hope  of 
his  royal  brother's  assistance  except  upon  the  understand- 
ing that  the  blood  and  treasure  of  Frenchmen  were  to  be 
spent  to  increase  the  power,  not  of  upstart  and  indepen- 
dent provinces,  but  of  the  French  crown. 

They  struck  the  basest  chords  of  the  Duke's  base  nature 
by  awakening  his  jealousy  of  Orange.  His  whole  soul  vi- 
brated to  the  appeal.  He  already  hated  the  man  by  whose 
superior  intellect  he  was  overawed,  and  by  whose  pure 
character  he  was  shamed.  He  stoutly  but  secretly  swore 
that  he  would  assert  his  own  rights,  and  that  he  would  no 
longer  serve  as  a  shadow,  a  statue,  a  zero,  a  Matthias.  It 
is  needless  to  add  that  neither  in  his  own  judgment  nor 
in  that  of  his  migno?is  were  the  constitutional  articles 
which  he  had  recently  sworn  to  support,  or  the  solemn 
treaty  which  he  had  signed  and  sealed  at  Bordeaux,  to 
furnish  any  obstacles  to  his  seizure  of  unlimited  power, 
whenever  the  design  could  be  cleverly  accomplished.  He 
rested  not,  day  nor  night,  in  the  elaboration  of  his  plan. 

Early  in  January,  1583,  he  sent  one  night  for  several  of 
his  intimate  associates  to  consult  with  him  after  he  had 
retired  to  bed.  He  complained  of  the  insolence  of  the 
states,  of  the  importunity  of  the  council  which  they  had 
forced  upon  him,  of  the  insufficient  sums  which  they  fur- 
nished both  for  him  and  his  troops,  of  the  daily  insults 
offered  to  the  Catholic  religion.  He  protested  that  he 
should  consider  himself  disgraced  in  the  eyes  of  all  Chris- 
tendom should  he  longer  consent  to  occupy  his  present 
ignoble  position.  But  two  ways  were  open  to  him,  he  ob- 
served :  either  to  retire  altogether  from  the  Netherlands, 


1583]  THE   DUKE'S  PLOT  657 

or  to  maintain  his  authority  with  the  strong  hand,  as  he- 
came  a  prince.  The  first  course  would  cover  him  with 
disgrace.  It  was  therefore  necessary  for  him  to  adopt  the 
other.  He  then  unfolded  his  plan  to  his  confidential 
friends — La  Fougere,  De  Fazy,  Valette,  the  sons  of  Mare- 
chal  Biron,  and  others.  Upon  the  same  day,  if  possible, 
he  was  determined  to  take  possession  with  his  own  troops 
of  the  principal  cities  in  Flanders.  Dunkirk,  Dixmuiden, 
Dendermonde,  Bruges,  Ghent,  Vilvoorde,  Alost,  and  other 
important  places  were  to  be  simultaneously  invaded,  un- 
der pretext  of  quieting  tumults  artfully  created  and  en- 
couraged between  the  burghers  and  the  garrisons,  while 
Antwerp  was  reserved  for  his  own  especial  enterprise. 
That  important  capital  he  would  carry  by  surprise  at  the 
same  moment  in  which  the  other  cities  were  to  be  secured 
by  his  lieutenants. 

The  plot  was  pronounced  an  excellent  one  by  the  friends 
around  his  bed — all  of  them  eager  for  Catholic  supremacy, 
for  the  establishment  of  the  right  divine  on  the  part  of 
France  to  the  Netherlands,  and  for  their  share  in  the  sack- 
ing of  so  many  wealthy  cities  at  once.  Those  worthless 
mignons  applauded  their  weak  master  to  the  echo  ;  where- 
upon the  Duke  leaped  from  his  bed,  and  kneeling  on  the 
floor  in  his  night-gown,  raised  his  eyes  and  his  clasped 
hands  to  heaven  and  piously  invoked  the  blessing  of  the 
Almighty  upon  the  project  which  he  had  thus  announced. 
He  added  the  solemn  assurance  that,  if  favored  with  suc- 
cess in  his  undertaking,  he  would  abstain  in  future  from 
all  unchastity,  and  forego  the  irregular  habits  by  which 
his  youth  had  been  stained.  Having  thus  bribed  the 
Deity  and  received  the  encouragement  of  his  flatterers, 
the  Duke  got  into  bed  again.  His  next  care  was  to  re- 
move the  Seigneur  du  Plessis,  whom  he  had  observed  to 
be  often  in  colloquy  with  the  Prince  of  Orange,  his  sus- 
picious and  guilty  imagination  finding  nothing  but  mis- 
chief to  himself  in  the  conjunction  of  two  such  natures. 
He  therefore  dismissed  Du  Plessis,  under  pretext  of  a 
special  mission  to  his  sister,  Margaret  of  Navarre,  but  in 
reality  that  he  might  rid  himself  of  the  presence  of  an  in- 
telligent and  honorable  countryman. 

42 


658  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1583 

On  the  15tli  of  January,  1583,  the  day  fixed  for  the  ex- 
ecution of  the  plot,  the  French  commandant  of  Dunkirk, 
Captain  Chamois,  skilfully  took  advantage  of  a  slight 
quarrel  between  the  citizens  and  the  garrison  to  secure 
that  important  frontier  town.  The  same  means  were  em- 
ployed simultaneously,  with  similar  results,  at  Ostend, 
Dixmuiden,  Dendermonde,  Alost,  and  Vilvoorde,  but  there 
was  a  fatal  delay  at  one  important  city.  La  Fougere,  who 
had  been  with  Chamois  at  Dunkirk,  was  arrested  on  his 
way  to  Bruges  by  some  patriotic  citizens  who  had  got 
wind  of  what  had  just  been  occurring  in  the  other  cities, 
so  that  when  Valette,  the  provost  of  Anjou,  and  Colonel 
la  Eebours,  at  the  head  of  fifteen  hundred  French  troops, 
appeared  before  the  gates,  entrance  was  flatly  refused. 
De  Grijse,  burgomaster  of  Bruges,  encouraged  his  fellow- 
townsmen  by  words  and  stout  action  to  resist  the  nefari- 
ous project  then  on  foot  against  religious  liberty  and  free 
government,  in  favor  of  a  new  foreign  tyranny.  He  spoke 
to  men  who  could  sympathize  with  and  second  his  cou- 
rageous resolution,  and  the  delay  of  twenty -four  hours, 
during  which  the  burghers  had  time  to  take  the  alarm, 
saved  the  city.  The  whole  population  was  on  the  alert, 
and  the  baffled  Frenchmen  were  forced  to  retire  from  the 
gates,  to  avoid  being  torn  to  pieces  by  the  citizens  whom 
they  had  intended  to  surprise. 

At  Antwerp,  meanwhile,  the  Duke  of  Anjou  had  been 
rapidly  maturing  his  plan,  under  pretext  of  a  contemplated 
enterprise  against  the  city  of  Eindhoven,  having  concen- 
trated what  he  esteemed  a  sufficient  number  of  French 
troops  at  Burgerhout,  a  village  close  to  the  walls  of  Ant- 
werp. 

On  the  16th  of  January  suspicion  was  aroused  in  the 
city.  A  man  in  a  mask  entered  the  main  guard-house  in 
the  night,  mysteriously  gave  warning  that  a  great  crime 
was  in  contemplation,  and  vanished  before  he  could  be 
arrested.  His  accent  proved  him  to  be  a  Frenchman. 
Strange  rumors  flew  about  the  streets.  A  vague  uneasi- 
ness pervaded  the  whole  population  as  to  the  intention  of 
their  new  master,  but  nothing  was  definitely  known,  for 
of  course  there  was  entire  ignorance  of  the  events  which 


1583J  THE   ATTEMPT   UPON    ANTWERP  659 

were  just  occnrring  in  other  cities.  The  colonels  and  cap- 
tains of  the  burgher  guard  came  to  consult  the  Prince  of 
Orange.  He  avowed  the  most  entire  confidence  in  the 
Duke  of  Anjou,  but,  at  the  same  time,  recommended  that 
the  chains  should  be  drawn,  the  lanterns  hung  out,  and 
the  drawbridge  raised  an  hour  earlier  than  usual,  and  that 
other  precautions,  customary  in  the  expectation  of  an  at- 
tack, should  be  duly  taken.  He  likewise  sent  the  burgo- 
master of  the  interior.  Doctor  Alostanus,  to  the  Duke  of 
Anjou,  in  order  to  communicate  the  suspicions  created  in 
the  minds  of  the  city  authorities  by  the  recent  movements 
of  troops. 

Anjou,  thus  addressed,  protested  in  the  most  solemn 
manner  that  nothing  was  further  from  his  thoughts  than 
any  secret  enterprise  against  Antwerp.  He  was  willing, 
according  to  the  figure  of  speech  which  he  had  always 
ready  upon  every  emergency,  *'  to  shed  every  drop  of  his 
blood  in  her  defence."  He  swore  that  he  would  signally 
punish  all  those  who  had  dared  to  invent  such  calumnies 
against  himself  and  his  faithful  Frenchmen,  declaring  ear- 
nestly, at  the  same  time,  that  the  troops  had  only  been 
assembled  in  the  regular  course  of  their  duty.  As  the 
Duke  was  so  loud  and  so  fervent ;  as  he,  moreover,  made 
no  objections  to  the  precautionary  measures  which  had 
been  taken ;  as  the  burgomaster  thought,  moreover,  that 
the  public  attention  thus  aroused  would  render  all  evil 
designs  futile,  even  if  any  had  been  entertained ;  it  was 
thought  that  the  city  might  sleep  in  security  for  that  v 
night  at  least. 

On  the  following  morning,  as  vague  suspicions  were  still 
entertained  by  many  influential  persons,  a  deputation  of 
magistrates  and  militia  officers  waited  upon  the  Duke,  the 
Prince  of  Orange — although  himself  still  feeling  a  confi- 
dence which  seems  now  almost  inexplicable  —  consenting 
to  accompany  them.  The  Duke  was  more  vehement  than 
ever  in  his  protestations  of  loyalty  to  his  recent  oaths,  as 
well  as  of  deep  affection  for  the  Netherlands — for  Brabant 
in  particular,  and  for  Antwerp  most  of  all — and  he  made 
use  of  all  his  vivacity  to  persuade  the  Prince,  the  burgo- 
masters, and  the  colonels,  that  they  had  deeply  wronged 


660  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1583 

him  by  such  unjust  suspicions.  His  assertions  were  ac- 
cepted as  sincere,  and  the  deputation  withdrew,  Anjou  hav- 
ing first  solemnly  promised — at  the  suggestion  of  Orange 
— not  to  leave  the  city  during  the  whole  day,  in  order  that 
unnecessary  suspicion  might  be  prevented. 

This  pledge  the  Duke  proceeded  to  violate  almost  as 
soon  as  made.  Orange  returned  with  confidence  to  his 
own  house,  which  was  close  to  the  citadel,  and  therefore 
far  removed  from  the  proposed  point  of  attack,  but  he 
had  hardly  arrived  there  when  he  received  a  visit  from  the 
Duke's  private  secretary,  Quinsay,  who  invited  him  to  ac- 
company his  Highness  on  a  visit  to  the  camp.  Orange 
declined  the  request,  and  sent  an  earnest  prayer  to  the 
Duke  not  to  leave  the  city  that  morning.  The  Duke  dined, 
as  usual,  at  noon.  While  at  dinner  he  received  a  letter, 
was  observed  to  turn  pale  on  reading  it,  and  to  conceal  it 
hastily  in  a  muif  which  he  wore  on  his  left  arm.  The  re- 
past finished,  the  Duke  ordered  his  horse,  and,  placing 
himself  at  the  head  of  his  body-guard  and  some  troopers, 
numbering  in  all  three  hundred  mounted  men,  rode  out  of 
the  palace-yard  and  through  the  Kipdorp  Gate  towards 
Burgerhout,  where  his  troops  were  stationed.  As  soon  as 
Anjou  had  crossed  the  first  drawbridge  he  rose  in  his 
stirrups  and  waved  his  hand.  '•^  There  is  your  city,  my 
lads,"  said  he  to  the  troopers  behind  him  ;  '^go  and  take 
possession  of  it !" 

At  the  same  time  he  set  spurs  to  his  horse  and  galloped 
off  towards  the  camp  at  Burgerhout.  Instantly  after- 
wards, a  gentleman  of  his  suite,  Count  Rochepot,  affected 
to  have  broken  his  leg  through  the  plunging  of  his  horse, 
a  circumstance  by  which  he  had  been  violently  pressed 
against  the  wall  as  he  entered  the  gate.  Kaiser,  the  com- 
manding officer  at  the  guard-house,  stepped  kindly  for- 
ward to  render  him  assistance,  and  his  reward  was  a  des- 
perate thrust  from  the  Frenchman's  rapier.  As  he  wore 
a  steel  cuirass,  he  fortunately  escaped  with  a  slight  wound. 

The  expression,  '' broken  leg,"  was  the  watchword,  for  at 
one  and  the  same  instant  the  troopers  and  guardsmen  of  An- 
jou set  upon  the  burgher  watch  at  the  gate  and  butchered 
every  man.     A  sufficient  force  was  left  to  protect  the  en- 


1683]  DEFENCE    Of  THE   CITIZENS  661 

trance  thus  easily  mastered,  while  the  rest  of  the  French- 
men entered  the  town  at  full  gallop,  shrieking  "  Ville 
gaignee,  ville  gaignee  !  vive  la  messe  !  vive  le  Due  d'Anjou  !" 
They  were  followed  by  their  comrades  from  the  camp  out- 
side, who  now  poured  into  the  town  at  the  preconcerted 
signal,  at  least  six  hundred  cavalry  and  three  thousand 
musketeers,  all  perfectly  appointed,  entering  Antwerp  at 
once.  From  the  Kipdorp  Gate  two  main  arteries  —  the 
streets  called  the  Kipdorp  and  the  Meer — led  quite  through 
the  heart  of  the  city,  towards  the  Town-house  and  the 
river  beyond.  Along  these  great  thoroughfares  the  French 
soldiers  advanced  at  a  rapid  pace,  the  cavalry  clattering 
furiously  in  the  van  shouting  "  Ville  gaignee,  ville  gaignee  ! 
vive  la  messe,  vive  la  messe  !  tue,  tue,  tue  !" 

The  burghers,  coming  to  door  and  window  to  look  for 
the  cause  of  all  this  disturbance,  were  saluted  with  volleys 
of  musketry.  They  were  for  a  moment  astonished,  but 
not  appalled,  for  at  first  they  believed  it  to  be  merely  an 
accidental  tumult.  Observing,  however,  that  the  soldiers, 
meeting  with  but  little  effective  resistance,  were  dispers- 
ing into  dwellings  and  warehouses,  particularly  into  the 
shops  of  the  goldsmiths  and  lapidaries,  the  citizens  remem- 
bered the  dark  suspicions  which  had  been  so  rife,  and 
many  recalled  to  mind  that  distinguished  French  officers 
had  during  the  last  few  days  been  carefully  examining  the 
treasures  of  the  jewellers,  under  pretext  of  purchasing, 
but,  as  it  now  appeared,  with  intent  to  rob  intelligently. 

The  burghers,  taking  this  rapid  view  of  their  position, 
flew  instantly  to  arms.  Chains  and  barricades  were 
stretched  across  the  streets  ;  the  trumpets  sounded  through 
the  city  ;  the  municipal  guards  swarmed  to  the  rescue.  An 
effective  rally  was  made,  as  usual,  at  the  Bourse,  whither 
a  large  detachment  of  the  invaders  had  forced  their  way. 
Inhabitants  of  all  classes  and  conditions,  noble  and  simple. 
Catholic  and  Protestant,  gave  each  other  the  hand,  and 
swore  to  die  at  each  other^s  side  in  defence  of  the  city 
against  the  treacherous  strangers.  The  gathering  was 
rapid  and  enthusiastic.  Gentlemen  came  with  lance  and 
cuirass,  burghers  with  musket  and  bandoleer,  artisans  with 
axe,  mallet,  and  other  implements  of  their  trade.     A  bold 


662  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1583 

baker,  standing  by  his  oven  —  stark  naked,  according  to 
the  custom  of  bakers  at  that  day —  rushed  to  the  street  as 
the  sound  of  the  tumult  reached  his  ear.  With  his  heavy 
bread-shovel,  which  he  still  held  in  his  hand,  he  dealt  a 
French  cavalry  ofl&cer,  just  riding  and  screaming  by,  such 
a  hearty  blow  that  he  fell  dead  from  his  horse.  The  baker 
seized  the  officer's  sword,  sprang  all  unattired  as  he  was 
upon  his  steed,  and  careered  furiously  through  the  streets, 
encouraging  his  countrymen  everywhere  to  the  attack,  and 
dealing  dismay  through  the  ranks  of  the  enemy.  His  ser- 
vices in  that  eventful  hour  were  so  signal  that  he  was 
publicly  thanked  afterwards  by  the  magistrates  for  his 
services,  and  rewarded  with  a  pension  of  three  hundred 
florins  for  life. 

The  invaders  had  been  forced  from  the  Bourse,  while 
another  portion  of  them  had  penetrated  as  far  as  the  mar- 
ket-place. The  resistance  which  they  encountered  became 
every  instant  more  formidable,  and  Fervacques,  a  leading 
French  officer,  who  was  captured  on  the  occasion,  acknowl- 
edged that  no  regular  troops  could  have  fought  more 
bravely  than  did  these  stalwart  burghers.  Women  and 
children  mounted  to  roof  and  window,  whence  they  hurled, 
not  only  tiles  and  chimney-pots,  but  tables,  ponderous 
chairs,  and  other  bulky  articles  upon  the  heads  of  the  as- 
sailants, while  such  citizens  as  had  used  all  their  bullets 
loaded  their  pieces  with  the  silver  buttons  from  their 
doublets,  or  twisted  gold  and  silver  coins  with  their  teeth 
into  ammunition.  With  a  population  so  resolute,  the  four 
thousand  invaders,  however  audacious,  soon  found  them- 
selves swallowed  up.  The  city  had  closed  over  them  like 
water,  and  within  an  hour  nearly  a  third  of  their  whole 
number  had  been  slain. 

Hardly  an  hour  had  elapsed  from  the  time  when  the 
Duke  of  Anjou  first  rode  out  of  the  Kipdorp  gate  before 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  force  which  he  had  sent  to  accom- 
plish his  base  design  was  either  dead  or  captive.  Two 
hundred  and  fifty  nobles  of  high  rank  and  illustrious 
name  were  killed — recognized  at  once  as  they  lay  in  the 
streets  by  their  magnificent  costume.  A  larger  number 
of  the  gallant  chivalry  of  France  had  been  sacrificed — as 


1583]     THE  FRENCH  ROUTED— CAUSES   OF  THE   DEFEAT      663 

Anjon  confessed — in  this  treacherous  and  most  shameful 
enterprise  than  had  often  fallen  upon  noble  and  honora- 
ble fields.  Nearly  two  thousand  of  the  rank  and  file  had 
perished,  and  the  rest  were  prisoners.  Less  than  one 
hundred  burghers  lost  their  lives. 

Anjou,  as  he  looked  on  at  a  distance,  was  bitterly  re- 
proached for  his  treason  by  several  of  the  high-minded 
gentlemen  about  his  person,  to  whom  he  had  not  dared 
to  confide  his  plot.  In  addition  to  the  punishment  of 
hearing  these  reproaches  from  men  of  honor,  he  was  the 
victim  of  a  rapid  and  violent  fluctuation  of  feeling.  When 
it  was  obvious  at  last  that  the  result  of  the  enterprise  was 
an  absolute  and  disgraceful  failure,  together  with  a  com- 
plete exposure  of  his  treachery,  he  hastily  mounted  his 
horse  and  fled  conscience-stricken  from  the  scene. 

The  attack  had  been  so  unexpected,  in  consequence  of 
the  credence  that  had  been  rendered  by  Orange  and  the 
magistracy  to  the  solemn  protestations  of  the  Duke,  that 
it  had  been  naturally  out  of  any  one's  power  to  prevent 
the  catastrophe.  The  Prince  was  lodged  in  a  part  of  the 
town  remote  from  the  original  scene  of  action,  and  it  does 
not  appear  that  information  had  reached  him  that  any- 
thing unusual  was  occurring  until  the  affair  was  ap- 
proaching its  termination.  Then  there  was  little  for 
him  to  do.  He  hastened,  however,  to  the  scene  and, 
mounting  the  ramparts,  persuaded  the  citizens  to  cease 
cannonading  the  discomfited  and  retiring  foe.  He  felt 
the  full  gravity  of  the  situation,  and  the  necessity  of 
diminishing  the  rancor  of  the  inhabitants  against  their 
treacherous  allies,  if  such  a  result  were  yet  possible.  The 
burghers  had  done  their  duty,  and  it  certainly  would  have 
been  neither  in  his  power  nor  his  inclination  to  protect 
the  French  marauders  from  expulsion  and  castigation. 

Such  was  the  termination  of  the  French  Fury,  and  it 
seems  sufficiently  strange  that  it  should  have  been  so 
much  less  disastrous  to  Antwerp  than  was  the  Spanish 
Fury  of  1576,  to  which  men  could  still  scarcely  allude 
without  a  shudder.  Instead  of  repressing  their  greedi- 
ness, as  the  Spaniards  had  done,  until  they  had  overcome 
resistance,  they  dispersed   almost   immediately  into  by- 


664  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1583 

streets,  and  entered  warehouses  to  search  for  plunder. 
They  seemed  actuated  by  a  fear  that  they  should  not  have 
time  to  rifle  the  city  before  additional  troops  should  be 
sent  by  Anjou  to  share  in  the  spoil.  They  were  less  used 
to  the  sacking  of  Netherland  cities  than  were  the  Span- 
iards, whom  long  practice  had  made  perfect  in  the  art  of 
methodically  butchering  a  population  at  first,  before  at- 
tention should  be  diverted  to  plundering  and  supplement- 
ary outrages.  At  any  rate,  whatever  the  causes,  it  is 
certain  that  the  panic,  which  upon  such  occasions  gen- 
erally decides  the  fate  of  the  day,  seized  upon  the  invad- 
ers and  not  upon  the  invaded,  almost  from  the  very  first. 
As  soon  as  the  marauders  faltered  in  their  purpose  and 
wished  to  retreat  it  was  all  over  with  them.  Keturning 
was  worse  than  advancing,  and  it  was  the  almost  inevitable 
result  that  hardly  a  man  escaped  death  or  capture. 

The  Duke  retreated  the  same  day  in  the  direction  of 
Dendermonde,  and  on  his  way  met  with  another  misfortune 
by  which  an  additional  number  of  his  troops  lost  their 
lives.  A  dike  was  cut  by  the  Mechlin  citizens  to  impede 
his  march,  and  the  swollen  waters  of  the  Dill,  liberated 
and  flowing  across  the  country  which  he  was  to  traverse, 
produced  such  an  inundation  that  at  least  a  thousand  of 
his  followers  were  drowned. 

As  soon  as  he  had  established  himself  in  a  camp  near 
Berchem,  he  opened  a  correspondence  with  the  Prince 
of  Orange  and  with  the  authorities  of  Antwerp.  His 
language  was  marked  by  wonderful  effrontery.  He  found 
himself  and  soldiers  suffering  for  want  of  food ;  he  re- 
membered that  he  had  left  much  plate  and  valuable  fur- 
niture in  Antwerp ;  and  he  was  therefore  desirous  that 
the  citizens,  whom  he  had  so  basely  outraged,  should  at 
once  send  him  supplies  and  restore  his  property.  He 
also  reclaimed  the  prisoners  who  still  remained  in  the 
city,  and  to  obtain  all  this  he  applied  to  the  man  whom 
he  had  bitterly  deceived,  and  whose  life  would  have  been 
sacrificed  by  the  Duke  had  the  enterprise  succeeded.  He 
had  the  further  originality  to  speak  of  himself  as  an 
aggrieved  person,  who  had  rendered  great  services  to 
the  Netherlands,  and  who  had  only  met  with  ingratitude 


1683]  THE   DUKE'S  EFFRONTERY  665 

in  return.  His  envoys.  Messieurs  Landmater  and  Esco- 
lieres,  despatched  on  the  very  day  of  the  French  Fury  to 
the  burgomasters  and  senate  of  Antwerp,  were  instructed 
to  remind  those  magistrates  that  the  Duke  had  repeatedly 
exposed  his  life  in  the  cause  of  the  Netherlands.  The 
affronts,  they  were  to  add,  which  he  had  received,  and  the 
approaching  ruin  of  the  country,  which  he  foresaw,  had 
so  altered  his  excellent  nature  as  to  engender  *the  present 
calamity,  which  he  infinitely  regretted. 

To  these  appeals  neither  the  Prince  nor  the  authorities 
of  Antwerp  answered  immediately  in  their  own  names. 
A  general  consultation  was,  however,  immediately  held 
with  the  estates  -  general,  and  an  answer  forthwith  de- 
spatched to  the  Duke  by  the  hands  of  his  envoys.  It  was 
agreed  to  liberate  the  prisoners,  to  restore  the  furniture, 
and  to  send  a  special  deputation  for  the  purpose  of  mak- 
ing further  arrangements  with  the  Duke  by  word  of  mouth, 
and  for  this  deputation  his  highness  was  requested  to 
furnish  a  safe  conduct. 

Anjou  was  overjoyed  when  he  received  this  amicable 
communication.  Relieved  for  a  time  from  his  fears  as  to 
the  result  of  his  crime,  he  already  assumed  a  higher 
ground.  He  not  only  spoke  to  the  states  in  a  pate<*nal 
tone,  which  was  sufficiently  ludicrous,  but  he  had  actually 
the  coolness  to  assure  them  of  Jiis  forgiveness.  In  his  first 
letters  the  Duke  had  not  affected  to  deny  his  agency  in 
the  outrage  —  an  agency  so  flagrant  that  all  subterfuge 
seemed  superfluous.  He  now,  however,  ventured  a  step 
further.  Presuming  upon  the  indulgence  which  he  had 
already  experienced,  and  bravely  assuming  the  tone  of 
injured  innocence,  he  ascribed  the  enterprise  partly  to  ac- 
cident and  partly  to  the  insubordination  of  his  troops. 
A  tumult  had  accidentally  arisen  between  his  soldiers  and 
the  guard  at  the  gate.  Other  troops  rushing  in  from 
without  had  joined  in  the  affray,  so  that,  to  his  great 
sorrow,  an  extensive  disorder  had  arisen.  He  manifested 
the  same  Christian  inclination  to  forgive,  however,  which 
he  had  before  exhibited. 

In  his  original  communications  he  had  been  both  cring- 
ing and  threatening — but,  at  least,  he  had  not   denied 


666  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1583 

truths  which  were  plain  as  daylight.  His  new  position 
considerably  damaged  his  cause.  This  forgiving  spirit  on 
the  part  of  the  malefactor  was  a  little  more  than  the 
states  could  bear,  disposed  as  they  felt,  from  policy,  to  be 
indulgent,  and  to  smooth  over  the  crime  as  gently  as  pos- 
sible. The  negotiations  were  interrupted,  and  the  author- 
ities of  Antwerp  published  a  brief  and  spirited  defence  of 
their  own  conduct.  They  cited  the  simultaneous  at- 
tempts'at  Bruges,  Dendermonde,  Alost,  Dixmuiden,  Nieuw- 
poort,  Ostend,  Vilvoorde,  and  Dunkirk,  as  a  series  of  dam- 
ning proofs  of  a  deliberate  design. 

Anjou  wrote  again  to  the  Prince  of  Orange,  invoking 
his  influence  to  bring  about  an  arrangement.  The  Prince, 
justly  indignant  at  the  recent  treachery  and  the  present 
insolence  of  the  man  whom  he  had  so  profoundly  trusted, 
but  feeling  certain  that  the  welfare  of  the  country  de- 
pended at  present  upon  avoiding,  if  possible,^  a  political 
catastrophe,  answered  in  plain,  firm,  mournful,  and  ap- 
propriate language.  This  moderate  but  heartfelt  appeal 
to  the  better  nature  of  the  Duke,  if  he  had  a  better  na- 
ture, met  with  no  immediate  response. 

While  matters  were  in  this  condition,  a  special  envoy 
arrived  out  of  France,  despatched  by  the  King  and  Queen- 
mother  on  the  first  reception  of  the  recent  intelligence 
from  Antwerp.  M.  de  Mirambeau,  the  ambassador,  whose 
son  had  been  killed  in  the  Fury,  brought  letters  of  cre- 
dence to  the  states  of  the  union  and  to  the  Prince  of 
Orange.  He  delivered  also  a  short  confidential  note,  writ- 
ten in  her  own  hand,  from  Catharine  de'  Medici  to  the 
Prince,  to  the  following  effect : 

"My  Cousm,— The  King,  my  son,  and  myself  send  you  Mon- 
sieur de  Mirambeau,  to  prove  to  you  that  we  do  not  believe — for  we 
esteem  you  an  honorable  man — that  you  would  manifest  ingratitude 
to  my  son,  and  to  those  who  have  followed  him  for  the  welfare  of 
your  country.  We  feel  that  you  have  too  much  affection  for  one 
who  has  tlie  support  of  so  powerful  a  prince  as  the  King  of  France 
as  to  play  him  so  base  a  trick.  Until  I  learn  the  truth  I  shall  not 
renounce  the  good  hope  which  I  have  always  indulged — that  you 
would  never  have  invited  my  son  to  your  country  without  intend- 
ing to  serve  him  faithfully.  As  long  as  you  do  this,  you  may  ever 
reckon  on  the  support  of  all  who  belong  to  him. 

"Your  good  cousin,  Catharine." 


1683]  THE  DILEMMA  667 

It  would  have  been  very  diflBcult  to  extract  much  in- 
formation or  much  comfort  from  this  wily  epistle.  The 
menace  was  sufficiently  plain,  the  promise  disagreeably 
vague.  Moreover,  a  letter  from  the  same  Catharine  de' 
Medici  had  been  recently  found  in  a  casket  at  the  Duke's 
lodgings  in  Antwerp.  In  that  communication  she  had 
distinctly  advised  her  son  to  re-establish  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic religion,  assuring  him  that  by  so  doing  he  would  be 
enabled  to  marry  the  Infanta  of  Spain. 

Nevertheless,  the  Prince,  convinced  that  it  was  his  duty 
to  bridge  over  the  deep  and  fatal  chasm  which  had  opened 
between  the  French  Prince  and  the  provinces,  if  an  hon- 
orable reconciliation  were  possible,  did  not  attach  an  un- 
due importance  either  to  the  stimulating  or  to  the  up- 
braiding portion  of  the  communication  from  Catharine. 
He  was  most  anxious  to  avert  the  chaos  which  he  saw  re- 
turning. He  knew  that  while  the  tempers  of  Rudolph, 
of  the  English  Queen,  and  of  the  Protestant  princes  of 
Germany,  and  the  internal  condition  of  the  Netherlands 
remained  the  same,  it  were  madness  to  provoke  the 
government  of  France,  and  thus  gain  an  additional  ene- 
my while  losing  their  only  friend.  He  did  not  renounce 
the  hope  of  forming  all  the  Netherlands  —  excepting 
of  course  the  Walloon  provinces,  already  reconciled 
to  Philip  —  into  one  independent  commonwealth,  freed 
forever  from  Spanish  tyranny.  A  dynasty  from  a  for- 
eign house  he  was  willing  to  accept,  but  only  on  condi- 
tion that  the  new  royal  line  should  become  naturalized  in 
the  Netherlands,  should  conform  itself  to  the  strict  con- 
stitutional compact  established,  and  should  employ  only 
natives  in  the  administration  of  Netherland  affairs.  Not- 
withstanding, therefore,  the  recent  treachery  of  Anjou,  he 
was  willing  to  treat  with  him  upon  the  ancient  basis. 
The  dilemma  was  a  very  desperate  one,  for  whatever 
might  be  his  course,  it  was  impossible  that  it  should  es- 
cape censure. 

Even  at  this  day,  it  is  difficult  to  decide  what  might 
have  been  the  result  of  openly  braving  the  French  gov- 
ernment and  expelling  Anjou.  The  Prince  of  Parma — 
subtle,  vigilant,  prompt  with  word  and  blow — was  waiting 


668  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [158* 

most  anxiously  to  take  advantage  of  every  false  step  of  hisi 
adversary.  The  provinces  had  been  already  summoned  in 
most  eloquent  language  to  take  warning  by  the  recent 
fate  of  Antwerp,  and  to  learn  by  the  manifestation  just 
made  by  Anjou,  of  his  real  intentions,  that  their  only  sal- 
vation lay  in  a  return  to  the  King's  arms.  Anjou  himself^ 
as  devoid  of  shame  as  of  honor,  was  secretly  holding  in- 
terviews with  Parma's  agents,  Acosta  and  Flaminio  Car- 
nero,  at  the  very  moment  when  he  was  alternately  ex- 
pressing to  the  states  his  resentment  that  they  dared  to 
doubt  his  truth,  or  magnanimously  extending  to  them  his 
pardon  for  their  suspicions.  He  offered  to  restore  Dun- 
kirk, Dixmuiden,  and  the  other  cities  which  he  had  so  re- 
cently filched  from  the  states,  and  to  enter  into  a  strict 
alliance  with  Philip  ;  but  he  claimed  that  certain  Nether- 
land  cities  on  the  French  frontier  should  be  made  over  to 
him  in  exchange.  He  required,  likewise,  ample  protec- 
tion for  his  retreat  from  a  country  which  was  likely  to  be 
sufficiently  exasperated.  Parma  and  his  agents  smiled,  of 
course,  at  such  exorbitant  terms.  Nevertheless,  it  was 
necessary  to  deal  cautiously  with  a  man  who,  although  but 
a  poor  baffled  rogue  to-day,  might  to-morrow  be  seated  on 
the  throne  of  France.  While  they  were  all  secretly  hag- 
gling over  the  terms  of  the  bargain,  the  Prince  of  Orange 
discovered  the  intrigue.  It  convinced  him  of  the  neces- 
sity of  closing  with  a  man  whose  baseness  was  so  profound, 
but  whose  position  made  his  enmity,  on  the  whole,  more 
dangerous  than  his  friendship.  Anjou,  backed  by  so  as- 
tute and  unscrupulous  a  politician  as  Parma,  was  not  to 
be  trifled  with.  The  feeling  of  doubt  and  anxiety  was 
spreading  daily  through  the  country  ;  many  men,  hitherto 
firm,  were  already  wavering,  while  at  the  same  time  the 
Prince  had  no  confidence  in  the  power  of  any  of  the 
states,  save  those  of  Holland,  Zeeland,  and  Utrecht,  to 
maintain  a  resolute  attitude  of  defiance  if  not  assisted 
from  without. 

He  therefore  endeavored  to  repair  the  breach,  if  possi- 
ble, and  thus  save  the  union.  Mirambeau,  in  his  confer- 
ences with  the  estates,  suggested,  on  his  part,  all  that 
words  could  effect. 


1583]  OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRINCE  669 

The  estates  of  the  union,  being  in  great  perplexity  as 
to  their  proper  course,  now  applied  formally,  as  they  al- 
ways did  in  times  of  danger  and  doubt,  to  the  Prince  for 
a  public  expression  of  his  views.  Somewhat  reluctantly, 
he  complied  with  their  wishes  in  one  of  the  most  admi- 
rable of  his  state  papers. 

The  Prince  rapidly  reviewed  the  circumstances  which 
had  led  to  the  election  of  Anjou,  and  reminded  the  es- 
tates that  they  had  employed  sufficient  time  to  deliberate 
concerning  that  transaction.  Of  three  courses,  he  said, 
one  must  be  taken  :  they  must  make  their  peace  with  the 
King,  or  consent  to  a  reconciliation  with  Anjou,. or  use 
all  the  strength  which  God  had  given  them  to  resist,  sin- 
gle-handed, the  enemy. 

Concerning  these  he  rejected  the  first.  Reconciliation 
with  the  King  of  Spain  was  impossible.  For  his  own 
part,  he  would  much  prefer  tlie  third  course.  He  had  al- 
ways been  in  favor  of  their  maintaining  independence  by 
their  own  means  and  the  assistance  of  the  Almighty.  He 
was  obliged,  however,  in  sadness,  to  confess  that  the  nar- 
row feeling  of  individual  state  rights,  the  general  ten- 
dency to  disunion,  and  the  constant  wrangling,  had  made 
this  course  a  hopeless  one.  There  remained,  therefore, 
only  the  second,  and  they  must  effect  an  honorable  recon- 
ciliation with  Anjou.  Whatever  might  be  their  decision, 
however,  it  was  meet  that  it  should  be  a  speedy  one.  Not 
an  hour  was  to  be  lost.  Many  fair  churches  of  God,  in 
Anjou's  power,  were  trembling  on  the  issue,  and  religious 
and  political  liberty  was  more  at  stake  than  ever.  In 
conclusion,  the  Prince  again  expressed  his  determination, 
whatever  might  be  their  decision,  to  devote  the  rest  of 
his  days  to  the  service  of  his  country. 

The  result  of  these  representations  by  the  Prince,  of 
frequent  letters  from  Queen  Elizabeth  urging  a  reconcil- 
iation, and  of  the  professions  made  by  the  Duke  and  the 
French  envoys,  was  a  provisional  arrangement,  signed  on 
the  26th  and  28th  of  March.  According  to  the  terms  of 
this  accord  the  Duke  was  to  receive  thirty  thousand 
florins  for  his  troops,  and  to  surrender  the  cities  still  in 
his  power.     The  French  prisoners  were  to  be  liberated. 


670  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1583 

the  Duke's  property  at  Antwerp  was  to  be  restored,  and 
the  Duke  himself  was  to  await  at  Dunkirk  the  arrival  of 
plenipotentiaries  to  treat  with  him  as  to  a  new  and  per- 
petual arrangement. 

The  negotiations,  however,  were  languid.  The  quarrel 
was  healed  on  the  surface,  but  confidence  so  recently  and 
violently  uprooted  was  slow  to  revive.  On  the  28th  of 
June  the  Duke  of  Anjou  left  Dunkirk  for  Paris,  never 
to  return  to  the  Netherlands,  but  he  exchanged  on  his 
departure  affectionate  letters  with  the  Prince  and  the  es- 
tates. M.  des  Pruneaux  remained  as  his  representative, 
and  it  was  understood  that  the  arrangements  for  rein- 
stalling him  as  soon  as  possible  in  the  sovereignty  which 
he  had  so  basely  forfeited  were  to  be  pushed  forward 
with  earnestness. 

In  the  spring  of  the  same  year  Gerard  Truchses,  Arch- 
bishop of  Cologne,  who  had  lost  his  see  for  the  love  of 
Agnes  Mansfeld,  whom  he  had  espoused  in  defiance  of 
the  Pope,  took  refuge  with  the  Prince  of  Orange  at  Delft. 
A  civil  war  in  Germany  broke  forth,  the  Protestant  princes 
undertaking  to  support  the  Archbishop,  in  opposition  to 
Ernest  of  Bavaria,  who  had  been  appointed  in  his  place. 
The  Palatine,  John  Oasimir,  thought  it  necessary  to 
mount  and  ride  as  usual.  Making  his  appearance  at  the 
head  of  a  hastily  collected  force,  and  prepared  for  another 
plunge  into  chaos,  he  suddenly  heard,  however,  of  his 
elder  brother's  death  at  Heidelberg.  Leaving  his  men, 
as  was  his  habit,  to  shift  for  themselves,  and  Baron 
Truchses,  the  Archbishop's  brother,  to  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy,  he  disappeared  from  the  scene  with  great 
rapidity,  in  order  that  his  own  interests  in  the  palatinate 
and  in  the  guardianship  of  the  young  palatines  might  not 
suffer  by  his  absence. 

At  this  time,  too,  on  the  12th  of  April,  the  Prince  of 
Orange  was  married,  for  the  fourth  time,  to  Louisa,  widow 
of  the  Seigneur  de  Teligny,  and  daughter  of  the  illustri- 
ous Coligny. 

In  the  course  of  the  sumaner,  the  states  of  Holland  and 
Zeeland,  always  bitterly  opposed  to  the  connection  with 
Anjou,  and  more  than  ever  dissatisfied  with  the  resump- 


1583]  SOVEREIGNTY  REFOSED  BY  ORANGE  671 

tion  of  negotiations  since  the  Antwerp  catastrophe,  sent  a 
committee  to  the  Prince  in  order  to  persuade  him  to  set 
his  face  against  the  whole  proceedings.  They  delivered 
at  the  same  time  a  formal  remonstrance,  in  writing  (2oth 
of  August,  1583),  in  which  they  explained  how  odious 
the  arrangement  with  the  Duke  had  ever  been  to  them. 
They  expressed  the  opinion  that  even  the  wisest  might  be 
sometimes  mistaken,  and  that  the  Prince  had  been  bitter- 
ly deceived  by  Anjou  and  by  the  French  court.  They 
besought  him  to  rely  upon  the  assistance  of  the  Almighty 
and  upon  the  exertions  of  the  nation,  and  they  again 
hinted  at  the  propriety  of  his  accepting  that  supreme 
sovereignty  over  all  the  united  provinces  which  would  be 
so  gladly  conferred,  while,  for  their  own  parts,  they  vol- 
untarily offered  largely  to  increase  the  sums  annually  con- 
tributed to  the  common  defence. 

Very  soon  afterwards,  in  August,  1583,  the  states  of 
the  united  provinces  assembled  at  Middelburg  formally 
offered  the  general  government — which  under  the  cir- 
cumstances was  the  general  sovereignty — to  the  Prince, 
warmly  urging  his  acceptance  of  the  dignity.  He  mani- 
fested, however,  the  same  reluctance  which  he  had  always 
expressed,  demanding  that  the  project  should  beforehand 
be  laid  before  the  councils  of  all  the  large  cities,  and  be- 
fore the  estates  of  certain  provinces  which  had  not  been 
represented  at  the  Middelburg  diet. 

Like  all  other  attempts  to  induce  the  acceptance  by  the 
Prince  of  supreme  authority  this  effort  proved  ineffec- 
tual, from  the  obstinate  unwillingness  of  his  hand  to  re- 
ceive the  proffered  sceptre. 

In  connection  with  this  movement  and  at  about  the 
same  epoch,  Jacob  Swerius,  member  of  the  Brabant  Coun- 
cil, with  other  deputies,  waited  upon  Orange  and  for- 
mally tendered  him  the  sovereign  dukedom  of  Brabant, 
forfeited  and  vacant  by  the  late  crime  of  Anjou.  The 
Prince,  however,  resolutely  refused  to  accept  the  dignity, 
assuring  the  committee  that  he  had  not  the  means  to 
afford  the  country  as  much  protection  as  they  had  a  right 
to  expect  from  their  sovereign. 

Accordingly,  firmly  refusing  to  heed  the  overtures  of 


672  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1583 

the  united  states,  and  of  Holland  in  particular,  he  con- 
tinued to  further  the  re-establishment  of  Anjou — a  meas- 
ure in  which,  as  he  deliberately  believed,  lay  the  only 
chance  of  union  and  independence. 

The  Prince  of  Parma,  meantime,  had  not  been  idle. 
He  had  been  unable  to  induce  the  provinces  to  listen  to 
his  wiles  and  to  rush  to  the  embrace  of  the  monarch 
whose  arms  he  described  as  ever  open  to  the  repentant. 
He  had,  however,  been  busily  occupied  in  the  course  of 
the  summer  in  taking  up  many  of  the  towns  which  the 
treason  of  Anjou  had  laid  open  to  his  attacks.  Eindho- 
ven, Diest,  Dunkirk,  Nieuwpoort,  and  other  places  were 
successively  surrendered  to  royalist  generals.  On  the  22d 
of  September,  1583,  the  city  of  Zutphen,  too,  was  sur- 
prised by  Colonel  Tassis,  on  the  fall  of  which  most  impor- 
tant place  the  treason  of  Orange's  brother-in-law,  Count 
Van  den  Berg,  governor  of  Gueldres,  was  revealed. 

Not  much  better  could  have  been  expected  of  Van  den 
Berg.  His  pusillanimous  retreat  from  his  post  in  Alva's 
time  will  be  recollected  ;  and  it  is  certain  that  the  Prince 
had  never  placed  implicit  confidence  in  his  character. 
Nevertheless,  it  was  the  fate  of  this  great  man  to  be  often 
deceived  by  the  friends  whom  he  trusted,  although  never 
to  be  outwitted  by  his  enemies.  Van  den  Berg  was  ar- 
rested on  the  15th  of  November,  carried  to  The  Hague, 
examined,  and  imprisoned  for  a  time  in  Delfshaven. 
Afte^  a  time  he  was,  however,  liberated,  when  he  in- 
stantly, with  all  his  sons,  took  service  under  the  King. 

While  treason  was  thus  favoring  the  royal  arms  in  the 
north,  the  same  powerful  element,  to  which  so  much  of 
the  Netherland  misfortunes  had  always  been  owing,  was 
busy  in  Flanders.  Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1583  the 
Prince  of  Chimay,  eldest  son  of  the  Duke  of  Aerschot, 
had  been  elected  governor  of  that  province.  This  noble 
was  as  unstable  in  character,  as  vain,  as  unscrupulous, 
and  as  ambitious  as  his  father  and  his  uncle.  Imbize,  after 
having  been  allowed  to  depart,  infamous  and  contemp- 
tible, from  the  city  which  he  had  endangered,  now  ven- 
tured after  five  years  to  return  and  to  engage  in  fresh 
schemes  which  were  even  more  criminal  than  his  previous 


1583]  INTRIGUES   AT  GHENT  673 

enterprises.  The  uncompromising  foe  to  Eomanism,  the 
advocate  of  Grecian  and  Genevan  democracy,  now  allied 
himself  with  Champagny  and  with  Chimay  to  effect  a 
surrender  of  Flanders  to  Philip  and  to  the  inquisition. 
He  succeeded  in  getting  himself  elected  chief  senator  in 
Ghent,  and  forthwith  began  to  use  all  his  influence  to 
further  the  secret  plot.  The  joint  efforts  and  intrigues 
of  Parma,  Champagny,  Chimay,  and  Imbize  were  near 
being  successful.  The  friends  of  the  union  and  of  liberty 
used  all  their  eloquence  to  arrest  the  city  of  Ghent  in  its 
course  and  to  save  the  province  of  Flanders  from  accept- 
ing the  proposed  arrangement  with  Parma.  The  people 
of  Ghent  were  reminded  that  the  chief  promoter  of  this 
new  negotiation  was  Champagny,  a  man  who  owed  a  deep 
debt  of  hatred  to  their  city  for  the  long  and,  as  he  be- 
lieved, the  unjust  confinement  which  he  had  endured 
within  its  walls.  Moreover,  he  was  the  brother  of  Gran- 
velle,  source  of  all  their  woes.  To  take  counsel  with 
Champagny  was  to  come  within  reach  of  a  deadly  foe,  for 
'^  he  who  confesses  himself  to  a  wolf,"  said  the  burgomas- 
ters of  Antwerp,  "  will  get  wolfs  absolution." 

The  Prince  of  Orange,  too,  was  indefatigable  in  public 
and  private  efforts  to  counteract  the  machinations  of  Par- 
ma and  the  Spanish  party  in  Ghent.  He  saw  with  horror 
the  progress  which  the  political  decomposition  of  that 
most  important  commonwealth  was  making,  for  he  con- 
sidered the  city  the  key-stone  to  the  union  of  the  prov- 
inces, and  he  felt  with  a  prophetic  instinct  that  its  loss 
would  entail  that  of  all  the  southern  provinces,  and  make 
a  united  and  independent  Netherland  state  impossible. 
Already,  in  the  summer  of  1583,  he  addressed  a  letter 
full  of  wisdom  and  of  warning  to  the  authorities  of  Ghent 
— a  letter  in  which  he  set  fully  before  them  the  iniquity 
and  stupidity  of  their  proceedings,  while  at  the  same  time 
he  expressed  himself  with  so  much  dexterity  and  caution 
as  to  avoid  giving  offence,  by  accusations  which  he  made, 
as  it  were,  hypothetically,  when,  in  truth,  they  were  real 
ones. 

These  remonstrances  were  not  fruitless,  and  the  author- 
ities and  citizens  of  Ghent  once  more  paused  ere  they 

48 


674  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1584 

stepped  from  the  precipice.  While  they  were  thus  wa- 
vering, the  whole  negotiation  with  Parma  was  abruptly 
brought  to  a  close  by  a  new  incident,  the  demagogue  Im- 
bize  having  been  discovered  in  a  secret  attempt  to  obtain 
possession  of  the  city  of  Dendermonde  and  deliver  it  to 
Parma.  The  old  acquaintance,  ally,  and  enemy  of  Im- 
bize,  the  Seigneur  de  Ryhove,  was  commandant  of  the 
city,  and  information  was  privately  conveyed  to  him  of 
the  design  before  there  had  been  time  for  its  accomplish- 
ment. Eyhove,  being  thoroughly  on  his  guard,  arrested 
his  old  comrade,  who  was  shortly  afterwards  brought  to 
trial,  and  executed  at  Grhent.  John  van  Imbize  had  re- 
turned to  the  city  from  which  the  contemptuous  mercy 
of  Orange  had  permitted  him  formerly  to  depart,  only  to 
expiate  fresh  turbulence  and  fresh  treason  by  a  felon's 
death.  Meanwhile  the  citizens  of  Ghent,  thus  warned 
by  word  and  deed,  passed  an  earnest  resolution  to  have 
no  more  intercourse  with  Parma,  but  to  abide  faithfully 
by  the  union.  Their  example  was  followed  by  the  other 
Flemish  cities,  excepting,  unfortunately,  Bruges,  for  that 
important  town,  being  entirely  in  the  power  of  Chimay, 
was  now  surrendered  by  him  to  the  royal  government. 
On  the  20th  of  May,  1584,  Baron  Montigny,  on  the  part 
of  Parma,  signed  an  accord  with  the  Prince  of  Chimay, 
by  which  the  city  was  restored  to  his  Majesty,  and  by 
which  all  inhabitants  not  willing  to  abide  by  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion  were  permitted  to  leave  the  land.  The 
Prince  was  received  with  favor  by  Parma,  on  conclusion 
of  the  transaction,  and  subsequently  met  with  advance- 
ment from  the  King,  while  the  Princess,  who  had  embraced 
the  Reformed  religion,  retired  to  Holland. 

The  only  other  city  of  importance  gained  on  this  occa- 
sion by  the  government  was  Ypres,  which  had  been  long 
besieged,  and  was  soon  afterwards  forced  to  yield.  The 
new  Bishop,  on  taking  possession,  resorted  to  instant 
measures  for  cleansing  a  place  which  had  been  so  long  in 
the  hands  of  the  infidels,  and  as  the  first  step  in  this  pu- 
rification, the  bodies  of  many  heretics  who  had  been 
buried  for  years  were  taken  from  their  graves  and  pub- 
licly hanged    in   their   coffins.     All  living  adherents  to 


1584]  DEATH  OF  ANJOU  675 

the  Reformed  religion  were  instantly  expelled  from  the 
place. 

Ghent  and  the  rest  of  Flanders  were,  for  the  time,  saved 
from  the  power  of  Spain,  the  inhabitants  being  confirmed 
in  their  resolution  of  sustaining  their  union  with  the  other 
provinces  by  the  news  from  France.  Early  in  the  spring 
the  negotiations  between  Anjou  and  the  states-general  had 
been  earnestly  renewed,  and  Junius,  Mouillerie,  and  As- 
seliers  had  been  despatched  on  a  special  mission  to 
France  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  a  treaty  with  the 
Duke.  On  the  19th  of  April,  1584,  they  arrived  at  Delft 
on  their  return,  bringing  warm  letters  from  the  French 
court,  full  of  promises  to  assist  the  Netherlands ;  and  it 
was  understood  that  a  constitution,  upon  the  basis  of  the 
original  arrangement  of  Bordeaux,  would  be  accepted  by 
the  Duke.  These  arrangements  were,  however,  forevei 
terminated  by  the  death  of  Anjou,  who  had  been  ill 
during  the  whole  course  of  the  negotiations.  On  the 
10th  of  June,  1584,  he  expired  at  Chateau -Thierry,  in 
great  torture,  sweating  blood  from  every  pore,  and  undei 
circumstances  which,  as  usual,  suggested  strong  suspi* 
cions  of  poison. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE   FATHER   OF  HIS   COUNTRY   ASSASSINATED 

It  has  been  seen  that  the  Ban  against  the  Prince  of 
Orange  had  not  been  hitherto  without  fruits,  for,  although 
unsuccessful,  the  efforts  to  take  his  life  and  earn  the  prom- 
ised guerdon  had  been  incessant.  Within  two  years  there 
had  been  five  distinct  attempts  to  assassinate  the  Prince, 
all  of  them  with  the  privity  of  the  Spanish  government. 
A  sixth  was  soon  to  follow. 

In  the  summer  of  1584  William  of  Orange  was  resid- 
ing at  Delft,  where  his  wife,  Louisa  de  Coligny,  had  given 
birth,  in  the  preceding  winter,  to  a  son,  afterwards  the 
celebrated  stadholder,  Frederic  Henry.  The  child  had  re- 
ceived these  names  from  his  two  godfathers,  the  Kings 
of  Denmark  and  of  Navarre,  and  his  baptism  had  been 
celebrated  with  much  rejoicing  on  the  12th  of  June,  in 
the  place  of  his  birth.  The  house  of  the  Prince  stood  on 
the  old  Delft  Street,  directly  opposite  the  "  old  church," 
being  separated  by  a  spacious  court-yard  from  the  street, 
while  the  stables  and  other  offices  in  the  rear  extended  to 
the  city  wall.  A  narrow  lane,  opening  out  of  Delft 
Street,  ran  along  the  side  of  the  house  and  court,  in  the 
direction  of  the  ramparts.  The  house  was  a  plain,  two- 
storied  edifice  of  brick,  with  red-tiled  roof,  and  had  for- 
merly been  a  cloister  dedicated  to  Saint  Agatha,  the  last 
prior  of  which  had  been  hanged  by  the  furious  Lumey  de 
la  Marck. 

The  news  of  Anjou's  death  had  been  brought  to  Delft 
by  a  special  messenger  from  the  French  court.  On  Sun- 
day morning,  the  8th  of  July,  1584,  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
having  read  the  despatches  before  leaving  his  bed,  caused 


1584]  GUION   ALIAS   GERARD  677 

the  man  who  had  brought  them  to  be  summoned,  that  he 
might  give  some  particular  details  by  word  of  mouth  con- 
cerning the  last  illness  of  the  Duke.  The  courier  was  ac- 
cordingly admitted  to  the  Prince's  bed-chamber,  and 
proved  to  be  one  Francis  Guion,  as  he  called  himself. 
This  man  had,  early  in  the  spring,  claimed  and  received 
the  protection  of  Orange  on  the  ground  of  being  the  son 
of  a  Protestant  at  Besan^on  who  had  suffered  death  for 
his  religion,  and  of  his  own  ardent  attachment  to  the  Ee- 
formed  faith.  A  pious,  psalm  -  singing,  thoroughly  Cal- 
vinistic  youth  he  seemed  to  be,  having  a  Bible  or  a  hymn- 
book  under  his  arm  whenever  he  walked  the  street,  and 
most  exemplary  in  his  attendance  at  sermon  and  lecture. 
For  the  rest,  a  singularly  unobtrusive  personage,  twenty- 
seven  years  of  age,  low  of  stature,  meagre,  mean-visaged, 
muddy  complexioned,  and  altogether  a  man  of  no  account — 
quite  insignificant  in  the  eyes  of  all  who, looked  upon  him. 
If  there  were  one  opinion  in  which  the  few  who  had  taken 
the  trouble  to  think  of  the  puny,  somewhat  shambling 
stranger  from  Burgundy  at  all  coincided,  it  was  that  he 
was  inoffensive,  but  quite  incapable  of  any  important 
business.  He  seemed  well  educated,  claimed  to  be  of 
respectable  parentage,  and  had  considerable  facility  of 
speech,  when  any  person  could  be  found  who  thought  it 
worth  while  to  listen  to  him ;  but  on  the  whole  he  at- 
tracted little  attention. 

This  Francis  Guion,  the  Calvinist  son  of  a  martyred 
Calvinist,  was  in  reality  Balthazar  Gerard,  a  fanatical 
Catholic,  whose  father  and  mother  were  still  living  at 
Villefans,  in  Burgundy.  Before  reaching  man's  estate  he 
had  formed  the  design  of  murdering  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
'*  who,  so  long  as  he  lived,  seemed  likely  to  remain  a  rebel 
against  the  Catholic  King,  and  to  make  every  effort  to 
disturb  the  repose  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Apostolic  re- 
ligion." 

Parma  had  long  been  looking  for  a  good  man  to  murder 
Orange,  feeling — as  Philip,  Granvelle,  and  all  former  gov- 
ernors of  the  Netherlands  had  felt — that  this  was  the  only 
means  of  saving  the  royal  authority  in  any  part  of  the 
provinces.     Many  unsatisfactory  assassins  had  presented 


678  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1584 

themselves  from  time  to  time,  and  Alexander  had  paid 
money  in  hand  to  various  individuals  —  Italians,  Span- 
iards, Lorrainers,  Scotchmen,  Englishmen — who  had  gen- 
erally spent  the  sums  received  without  attempting  the 
job.  Others  were  supposed  to  be  still  engaged  in  the  en- 
terprise, and  at  that  moment  there  were  four  persons — 
each  unknown  to  the  others,  and  of  different  nations — in 
the  city  of  Delft,  seeking  to  compass  the  death  of  William 
the  Silent.  Shag -eared,  military,  hirsute  ruffians  —  ex- 
captains  of  free  companies  and  such  marauders  —  were 
daily  offering  their  services ;  there  was  no  lack  of  them, 
and  they  had  done  but  little.  The  representations  of 
Haultepenne  and  others  induced  him  so  far  to  modify  his 
views  as  to  send  his  confidential  councillor,  d'Assonleville, 
to  the  stranger,  in  order  to  learn  the  details  of  the  scheme. 
Assonleville  had,  accordingly,  an  interview  with  Gerard,  in 
which  he  requested  the  young  man  to  draw  up  a  state- 
ment of  his  plan  in  writing,  and  this  was  done  upon  the 
11th  of  April,  1584.  Neither  Parma  nor  his  councillor 
would  advance  Gerard  any  money,  but  promised  to  see 
that  he  was  richly  rewarded  if  successful. 

The  "inveterate  deliberation"  thus  thoroughly  ma- 
tured Gerard  now  proceeded  to  carry  into  effect.  He 
came  to  Delft,  obtained  a  hearing  of  Villers,  the  clergy- 
man and  intimate  friend  of  Orange,  and  was,  througli  the 
Prince^'s  recommendation,  received  into  the  suite  of  Noel 
de  Caron,  Seigneur  de  Schoneval,  then  setting  forth  on  a 
special  mission  to  the  Duke  of  Anjou.  While  in  France 
G6rard  could  rest  neither  by  day  nor  night,  so  tormented 
was  he  by  the  desire  of  accomplishing  his  project,  and  at 
length  he  obtained  permission,  upon  the  death  of  the 
Duke,  to  carry  this  important  intelligence  to  the  Prince 
of  Orange.  The  despatches  having  been  entrusted  to  him, 
he  travelled  post-haste  to  Delft,  and,  to  his  astonishment, 
the  letters  had  hardly  been  delivered  before  he  was  sum- 
moned in  person  to  the  chamber  of  the  Prince.  Here  was 
an  opportunity  such  as  he  had  never  dared  to  hope  for. 
The  arch-enemy  to  the  Church  and  to  the  human  race, 
whose  death  would  confer  upon  his  destroyer  wealth  and 
nobility  in  this  world,  besides  a  crown  of  glory  in  the 


1584]  SUNDAY    MORNING  679 

next,  lay  unarmed,  alone,  in  bed,  before  the  man  who  had 
thirsted  seven  long  years  for  his  blood. 

Balthazar  could  scarcely  control  his  emotions  sufficient- 
ly to  answer  the  questions  which  the  Prince  addressed  to 
him  concerning  the  death  of  Anjou,  but  Orange,  deeply 
engaged  with  the  despatches,  and  with  the  reflections 
which  their  deeply  important  contents  suggested,  did  not 
observe  the  countenance  of  the  humble  Calvinist  exile, 
who  had  been  recently  recommended  to  his  patronage  by 
Villers.  Gerard  had,  moreover,  made  no  preparation  for 
an  interview  so  entirely  unexpected,  had  come  unarmed, 
and  had  formed  no  plan  for  escape.  He  was  obliged  to 
forego  his  prey  when  most  within  his  reach,  and  after 
communicating  all  the  information  which  the  Prince  re- 
quired, he  was  dismissed  from  the  chamber. 

It  was  Sunday  morning,  and  the  bells  were  tolling  for 
church.  Upon  leaving  the  house  he  loitered  about  the 
court-yard,  furtively  examining  the  premises,  so  that  a  ser- 
geant of  halberdiers  asked  him  why  he  was  waiting  there. 
Balthazar  meekly  replied  that  he  was  desirous  of  attend- 
ing divine  worship  in  the  church  opposite,  but  added, 
pointing  to  his  shabby  and  travel-stained  attire,  that,  with- 
out at  least  a  new  pair  of  shoes  and  stockings,  he  was  un- 
fit to  join  the  congregation.  Insignificant  as  ever,  the 
small,  pious,  dusty  stranger  excited  no  suspicion  in  the 
mind  of  the  good-natured  sergeant.  He  forthwith  spoke 
of  the  wants  of  Gerard  to  an  officer,  by  whom  they  were 
communicated  to  Orange  himself,  and  the  Prince  instant- 
ly ordered  a  sum  of  money  to  be  given  him.  Thus  Bal- 
thazar obtained  from  William's  charity  what  Parma's 
thrift  had  denied — a  fund  for  carrying  out  his  purpose  ! 

Next  morning,  with  the  money  thus  procured,  he  pur- 
chased a  pair  of  pistols,  or  small  carabines,  from  a  soldier, 
chaffering  long  about  the  price  because  the  vender  could 
not  supply  a  particular  kind  of  chopped,  bullets  or  slugs 
which  he  desired.  Before  the  sunset  of  the  following  day 
that  soldier  had  stabbed  himself  to  the  heart,  and  died 
despairing,  on  hearing  for  what  purpose  the  pistols  had 
been  bought. 

On  Tuesday,  the  10th  of  July,  1584,  at  about  half-past 


680  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1584 

twelve,  the  Prince,  with  his  wife  on  his  arm,  and  followed 
by  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  his  family,  was  going  to 
the  dining-room.  William  the  Silent  was  dressed  upon 
that  day,  according  to  his  usual  custom,  in  very  plain 
fashion.  He  wore  a  wide-leaved,  loosely-shaped  hat  of 
dark  felt,  with  a  silken  cord  round  the  crown — such  as 
had  been  worn  by  the  Beggars  in  the  early  days  of  the  re- 
volt. A  high  ruff  encircled  his  neck,  from  which  also  de- 
pended one  of  the  Beggar^s  medals,  with  the  motto,  '*  Fi- 
deles  au  roy  jusqu'd  la  besace,"  while  a  loose  surcoat  of 
gray  frieze-cloth,  over  a  tawny  leather  doublet,  with  wide, 
slashed  underclothes,  completed  his  costume.  Gerard  pre- 
sented himself  at  the  doorway  and  demanded  a  passport. 
The  Princess,  struck  with  the  pale  and  agitated  counte- 
nance of  the  man,  anxiously  questioned  her  husband  con- 
cerning the  stranger.  The  Prince  carelessly  observed  that 
"it  was  merely  a  person  who  came  for  a  passport,"  order- 
ing, at  the  same  time,  a  secretary  forthwith  to  prepare 
one.  The  Princess,  still  not  relieved,  observed  in  an  un- 
dertone that  "  she  had  never  seen  so  villanous  a  counte- 
nance." Orange,  however,  not  at  all  impressed  with  the 
appearance  of  Gerard,  conducted  himself  at  table  with  his 
usual  cheerfulness,  conversing  much  with  the  burgomaster 
of  Leeuwarden,  the  only  guest  present  at  the  family  din- 
ner, concerning  the  political  and  religious  aspects  of 
Friesland.  At  two  o^clock  the  company  rose  from  table. 
The  Prince  led  the  way,  intending  to  pass  to  his  private 
apartments  above.  The  dining-room,  which  was  on  the 
ground  floor,  opened  into  a  little  square  vestibule,  which 
communicated,  through  an  arched  passage-way,  with  the 
main  entrance  into  the  court-yard.  This  vestibule  was 
also  directly  at  the  foot  of  the  wooden  staircase  leading  to 
the  next  floor,  and  was  scarcely  six  feet  in  width.  Upon 
its  left  side,  as  one  approached  the  stairway,  was  an  ob- 
scure arch,  sunk  deep  in  the  wall,  and  completely  in  the 
shadow  of  the  door.  Behind  this  arch  a  portal  opened  to 
the  narrow  lane  at  the  side  of  the  house.  The  stairs 
themselves  were  completely  lighted  by  a  large  window, 
half  way  up  the  flight.  The  Prince  came  from  the  dining- 
room  and  began  leisurely  to  ascend.    He  had  only  reached 


1584]  THE   DEED   ACCOMPLISHED  681 

the  second  stair  when  a  man  emerged  from  the  sunken 
arch  and,  standing  within  a  foot  or  two  of  him,  dis- 
charged a  pistol  full  at  his  heart.  Three  balls  entered  his 
body,  one  of  which,  passing  quite  through  him,  struck 
with  violence  against  the  wall  beyond.  The  Prince  ex- 
claimed in  French,  as  he  felt  the  wound,  "0  my  God, 
have  mercy  upon  my  soul  I  0  my  God,  have  mercy  upon 
this  poor  people  I" 

These  were  the  last  words  he  ever  spoke,  save  that  when 
his  sister,  Catherine  of  Schwartzburg,  immediately  after- 
wards asked  him  if  he  commended  his  soul  to  Jesus  Christ, 
he  faintly  answered,  ''Yes."  His  master  of  the  horse, 
Jacob  van  Maldere,  had  caught  him  in  his  arms  as  the 
fatal  shot  was  fired.  The  Prince  was  then  placed  on  the 
stairs  for  an  instant,  when  he  immediately  began  to  swoon. 
He  was  afterwards  laid  upon  a  couch  in  the  dining-room, 
where,  in  a  few  minutes,  he  breathed  his  last  in  the  arms 
of  his  wife  and  sister. 

The  murderer  succeeded  in  making  his  escape  through 
the  side-door,  and  sped  swiftly  up  the  narrow  lane.  He 
had  almost  reached  the  ramparts,  from  which  he  intended 
to  spring  into  the  moat,  when  he  stumbled  over  a  heap  of 
rubbish.  As  he  rose  he  was  seized  by  several  pages  and 
halberdiers,  who  had  pursued  him  from  the  house.  He 
had  dropped  his  pistols  upon  the  spot  where  he  had  com- 
mitted ,the  crime,  and  upon  his  person  was  found  a  couple 
of  bladders,  provided  with  a  piece  of  pipe  with  which  he 
had  intended  to  assist  himself  across  the  moat,  beyond 
which  a  horse  was  waiting  for  him.  He  made  no  effort  to 
deny  his  identity,  but  boldly  avowed  himself  and  his  deed. 
He  was  brought  back  to  the  house,  where  he  immediately 
underwent  a  preliminary  examination  before  the  city  mag- 
istrates. He  was  afterwards  subjected  to  excruciating 
tortures  ;  for  the  fury  against  the  wretch  who  had  de- 
stroyed the  Father  of  the  country  was  uncontrollable,  and 
William  the  Silent  was  no  longer  alive  to  intercede — as  he 
had  often  done  before — in  behalf  of  those  who  assailed  his 
life. 

The  organization  of  Balthazar  Gerard  would  furnish  a 
subject  of  profound  study,  both  for  the  physiologist  and 


682  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1584 

the  metaphysician.  Neither  wholly  a  fanatic  nor  entirely 
a  ruffian,  he  combined  the  most  dangerous  elements  of 
both  characters.  In  his  puny  body  and  mean  exterior 
were  enclosed  considerable  mental  powers  and  accomplish- 
ments, a  daring  ambition,  and  a  courage  almost  super- 
human. Yet  those  qualities  led  him  only  to  form  upon 
the  threshold  of  life  a  deliberate  determination  to  achieve 
greatness  by  the  assassin's  trade.  The  rewards  held  out 
by  the  Ban,  combining  with  his  religious  bigotry  and  his 
passion  for  distinction,  fixed  all  his  energies  with  patient 
concentration  upon  the  one  great  purpose  for  which  he 
seemed  to  have  been  born,  and  after  seven  years'  prepara- 
tion he  had  at  last  fulfilled  his  design. 

Upon  being  interrogated  by  the  magistrates  he  mani- 
fested neither  despair  nor  contrition,  but  rather  a  quiet 
exultation.  '^Like  David,"  he  said,  '^  I  have  slain  Go- 
liath of  Gath."  When  falsely  informed  that  his  victim 
was  not  dead,  he  showed  no  credulity  or  disappointment. 
He  had  discharged  three  poisoned  balls  into  the  Prince's 
stomach,  and  he  knew  that  death  must  have  already  en- 
sued. He  expressed  regret,  however,  that  the  resistance 
of  the  halberdiers  had  prevented  him  from  using  his  second 
pistol,  and  avowed  that  if  he  were  a  thousand  leagues 
away  he  would  return  in  order  to  do  the  deed  again,  if 
possible.  He  deliberately  wrote  a  detailed  confession  of 
his  crime,  and  of  the  motives  and  manner  of  its  commis- 
sion, taking  care,,  however,  not  to  implicate  Parma  in  the 
transaction.  After  sustaining  day  after  day  the  most  hor- 
rible tortures,  he  subsequently  related  his  interviews  with 
Assonleville  and  with  the  president  of  the  Jesuit  college 
at  Treves,  adding  that  he  had  bepn  influenced  in  his  work 
by  the  assurance  of  obtaining  the  rewards  promised  by  the 
Ban.  During  the  intervals  of  repose  from  the  rack  he 
conversed  with  ease,  and  even  eloquence,  answering  all 
questions  addressed  to  him  with  apparent  sincerity. 

The  sentence  pronounced  against  the  assassin  was  ex- 
ecrable—  a  crime  against  the  memory  of  the  great  man 
whom  it  professed  to  avenge.  Not  even  his  horrible  crime, 
with  its  endless  consequences,  nor  the  natural  frenzy  of 
indignation  which  it  had  excited,  could  justify  this  sav- 


1584]  THE   REWARD  683 

age  decree,  to  rebuke  which  the  murdered  hero  might 
have  almost  risen  from  the  sleep  of  death.  The  sentence 
was  literally  executed  on  the  14th  of  July,  the  criminal 
supporting  its  horrors  with  the  same  astonishing  fortitude. 

The  reward  promised  by  Philip  to  the  man  who  should 
murder  Orange  was  paid  to  the  heirs  of  Gerard.  Parma 
informed  his  sovereign  that  the  '^  poor  man  "  had  been  ex- 
ecuted, but  that  Ids  father  and  mother  were  still  living,  to 
whom  he  recommended  the  payment  of  that  *'merced^* 
which  "the  laudable  and  generous  deed  had  so  well  de- 
served." This  was  accordingly  done,  and  the  excellent 
parents,  ennobled  and  enriched  by  the  crime  of  their  son, 
received,  instead  of  the  twenty-five  thousand  crowns  prom- 
ised in  the  Ban,  the  three  seignories  of  Lievremont,  Hostal, 
and  Dampmartin,  in  the  Franche  Comte,  and  took  their 
place  at  once  among  the  landed  aristocracy.  Thus  the 
bounty  of  the  Prince  had  furnished  the  weapon  by  which 
his  life  was  destroyed,  and  his  estates  supplied  the  fund 
out  of  which  the  assassin's  family  received  the  price  of 
blood.  At  a  later  day,  when  the  unfortunate  eldest  sou 
of  Orange  returned  from  Spain  after  twenty-seven  years' 
absence,  a  changeling  and  a  Spaniard,  the  restoration  of 
those  very  estates  was  offered  to  him  by  Philip  the  Second, 
provided  he  would  continue  to  pay  a  fixed  proportion  of 
their  rents  to  the  family  of  his  father's  murderer.  The 
education  which  Philip  William  had  received,  under  the 
King's  auspices,  had,  however,  not  entirely  destroyed  all 
his  human  feelings,  and  he  rejected  the  proposal  with 
scorn.  The  estates  remained  with  the  Gerard  family,  and 
the  patents  of  nobility  which  they  had  received  were  used 
to  justify  their  exemption  from  certain  tales  until  the 
union  of  Franche  Comte  with  France. 

William  of  Orange,  at  the  period  of  his  death,  was  aged 
fifty-one  years  and  sixteen  days.  He  left  twelve  children. 
By  his  first  wife,  Anne  of  Egmont,  he  had  one  son,  Philip, 
and  one  daughter,  Mary,  afterwards  married  to  Count 
Hohenlo.  By  his  second  wife,  Anna  of  Saxony,  he  had  one 
son,  the  celebrated  Maurice  of  Nassau,  and  two  daugh- 
ters, Anna,  married  afterwards  to  her  cousin,  Count  Will- 
iam Louis,  and  Emilie,  who  espoused  the   Pretender  of 


684  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS  [1584 

Portugal,  Prince  Emanuel.  By  Charlotte  of  Bourbon, 
his  third  wife,  he  had  six  daughters ;  and  by  his  fourth, 
Louisa  de  Coligny,  one  son,  Frederic  Henry,  afterwards 
stadholder  of  the  republic  in  her  most  palmy  days.  The 
Prince  was  entombed  on  the  3d  of  August,  at  Delft,  amid 
the  tears  of  a  whole  nation.  Never  was  a  more  extensive, 
unaffected,  and  legitimate  sorrow  felt  at  the  death  of  any 
human  being. 

The  life  and  labors  of  Orange  had  established  the  eman- 
cipated commonwealth  upon  a  secure  foundation,  but  his 
death  rendered  the  union  of  all  the  Netherlands  into  one 
republic  hopeless.  The  efforts  of  the  Malcontent  nobles, 
the  religious  discord,  the  consummate  ability,  both  polit- 
ical and  military,  of  Parma,  all  combined  with  the  lamen- 
table loss  of  William  the  Silent  to  separate  forever  the 
southern  and  Catholic  provinces  from  the  northern  con- 
federacy. So  long  as  the  Prince  remained  alive  he  was 
the  Father  of  the  whole  country  ;  the  Netherlands — sav- 
ing only  the  two  Walloon  provinces — constituting  a  whole. 
Notwithstanding  the  spirit  of  faction  and  the  blight  of 
the  long  civil  war,  there  was  at  least  one  country,  or  the 
hope  of  a  country,  one  strong  heart,  one  guiding  head,  for 
the  patriotic  party  throughout  the  land.  Philip  and  Gran- 
velle  were  right  in  their  estimate  of  the  advantage  to  be 
derived  from  the  Prince's  death,  in  believing  that  an 
assassin's  hand  could  achieve  more  than  all  the  wiles 
which  Spanish  or  Italian  statesmanship  could  teach,  or 
all  the  armies  which  Spain  or  Italy  could  muster.  The 
pistol  of  the  insignificant  Gerard  destroyed  the  possibility 
of  a  united  Netherland  state,  while  during  the  life  of 
William  there  was  union  in  the  policy,  unity  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  country. 

In  person  Orange  was  above  the  middle  height,  perfect- 
ly well  made  and  sinewy,  but  rather  spare  than  stout. 
His  eyes,  hair,  beard,  and  complexion  were  brown.  His 
head  was  small,  symmetrically  -  shaped,  combining  the 
alertness  and  compactness  characteristic  of  the  soldier, 
with  the  capacious  brow,  furrowed  prematurely  with  the 
horizontal  lines  of  thought,  denoting  the  statesman  and 
the  sage,    His  physigal  appearance  was  therefore  in  har- 


1684]  ORANGE'S  CHARACTERISTICS  685 

mony  with  his  organization,  which  was  of  antique  model. 
Of  his  moral  qualities,  the  most  prominent  was  his  piety. 
He  was  more  than  anything  else  a  religious  man.  From 
his  trust  in  God  he  ever  derived  support  and  consolation 
in  the  darkest  hours.  Implicitly  relying  upon  Almighty 
wisdom  and  goodness,  he  looked  danger  in  the  face  with 
a  constant  smile,  and  endured  incessant  labors  and  trials 
with  a  serenity  which  seemed  moro  than  human.  While, 
however,  his  soul  was  full  of  piety,  it  was  tolerant  of 
error.  Sincerely  and  deliberately  himself  a  convert  to 
the  Reformed  Church,  he  was  ready  to  extend  freedom 
of  worship  to  Catholics  on  the  one  hand  and  to  Ana- 
baptists on  the  other,  for  no  man  ever  felt  more  keenly 
than  he  that  the  reformer  who  becomes  in  his  turn  a  bigot 
is  doubly  odious. 

His  firmness  was  allied  to  his  piety.  His  constancy  in 
bearing  the  whole  weight  of  struggle,  as  unequal  as  men 
have  ever  undertaken,  was  the  theme  of  admiration  even 
to  his  enemies.  The  rock  in  the  ocean,  '^  tranquil  amid 
raging  billows,"  was  the  favorite  emblem  by  which  his 
friends  expressed  their  sense  of  his  firmness.  From  the 
time  when,  as  a  hostage  in  France,  he  first  discovered  the 
plan  of  Philip  to  plant  the  inquisition  in  the  Netherlands, 
up  to  the  last  moment  of  his  life,  he  never  faltered  in  his 
determination  to  resist  that  iniquitous  scheme.  This  re- 
sistance was  the  labor  of  his  life.  To  exclude  the  inquisi- 
tion, to  maintain  the  ancient  liberties  of  his  country,  was 
the  task  which  he  appointed  to  himself  when  a  youth  of 
three-and-twenty.  Never  speaking  a  word  concerning  a 
heavenly  mission,  never  deluding  himself  or  others  with 
the  usual  phraseology  of  enthusiasts,  he  accomplished  the 
task,  through  danger,  amid  toils,  and  with  sacrifices  such 
as  few  men  have  ever  been  able  to  make  on  their  coun- 
try's altar ;  for  the  disinterested  benevolence  of  the  man 
was  as  prominent  as  his  fortitude.  A  prince  of  high  rank 
and  with  royal  revenues,  he  stripped  himself  of  station, 
wealth,  almost  at  times  of  the  common  necessaries  of  life, 
and  became,  in  his  country's  cause,  nearly  a  beggar  as  well 
as  an  outlaw.  Nor  was  he  forced  into  his  career  by  an 
accidental  impulse  from  which  there  was  no  recovery. 


^86  HISTORY  Ot^  THE  {NETHERLANDS  [1^84 

Retreat  was  ever  open  to  him.  Not  only  pardon,  but  ad- 
vancement, was  urged  upon  him  again  and  again.  He 
lived  and  died,  not  for  himself,  but  for  his  country  : 
''  0  my  God,  have  mercy  upon  my  soul !  0  my  God,  have 
mercy  upon  this  poor  people  \"  were  his  dying  words. 

His  intellectual  faculties  were  various  and  of  the  high- 
est order.  He  had  the  exact,  practical,  and  combining 
qualities  which  make  the  great  commander,  and  his 
friends  claimed  that  in  military  genius  he  was  second  to 
no  captain  in  Europe.  This  was,  no  doubt,  an  exagger- 
ation of  partial  attachment,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  Em- 
peror Charles  had  an  exalted  opinion  of  his  capacity  for 
the  field.  His  fortification  of  Philippeville  and  Charle- 
mont,  in  the  face  of  the  enemy — his  passage  of  the  Meuse 
in  Alva's  sight — his  unfortunate  but  well-ordered  cam- 
paign against  that  general  —  his  sublime  plan  of  relief, 
projected  and  successfully  directed  at  last  from  his  sick 
bed,  for  the  besieged  city  of  Leyden — will  always  remain 
monuments  of  his  practical  military  skill. 

Of  the  soldier's  great  virtues — constancy  in  disaster, 
devotion  to  duty,  hopefulness  in  defeat — no  man  ever 
possessed  a  larger  share.  He  arrived,  through  a  series  of 
reverses,  at  a  perfect  victory.  He  planted  a  free  common- 
wealth under  the  very  battery  of  the  inquisition,  in  defiance 
of  the  most  powerful  empire  existing.  He  was  therefore 
a  conqueror  in  the  loftiest  sense,  for  he  conquered  liberty 
and  a  national  existence  for  a  whole  people.  The  contest 
was  long,  and  he  fell  in  the  struggle  ;  but  the  victory  was 
to  the  dead  hero,  not  to  the  living  monarch. 

The  supremacy  of  his  political  genius  was  entirely  be- 
yond question.  He  was  the  first  statesman  of  the  age. 
The  quickness  of  his  perception  was  only  equalled  by  the 
caution  which  enabled  him  to  mature  the  results  of  his 
observations.  His  knowledge  of  human  nature  was  pro- 
found. He  governed  the  passions  and  sentiments  of  a 
great  nation  as  if  they  had  been  but  the  keys  and  chords 
of  one  vast  instrument ;  and  his  hand  rarely  failed  to 
evoke  harmony  even  out  of  the  wildest  storms.  The  tur- 
bulent city  of  Ghent,  which  could  obey  no  other  master, 
which  even  the  haughty  Emperor  could  only  crush  with- 


1584]  ADROITNESS  687 

out  controlling,  was  ever  responsive  to  the  master-hand 
of  Orange.  His  presence  scared  away  Imbize  and  his  bat- 
like crew,  confounded  the  schemes  of  John  Casimir,  frus- 
trated the  wiles  of  Prince  Chimay,  and  while  he  lived 
Ghent  was  what  it  ought  always  to  have  remained,  the 
bulwark,  as  it  had  been  the  cradle,  of  popular  liberty. 
After  his  death  it  became  its  tomb. 

If  the  capacity  for  unremitted  intellectual  labor  in  an 
honorable  cause  be  the  measure  of  human  greatness,  few 
minds  could  be  compared  to  the  'Marge  composition"  of 
this  man.  The  efforts  made  to  destroy  the  Netherlands  by 
the  most  laborious  and  painstaking  of  tyrants  were  counter- 
acted by  the  industry  of  the  most  indefatigable  of  patriots. 
His  eloquence,  oral  or  written,  gave  him  almost  bound- 
less power  over  his  countrymen.  He  possessed,  also,  a 
rare  perception  of  human  character,  together  with  an  iron 
memory  which  never  lost  a  face,  a  place,  or  an  event,  once 
seen  or  known.  He  read  the  minds,  even  the  faces  of 
men,  like  printed  books.  No  man  could  overreach  him, 
excepting  only  those  to  whom  he  gave  his  heart.  He 
might  be  mistaken  where  he  had  confided:  never  where 
he  had  been  distrustful  or  indifferent.  He  was  deceived 
by  Renneberg,  by  his  brother-in-law  Van  den  Berg,  by 
the  Duke  of  Anjou.  Had  it  been  possible  for  his  brother 
Louis  or  his  brother  John  to  have  proved  false,  he  might 
have  been  deceived  by  them.  He  was  never  outwitted  by 
Philip,  or  Granvelle,  or  Don  John,  or  Alexander  of  Parma. 
Anna  of  Saxony  was  false  to  him,  and  entered  into  corre- 
spondence with  the  royal  governors  and  with  the  King  of 
Spain  ;  Charlotte  of  Bourbon  or  Louisa  de  Coligny  might 
have  done  the  same  had  it  been  possible  for  their  natures 
also  to  descend  to  such  depths  of  guile. 

As  for  the  Aerschots,  the  Havres,  the  Chimays,  he  was 
never  influenced  either  by  their  blandishments  or  their 
plots.  He  was  willing  to  use  them  when  their  interest 
made  them  friendly,  or  to  crush  them  when  their  intrigues 
against  his  policy  rendered  them  dangerous.  The  adroit- 
ness with  which  he  converted  their  schemes  in  behalf  of 
Matthias,  of  Don  John,  of  Anjou,  into  so  many  additional 
weapons  for  his  own  cause,  can  never  be  too  often  studied. 


688  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1584 

It  is  instructive  to  observe  the  wiles  of  the  Macchiavelian 
school  employed  by  a  master  of  the  craft  to  frustrate,  not 
to  advance,  a  knavish  purpose.  This  character,  in  a  great 
measure,  marked  his  whole  policy.  He  was  profoundly 
skilled  in  the  subtleties  of  Italian  statesmanship,  which 
he  had  learned  as  a  youth  at  the  Imperial  court,  and  which 
he  employed  in  his  manhood  in  the  service,  not  of  tyranny, 
but  of  liberty.  He  fought  the  inquisition  with  its  own 
weapons.  He  dealt  with  Philip  on  his  own  ground.  He 
excavated  the  earth  beneath  the  King's  feet  by  a  more 
subtle  process  than  that  practised  by  the  most  fraudulent 
monarch  that  ever  governed  the  Spanish  empire,  and 
Philip,  chain-mailed  as  he  was  in  complicated  wiles,  was 
pierced  to  the  quick  by  a  keener  policy  than  his  own. 

This  history  is  not  the  eulogy  of  Orange,  although,  in 
discussing  his  character,  it  is  difficult  to  avoid  the  monot- 
ony of  panegyric.  Judged  by  a  severe  moral  standard,  it 
cannot  be  called  virtuous  or  honorable  to  suborn  treach- 
ery or  any  other  crime  even  to  accomplish  a  lofty  pur- 
pose ;  yet  the  universal  practice  of  mankind  in  ail  ages 
has  tolerated  the  artifices  of  war,  and  no  people  has  ever 
engaged  in  a  holier  or  more  mortal  contest  than  did  the 
Netherlands  in  their  great  struggle  with  Spain.  Orange 
possessed  the  rare  quality  of  caution,  a  characteristic  by 
which  he  was  distinguished  from  his  youth.  At  fifteen  he 
was  the  confidential  counsellor,  as  at  twenty-one  he  be- 
came the  general-in-chief,  to  the  most  politic  as  well  as 
the  most  warlike  potentate  of  his  age,  and  if  he  at  times 
indulged  in  wiles  which  modern  statesmanship,  even  while 
it  practises,  condemns,  he  ever  held  in  his  hand  the  clew 
of  an  honorable  purpose  to  guide  him  through  the  tortu- 
ous labyrinth. 

Whether  originally  of  a  timid  temperament  or  not,  he 
was  certainly,  possessed  of  perfect  courage  at  last.  In 
siege  and  battle — in  the  deadly  air  of  pestilential  cities — 
in  the  long  exhaustion  of  mind  and  body  which  comes 
from  unduly  protracted  labor  and  anxiety  —  amid  the 
countless  conspiracies  of  assassins — he  was  daily  exposed 
to  death  in  every  shape.  Within  two  years  five  different 
attempts  against  his  life  had  been  discovered.     Eank  and 


1884]  CONCLUSION  689 

fortune  were  offered  to  any  malefactor  who  would  com- 
pass the  murder.  He  had  already  been  shot  through  the 
head  and  almost  mortally  wounded.  Under  such  circum- 
stances even  a  brave  man  might  have  seen  a  pitfall  at 
every  step,  a  dagger  in  every  hand,  and  poison  in  every 
cup.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  ever  cheerful,  and  hardly 
took  more  precaution  than  usual.  "  God  in  his  mercy," 
said  he,  with  unaffected  simplicity,  '^will  maintain  my  in- 
nocence and  my  honor  during  my  life  and  in  future  ages. 
As  to  my  fortune  and  my  life,  I  have  dedicated  both,  long 
since,  to  His  service.  He  will  do  therewith  what  pleases 
Him  for  His  glory  and  my  salvation." 

He  possessed,  too,  that  which  to  the  heathen  philoso- 
pher seemed  the  greatest  good — the  sound  mind  in  the 
sound  body.  His  physical  frame  was  after  death  found  so 
perfect  that  a  long  life  might  have  been  in  store  for  him, 
notwithstanding  all  which  he  had  endured.  The  desper- 
ate illness  of  1574,  the  frightful  gunshot  wound  inflicted 
by  Jaureguy  in  1582,  had  left  no  traces.  The  physicians 
pronounced  that  his  body  presented  an  aspect  of  perfect 
health.  His  temperament  was  cheerful.  At  table,  the 
pleasures  of  which,  in  moderation,  were  his  only  relaxa- 
tion, he  was  always  animated  and  merry,  and  this  jocose- 
ness  was  partly  natural,  partly  intentional.  In  the  dark- 
est hours  of  his  country's  trial  he  affected  a  serenity 
which  he  was  far  from  feeling,  so  that  his  apparent  gayety 
at  momentous  epochs  was  even  censured  by  dullards,  who 
could  not  comprehend  its  philosophy,  nor  applaud  the 
flippancy  of  William  the  Silent. 

He  went  through  life  bearing  the  load  of  a  people's  sor- 
rows upon  his  shoulders  with  a  smiling  face.  Their  name 
was  the  last  word  upon  his  lips,  save  the  simple  affirma- 
tive with  which  the  soldier  who  had  been  battling  for  the 
right  all  his  lifetime  commended  his  soul  in  dying  *'to  his 
great  captain,  Christ."  The  people  were  grateful  and  af- 
fectionate, for  they  trusted  the  character  of  their  "  Father 
William,"  and  not  all  the  clouds  which  calumny  could 
collect  ever  dimmed  to  their  eyes  the  radiance  of  that 
lofty  mind  to  which  they  were  accustomed,  in  their  dark- 
est calamities,  to  look  for  light.     As  long  as  he  lived  he 

44 


^90  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1584 

was  the  guiding-star  of  a  whole  brave  nation,  and  when  he 
died  the  little  children  cried  in  the  streets. 

The  history  of  the  rise  of  the  Netherland  Republic  has 
been  at  the  same  time  the  biography  of  William  the  Silent. 
This,  while  it  gives  unity  to  the  narrative,  renders  an 
elaborate  description  of  his  character  superfluous.  That 
life  was  a  noble  Christian  epic ;  inspired  with  one  great 
purpose  from  its  commencement  to  its  close ;  the  stream 
flowing  ever  from  one  fountain  with  expanding  fulness, 
but  retaining  all  its  original  purity. 


part  V)11 

HISTORY  OF  THE  DUTCH  NATION 
158-i-1907 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  ORPHAN  REPUBLIC 

The  republic  was  still  in  its  swaddling-clothes  when  it 
was  left  an  orphan  by  the  bullet  of  the  fanatic  and  assassin. 
It  seemed  the  darkest  hour  of  their  lives  when  the  mem- 
bers of  the  states  of  Holland  assembled  at  Delft  on  the 
day  of  the  nation's  bereavement,  but  there  was  no  thought 
of  yielding  for  a  moment  in  the  struggle  with  Spain. 
Liberty  had  become  dearer  than  life.  Even  though  they 
knew  that  the  northern  provinces — the  united  states  — 
must  now  continue  the  fight  single-handed,  they  resolved 
to  maintain  their  cause.  They  realized  also  that  the  brunt 
would  fall  upon  the  two  provinces,  Holland  and  Zeeland. 

The  one  state  of  Holland  in  those  days  was  not,  as  since 
1840  it  has  been,  politically  divided  into  two  portions. 
North  and  South.  Holland  was  then  large  enough  to  give 
its  name  to  the  entire  republic,  even  as  it  yet  does  among 
English-speaking  people  to  the  whole  kingdom.  It  ex- 
tended from  Zeeland  and  Brabant,  on  the  south,  to  the 
North  Sea,  and  included  the  three  islands  of  Texel,  Vlie- 
land,  and  Terschelling,  and  those  of  Wieringen,  Urk,  and 
Marken  in  the  Zuyder  Zee.  It  was  bounded  on  the  east 
by  the  states  of  Utrecht  and  Gelderland.  Through  its 
territory  flowed  the  Maas  and  the  various  branches  of  the 
Rhine — the  water-ways  into  the  heart  of  Europe.  Though 
there  still  remained  much  unproductive  and  swamp  land, 
yet  the  soil  of  Holland  consisted  for  the  most  part  of  that 
amazingly  fertile  sea-clay  of  which  there  is  comparatively 
little  in  the  other  provinces,  and  the  presence  of  which 
means  inexhaustible  wealth  and  permanent  sustenance  to 
man.  The  Hollanders  felt  that  with  faith  in  God  and 
their  good  right  arms,  and  having  the  control  of  the  se^, 


694  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1584 

it  was  possible  to  withstand  Spain.  Both  Holland  and 
Zeeland  were  each  wonderfully  like  that  Hebrew  lad  who, 
with  sling  and  stone,  faced  armor  and  experience  in  war. 
Lightly  armed,  but  knowing  well  the  power  of  his  familiar 
weapons,  full  alike  of  faith  and  genius,  he  sallied  forth  to 
meet  in  open  field  the  giant  clad  and  armed  in  the  most 
approved  style.  Philip,  like  Goliath,  cherishing  ideas 
long  prevalent,  could  not  understand  that  the  institutions 
he  represented  had  waxed  old  and  were  ready  to  pass 
away.  He  did  not  see  that  the  young  republic,  based  on 
freedom  of  conscience,  was  pioneer  of  the  coming  ages. 

Who  would  be  the  young  David  to  lead  the  hosts  of 
''Dapper  Holland je"  ?  They  had  not  far  to  look  for  one 
who  should  lead  what  in  the  eyes  of  Dutchmen  were  the 
armies  of  the  living  God.  He  was  at  hand.  Maurice,  the 
son  of  William  the  Silent,  although  but  seventeen  years  of 
age  at  the  time  of  his  father's  death,  was  a  lad  of  exceed- 
ing promise.  He  had  been  and  was  still  a  student  of  the 
art  of  war,  having  critically  examined  and  exhausted  un- 
der the  best  masters  whatever  antiquity  could  teach  him 
of  the  theories  of  sieges,  battles,  and  campaigns.  He  was 
even  quicker  than  his  instructors  to  perceive  that  the 
time  had  come  for  new  methods  in  warfare,  and  that  the 
spade  and  the  heavy  cannon  would  be  mightier  than  the 
spear,  arquebus,  and  sword  in  winning  the  freedom  of  the 
fatherland.  The  days  of  the  pikeman  were  already  num- 
bered, for  in  the  open  field  one  could  better  trust  to  the 
powder  and  lead  of  the  shotman.  The  cavalrymen  were 
to  be  not  only  wielders  of  the  sabre  in  the  charge  and  at 
close  combat,  but  must  be  equipped  with  fire-arms,  and  be 
the  eyes  and  ears  of  the  army  when  in  the  trenches.  It 
is  owing,  most  probably,  to  Maurice's  tastes  and  example, 
harmonizing  so  subtly  with  the  national  temperament  and 
physical  environment,  that  the  seventeenth-century  Dutch- 
men led  the  world  as  engineers,  inventors,  discoverers, 
and  appliers  of  the  mechanical  arts. 

The  States-General  quickly  established  a  council  of  state, 
and  placed  Maurice  at  its  head.  No  son  was  ever  more 
devoutly  determined  to  carry  on  a  father's  work,  or  more 
strikingly  expressed  the  spirit  of  his  life-purpose  on  his 


MAURICE  OF  NASSAU 


1585]  MAURICE  SUCCEEDS   WILLIAM  605 

escutcheon.  William  the  Silent,  as  the  younger  son  and 
branch  of  the  House  of  Nassau,  on  entering  into  his  in- 
heritance had  adopted  the  emblem  of  a  halcyon  floating 
on  the  stormy  sea,  with  the  motto — ''Saevis  tranquillus  in 
undis"  (Always  calm  amid  waves).  Maurice  inheriting 
the  motto,  which  was  and  still  is  the  proud  and  significant 
one  of  the  House  of  Orange — ^'  Je  7namtendrai"  (I  will 
maintain),  adopted  also  a  device  which  showed  the  stump 
of  an  oak  tree  from  which  a  vigorous  shoot  is  growing  up, 
with  the  motto  "I'andem  fit  surculus  arior"  (The  sprout 
will  by-and-by  become  a  tree).  In  the  same  year,  1584, 
his  cousin  Count  Willem  Lodewijk,  or  William  Louis,  was 
made  stadh older  of  Friesland.  Still  another  son  of  Will- 
iam of  Orange,  by  Louisa  de  Coligny,  named  Frederick 
Henry,  a  baby  six  months  old,  was  destined  in  time  to  be- 
come stadholder  and  captain-general  of  the  republic.  Of 
the  six  daughters  of  William,  the  care  of  the  three  elder 
was  solicited  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  that  of  the  three 
younger  by  relatives  of  the  House  of  Orange  in  France  and 
Germany.  The  Estates  settled  a  liberal  allowance  upon 
the  widowed  princess  and  begged  her  to  remain  in  Holland. 
She  accepted  and  made  her  home  in  Leyden,  where  Mau- 
rice was  still  a  student. 

While  the  orphaned  republic  was  seeking  succor  from 
England,  Germany,  and  France,  Parma  was  taking  advan- 
tage of  a  situation  so  depressing  to  the  patroits.  He 
strained  every  resource  to  seize  the  cities  on  the  Scheldt, 
while  tempting  the  people  with  many  lures  to  surrender 
to  Philip.  Flanders  and  Brabant,  now  so  hard  pressed  by 
the  Spaniards,  overcame  in  the  States-General  the  opposi- 
tion of  Holland  and  Zeeland  against  a  French  alliance,  and 
thereupon,  January  3,  1585,  a  fleet  of  forty  vessels  of  war, 
with  sixteen  dignitaries  of  the  republic,  sailed  to  France 
to  offer  the  sovereignty  to  Henry  the  Third.  The  coward 
King,  however,  like  the  brave  but  vacillating  Elizabeth, 
had  no  desire  to  be  the  head  of  a  Protestant  league.  Af- 
ter eight  months  of  uncertainty,  in  alternate  hope  and  de- 
spair, the  envoys  went  home,  each  having  a  gold  chain 
upon  his  neck,  but  with  nothing  in  his  hand,  and  only 
apologies  and  explanations  upon  his  tongue. 


6'96  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1585 

Nevertheless,  the  failure  of  these  Dutch  envoys  was  at 
once  interpreted  by  Elizabeth  to  mean  that  Spanish  gold 
and  intrigue  had  won  the  day  in  France,  and  that  the  re- 
sult would  be  an  alliance  of  French  and  Spanish  Catholics 
for  the  purpose  of  crushing,  first  the  Netherlands,  and 
then  England. 

Truly  Holland  and  Zeeland  were  the  sea-dikes  of  Albion, 
and  well  did  the  Protestants  of  the  island-kingdom  realize 
it,  for  their  eyes  were  turned  in  sympathy  towards  the 
struggling  provinces.  Already  English  volunteers  by 
thousands  had  streamed  over  the  sea  to  fight  in  the  cause 
of  freedom.  Long  before  Elizabeth  could  perceive  it,  her 
subjects  had  discerned  the  true  meaning  of  the  conflict 
between  Spain  and  the  Netherlands,  and  they  felt  that  the 
Dutch  cause  was  their  own.  From  the  very  beginning  of 
the  conflict  there  were  English  and  Scottish  individual 
soldiers  in  the  Dutch  army,  but  it  was  in  April,  1572,  that 
the  first  muster  of  three  hundred  men  took  place  before 
the  Queen  at  Greenwich.  The  expense  of  arming  and 
equipping  them  had  been  provided  by  the  refugee  Nether- 
landers  then  dwelling  in  England.  They  were  led  by  the 
bold  Thomas  Morgan,  with  whom  was  the  fiery  Roger  Will- 
iams, quixotic  in  valor,  yet  an  accomplished  soldier  and 
student.  During  the  summer  they  were  received  into 
Vlissingen,  or,  as  the  English  call  it.  Flushing,  forming 
the  first  distinctively  English  band  that  served  in  the  Dutch 
war  of  Independence.  They  had  not  long  to  wait  for  an 
opportunity  to  prove  their  prowess ;  for  soon  some  Span- 
iards from  Middelburg  mounted  cannon  on  an  artificial 
hill,  and  began  to  bombard  Flushing.  The  English  pike- 
men,  led  by  their  fiery  Welch  captain,  charged  on  the  bat- 
tery and  took  it,  though  they  lost  fifty  men.  These  Eng- 
lishmen were  very  popular.  Instead  of  seeking  plunder 
they  were  satisfied  with  bare  victuals  and  lodging,  and  were 
eager  to  do  their  best  in  fight.  They  asked  for  reinforce- 
ments from  home,  and  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  the  half 
brother  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  came  over  as  colonel,  bring- 
ing fifteen  hundred  recruits. 

In  this  manner  began  the  training  on  Dutch  soil  of  those 
Englishmen  who  were  to  be  the  military  advisers,  leaders. 


1585]  "HELP-TROOPS"  697 

and  founders  of  American  colonies,  and  who,  catching 
from  the  Dutch  their  inextinguishable  love  of  freedom, 
were  thus  prepared  to  lay  the  foundations  of  new  com- 
monwealths beyond  the  Atlantic.  With  the  names  of  Sir 
Humphrey  Gilbert  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  must  be  linked 
those  of  Captain  John  Smith,  Samuel  Argall,  Edward 
M.  Wingfield,  Miles  Standish,  Lyon  Gardner,  Governor 
Thomas  Dudley,  Major  John  Mason,  Jacob  Leisler,  and  all 
of  the  early  American  colonial  military  officers,  without 
exception.  In  the  low  countries,  and  during  the  Dutch 
war  of  freedom,  the  history  of  the  modern  British  army 
began.  The  English,  Irish,  Welsh,  and  Scottish  men  in 
the  first  levies  had  courage  and  the  other  noble  qualities 
of  the  British  soldier,  but  they  were  without  experience  of 
the  art  of  war,  and  were,  therefore,  in  the  beginning,  no 
match  for  the  Spaniards,  at  that  time  the  most  accom- 
plished warriors  in  the  world.  The  ^'  help-troops  "  had  to 
learn  from  the  Spaniards  the  military  art,  the  drill,  the 
use  of  weapons,  and,  in  fact,  the  very  names  of  the  newer 
formations.  Most  of  the  traditional  military  terms  used 
in  England  to  this  day  are  of  Spanish  or  Dutch  origin, 
and  the  early  history  of  the  modern  British  army  is  that 
of  its  seventy  years'  training  in  the  Netherlands.  When 
their  own  civil  war  broke  out  in  1642,  the  leaders,  officers, 
and  drill-masters  on  both  sides,  royal  and  parliamentary, 
had  been  in  the  Dutch  service,  though  the  majority  of 
officers  and  veterans  were  against  the  King  and  for  the 
commonwealth,  whose  model  army,  in  which  were  no 
longer  "common"  soldiers  but  ''privates,"  was  formed 
closely  after  that  of  the  republic. 

The  sufferings  and  losses  of  the  lads  of  Queen  Bess  were 
very  severe  during  the  first  few  years  of  service,  and  many 
disgraceful  defeats  had  to  be  borne  ;  but  with  that  splendid 
patience  and  tenacity  for  which  the  British  soldiers  are 
noted,  they  persevered,  and  their  enthusiasm  never  cooled. 
By  the  time  that  Maurice  was  able  to  take  the  field,  many 
of  the  Englishmen  had  already  faced  the  Spaniard,  and, 
breaking  the  iron  discipline  of  vandera  and  tercio,  had 
seen  the  backs  of  their  enemies,  and  had  even  sent  home 
Spanish  trophies. 


698  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1585 

Early  in  December,  1584,  Queen  Elizabeth  despatched 
her  commissioner,  William  Davison,  whose  page  was  Will- 
iam Brewster,  of  Scrooby,  to  The  Hague  to  confer  with  the 
Dutch  rulers  concerning  an  alliance  of  friendship  and  aid, 
and  the  tender  to  her  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  United 
Provinces.  On  the  29th  of  June,  1585,  envoys  of  the  Neth- 
erlands received  in  London  an  audience  of  the  Queen. 
It  was  not  until  November  that  all  the  details  were  set- 
tled to  her  satisfaction.  She  declined  the  sovereignty, 
lest  it  might  entangle  her  in  new  difficulties,  but  she 
signed  a  treaty,  agreeing  to  send  six  hundred  men  and,  dur- 
ing the  war,  to  furnish  the  money  for  their  maintenance, 
which  the  states  were  to  repay  within  five  years  after 
peace  should  be  declared.  Meanwhile,  as  security,  they 
were  to  deliver  up  to  English  occupation  the  towns  of 
Flushing  and  Brill  and  the  fort  of  Rammekens.  The 
Queen's  proclamation,  setting  forth  her  reasons  for  aiding 
her  ^^next  neighbors  .  .  .  placed  the  English  nation  in  a 
most  honorable  position  before  the  world."  * 

It  was  the  tardy  decision  of  the  long  vacillating  and  co- 
quettish Elizabeth,  and  the  positive  advice  of  her  states- 
men, who  believed  that  a  war  with  Spain  was  simply  a 
question  of  time,  that  finally  led  the  English  government 
to  help,  with  men  and  money,  the  little  republic  that  was 
fighting  for  freedom  and  mankind.  Nevertheless,  the  en- 
thusiasm and  example  of  the  inexperienced  English  volun- 
teers on  Dutch  soil  had  a  powerful  influence  in  determin- 
ing the  question.  The  army  equipped  and  despatched 
by  Queen  Elizabeth  was  the  first  English  force  organized 
on  the  Spanish  model.  The  grades  of  command,  the 
drill,  tactics,  evolutions,  and  most  of  the  military  nomen- 
clature were  borrowed  from  the  Spaniards,  whose  infan- 
try had  reached  a  degree  of  perfection  in  military  disci- 
pline which  had  not  been  seen  in  Europe  since  the  fall  of 
the  Roman  Empire. 

Meanwhile  the  Duke  of, Parma  had  already  begun  the 
siege  of  Antwerp,  in  order  to  separate  permanently  the 
southern  from  the  northern  Netherlands,  and  to  make 

*  The  Fighting  Veres,  p.  69. 


1585]  THE  SIEGE  OF  ANTWERP  699 

sure  of  securing  the  former  as  a  base  of  supplies  before  ad- 
vancing from  Netherlandish  to  English  soil.  His  first 
plan  was  to  isolate  the  great  city  and  cut  off  its  supplies. 
He  trusted  to  the  wolf  as  his  ally  even  more  than  he  de- 
pended upon  the  sword.  He  relied  upon  the  engineer 
rather  than  upon  the  fighter,  and  so  he  began  building 
forts  on  the  canals  and  rivers  to  stop  the  transportation  of 
food,  intending  then  to  bridge  the  Scheldt  in  order  to 
make  the  isolation  complete  and  thus  force  famine. 

The  Silent,  who  had  foreseen  Parma's  plans,  showed  how 
they  might  be  baffled.  Believing  that  the  bridge  would 
be  built,  he  pointed  out  that  by  piercing  the  Blawgaren 
dike  below  the  city  the  Zeeland  sailors  could  both  vict- 
ual and  reinforce  Antwerp  by  taking  their  light  draft  boats 
up  to  the  very  walls.  He  prevailed  upon  Philip  de  Mar- 
nix,  lord  of  Sainte-Aldegonde,  to  be  burgomaster  of  the 
city.  The  Prince  of  Orange  was,  in  the  best  sense  of  the 
word,  a  consummate  politician.  Besides,  being  the  hered- 
itary Burgrave  and  the  Ruward  of  Brabant,  he  was  able  to 
control  the  municipal  election.  So  Marnix  was  chosen, 
and  endeavored  faithfully  to  fill  an  office  better  suited  to 
an  iron-willed  general  than  to  a  scholar  and  diplomatist. 

When,  after  the  death  of  William,  Marnix  tried  to  car- 
ry out  that  Prince's  plan  of  piercing  the  dike,  the  butch- 
ers, who  formed  a  powerful  trades-union,  opposed  the  pro- 
ceeding, and  won  over  the  colonels  of  militia  to  support 
them  in  keeping  their  cattle  -  pastures  intact.  They 
laughed  at  the  idea  of  a  bridge  that  could  stand  either  the 
winter  ice  and  floods  or  an  attack  of  the  Zeeland  vessels. 
Meanwhile  the  Spaniards  went  steadily  on,  tliough  the 
bold  Zeelanders  broke  the  blockade,  and  brought  grain  to 
the  city  so  long  as  prices  were  high.  When,  however,  the 
magistrates  foolishly  destroyed  the  profits  of  the  blockade- 
runners  by  checking  the  importation  of  grain  except  at  a 
set  price,  famine  was  within  sight.  Smaller  dikes  had 
been  pierced,  but  the  Spaniards  were  neither  driven  out 
nor  were  the  Zeelanders  furnished  a  passage,  while  the 
water  overlying  the  drowned  fields  enabled  Parma  to  move 
his  heavy  artillery  on  scows  and  get  them  into  effective 
position.     At  last  the  butchers  yielded  and  agreed  to  let 


700  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1585 

in  the  waters  over  the  cow  pastures,  but  it  was  too  late. 
In  spite  of  the  prophecies  of  failure,  even  in  his  own  coun- 
cil, Parma,  starting  from  opposite  points  on  the  river, 
drove  lines  of  piles  which  were  guarded  by  forts,  intend- 
ing to  join  the  ends  of  the  palisades  in  the  middle  of  the 
current  with  a  bridge  of  boats. 

Meanwhile  within  Antwerp  there  was  turbulence,  amount- 
ing almost  to  civil  war,  because  some  of  the  rich  citizens 
urged  a  surrender.  Outside,  the  Dutch  fleets  failed  to 
injure  the  bridge,  or  to  relieve  the  city.  The  trouble  was 
caused  by  the  lack  of  .union  among  the  patriot  command- 
ers. Count  Hohenlohe,  who  led  the  land  forces  of  the  re- 
public, had  taken  the  city  of  Hertogenbosch,  some  fifty 
miles  distant,  but  lost  his  prize  through  carelessness  while 
a  portion  of  his  troops  was  pillaging  the  town. 

By  the  25th  of  February,  1585,  Parma  had  completed 
his  gigantic  task  of  bridging  a  swift  river,  a  half  a  mile 
wide.  Both  diplomacy  and  the  weather  had  favored  him. 
During  the  mild  winter  very  little  ice  formed  in  the  river, 
while  negotiations  with  France  had  nearly  paralyzed  the 
operations  of  the  patriots  on  land  and  water.  The  bridge, 
consisting  of  two  long  moles  and  a  chain  of  thirty-two 
great  barges,  made  a  structure  twenty-four  hundred  feet 
long,  defended  by  two  forts  mounting  the  heaviest  guns, 
and  garrisoned  with  the  bravest  troops,  while  forty  heavily 
armed  vessels  were  anchored  in  the  current.  The  barges 
were  twenty-two  feet  apart,  and  each  one  was  a  floating  for- 
tress defended  by  a  garrison  of  thirty-two  soldiers,  having 
at  either  end  a  heavy  gun,  mounted  between  gabions  and 
served  by  four  sailors.  In  addition,  there  were  piers,  heavy 
rafts,  and  booms  above  and  below  the  main  structure. 
With  these  defences  Parma  believed  he  could  defy  any 
force  sent  against  the  bridge,  which  was  to  force  Antwerp 
into  starvation.  A  spy  was  caught  examining  his  works, 
but  instead  of  hanging  him  Parma,  with  true  statesman- 
ship, allowed  him  to  inspect  everything,  and  then  sent  him 
back  to  report  that  the  bridge  would  be  the  Spaniard's 
path  of  entrance  or  his  grave.  Although  the  messenger 
delivered  his  message,  there  was  as  yet.no  thought  of  sur- 
render. 


1585]  THE  PATRIOTS  DEFEATED  701 

In  those  days  the  "fire-ship"  occupied  much  the  same 
place  in  marine  warfare  as  does  the  torpedo-boat  in  our 
age.  While  waiting  for  succor  from  without,  the  Ant- 
werpers  summoned  the  flames  to  their  aid.  On  the  5th 
of  April  they  sent  down  the  river  a  fleet  of  "hell-burn- 
ers/^ with  which  they  expected  that  the  rafts  protecting 
the  bridge  would  be  broken  through  or  set  on  fire.  At  the 
same  time  a  floating  volcano  called  "  The  Hope,"  which 
had  been  designed  and  furnished  with  clockwork  by  the 
Italian  Gianibelli,  was  to  explode  and  spout  out  old  iron 
castings,  broken  tools  and  timbers,  blocks  of  stone,  and 
other  things  of  weight  that  would  serve  as  missiles  or 
projectiles.  Owing  to  mismanagement  and  miscalcula- 
tion on  the  one  hand,  and  to  Spanish  discipline,  vigil- 
ance, and  valor  on  the  other,  only  a  portion  of  the  bridge 
was  destroyed,  and  the  damage  was  repaired  even  before 
the  result  was  known  in  the  city,  which  was  not  until 
after  three  days  of  awful  suspense. 

Although  Parma  lost  many  of  his  best  soldiers,  the  Zee- 
land  sailors  feared  to  come  near  the  scene  of  devastation. 
Finally,  a  messenger  sent  out  by  Hohenlohe  swam  under 
the  bridge  and  brought  back  to  Antwerp  an  exact  report. 
Contrary  winds  prevented  the  further  use  of  the  Zeeland 
fleet,  and  when  other  fire-ships  came  drifting  down  the 
river,  Parma  opened  the  bridge  of  boats  and  let  them  pass 
through  harmlessly. 

The  patriots  now  again  attempted  relief  from  Zeeland, 
and  towards  the  end  of  May  they  despatched  two  hun- 
dred vessels,  which,  co-operating  with  a  fleet  from  Ant- 
wei'p  and  meeting  off  the  Cowenstein  dike,  began  a  des- 
perate attack  on  the  forts,  and  then  broke  the  barrier  and 
let  in  the  flood.  Although  the  Spaniards  at  first  were 
driven  back,  they  were  quickly  rallied  by  Parma  in  person, 
and  drove  back  the  patriots,  killing  or  drowning  two  thou- 
sand of  them.  One  vessel  had  forced  its  way  through  and 
entered  the  city  over  the  breach  in  the  dike,  which  had 
flooded  the  country  and  compelled  the  Spaniards  to  march 
breast-high  through  the  water.  The  premature  joy  in 
Antwerp  over  supposed  victory  was  quickly  chilled  by 
news  of  the  subsequent  reverse. 


702  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1585 

By  the  beginning  of  summer  the  situation  in  the  city 
was  critical,  and  in  July  the  mobs  demanded  either  bread 
or  peace.  Hope  of  aid  from  France  and  England  was  in 
vain,  for  it  was  too  late  when  Elizabeth  made  the  treaty 
guaranteeing  military  aid.  Negotiations  with  Parma  were 
opened,  and  Marnix  vainly  endeavored  to  get  religious 
toleration  as  one  of  the  conditions  of  surrender.  He  was 
able,  however,  to  conceal  from  Parma  the  starving  con- 
dition of  the  capital,  and  the  Duke,  fearing  more  fire-ships 
and  the  coming  of  help  from  beyond  sea,  made  reason- 
able terms.  The  treaty  looking  to  the  surrender  was 
dated  August  17,  1585,  and  Parma  entered  Antwerp  on 
the  30th  of  the  same  month.  The  traitorous  nobles — 
deserters  from  the  cause  of  freedom — basked  in  the  sun- 
light of  their  conqueror's  countenance  and  hoped  for 
fresh  spoils  of  office.  The  Jesuits  were  at  once  restored 
to  power,  and  the  intellect  of  the  young  handed  over  to 
fetters  which  were  not  broken  for  nearly  two  centuries. 
The  wealth  and  intelligence  of  the  city  had  already  left, 
it.  One-third  of  the  Antwerp  merchants,  manufacturers, 
and  artisans  had  gone  to  swell  the  prosperity  of  London, 
while  from  that  day  forth  Amsterdam  rose  steadily  to  be 
the  chief  city  of  northern  Europe. 

Parma  hung  the  keys  of  the  city  around  his  neck,  and 
three  days,  of  revelry  were  indulged  in  by  the  victors. 
The  great  bridge  was  transformed  into  a  bower  of  delight, 
in  which  the  grim  soldiers  of  southern  Europe  sported 
like  dryads  of  classic  mythology.  Then  the  structure  was 
broken  up  and  the  river  left  unvexed ;  but.  Antwerp's 
prosperity  was  destined  never  to  come  back  while  the 
Belgic  provinces  should  remain  the  private  property  of 
Spanish  and  Austrian  families.  Its  two  hands,  commerce 
and  manufactures,  had  been  cut  off  and  flung  into  the 
flood  by  the  giant  of  despotism;  nor  was  any  Brabo  to  arise 
until  within  our  century.  The  fall  of  Antwerp  was  a  final 
blow  to  the  hopes  of  those  who  had  looked  for  a  union 
of  the  seventeen  provinces.  Henceforth  the  stream  of 
Netherlandish  history  was  to  divide,  and  the  seven  north- 
ern provinces  alone,  united  as  a  free  republic,  were  to  occu- 
py for  a  century  or  more  the  van  in  the  career  of  freedom. 


2585]  CHARACTERISTICS   OF  SAINTE-ALDEGONDE  703 

Philip  de  Marnix,  Lord  of  Sainte-Aldegonde,  the  zealous 
Protestant,  high-souled  statesman,  and  scholar  of  varied 
talents  and  accomplishments,  retired  into  comparative  se- 
clusion. No  history  of  the  Netherlands  would  be  com- 
plete without  a  sketch  of  this  friend  of  and  co-worker 
with  the  Prince  of  Orange.  Descended  from  a  noble 
Savoyan  family,  he  was  born  at  Brussels  in  1538.  A  stu- 
dent at  Geneva,  he  came  under  the  influence  of  Calvin, 
that  master-spirit  of  the  Reformation,  and  the  greatest  of 
all  the  fathers  of  modern  God-fearing  and  law-loving 
democracy.  With  his  varied  gifts  as  warrior,  poet,  prose- 
writer,  translator,  and  statesman,  Philip  de  Marnix  became 
the  right  hand  of  William  of  Orange  and  the  friend  of 
Netherland's  independence.  He  was  a  champion  of  mu- 
nicipal rights,  and,  hating  the  inquisition,  devoted  him- 
self with  all  his  powers  to  win  freedom  from  Spain. 
He  was  the  chief  author  of  the  famous  Compromise  of 
1566.  He  served  as  military  commander  of  Delft,  Rot- 
terdam, and  Schiedam ;  but  at  the  seizure  of  the  fort  of 
Maaslandsluis  by  the  Spaniards  he  was  made  prisoner  and 
so  kept  for  several  years.  His  military  and  civil  services 
were  crowned  by  his  noble  defence  during  thirteen  months 
of  Antwerp,  and  by  his  consummate  diplomacy  in  its  sur- 
render. Though  endowed  with  a  greater  variety  of  tal- 
ents, he  had  not  the  genius  and  will  of  Orange,  who  in- 
trusted him  with  many  important  and  delicate  missi^pus. 
He  never  reached,  with  William  the  Silent,  that  height 
of  Christianity  which  shows  itself  in  toleration  of  other 
worshippers  of  the  same  God  and  followers  of  the  same 
Christ,  while  he  encouraged  and  restrained  the  Calvinists 
and  protected  the  Catholics.  In  hope  of  the  union  of  all 
the  Netherlands,  he  opposed  religious  persecution.  After 
leaving  Antwerp  he  had  to  face  an  adverse  public  opin- 
ion, which  regarded  him  as  a  traitor  because  he  had 
praised  Parma's  moderation  and  had  intrigued  against 
English  influence.  He  went  into  retirement,  solacing 
himself  with  philosophic  and  religious  studies ;  but  in 
1590  was  sent  as  envoy  to  the  Court  of  France,  and  in 
1594  to  the  German  states.  In  1596  he  was  intrusted  by 
the  States-General  with  the  work  of  translating  the  books 


704  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1586 

of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  into  Dutch,  but  he  died  at  Ley- 
den  on  the  15th  of  December,  1598,  after  having  accom- 
plished only  a  version  of  the  book  of  Genesis. 

William  Davison,  long  resident  in  Antwerp  and  Eliza- 
beth's envoy  in  the  republic  in  1584  and  1585,  had  been 
accompanied  by  his  page,  William  Brewster.  In  a  land 
where  conscience  and  the  printing-press  were  free,  this  lad 
saw  and  learned  much  that  helped  him  afterwards  to  be  a 
good  Puritan,  a  Separatist,  a  builder  of  a  church  with- 
out a  bishop,  and  a  state  without  a  king.  The  future 
dweller  at  Scrooby,  Leyden,  and  Plymouth,  by  command 
of  his  master,  Davison,  wore  the  chain  of  gold  presented 
to  the  Queen's  envoy  by  the  States-General,  and  slept  with 
the  keys  of  the  "  three  cautionary  towns  "  under  his  pil- 
low. Brewster's  visit  to  Holland  in  1584  was  one  link  in 
the  chain  of  causes  which  resulted  in  making  a  new 
United  States  beyond  the  Atlantic. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE   ENGLISH   ALLIES 

The  meeting  of  the  great  English  and  Dutch  fleets  at 
Flushing,  December  19,  1585,  formed  a  pageant  of  ex- 
traordinary brilliancy — a  theme  for  painters  and  poets. 
The  Dutch  genius  for  costume-processions,  tremendous 
banquets,  and  quaint  spectacles,  borrowed  from  mythology 
or  biblical  history,  garnished  with  fireworks  and  Latin 
oratory,  ran  its  usual  course.  History,  fiction,  and  art  have 
made  the  English  commander,  Robert  Dudley,  Earl  of  Lei- 
cester, popularly  known;  but  historical  science  declares  that 
the  character  of  this  aspirant  for  the  hand  of  Elizabeth  is  a 
puzzle.  Whether  his  name  be  linked  with  that  of  Amy 
Robsart  or  of  England's  sovereign,  with  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots  or  with  the  States-General  of  the  Netherlands,  there 
is  little  trace  of  a  straightforward,  honest  man  in  any  of 
his  dealings.  Tall,  handsome,  and  having  ingratiating 
manners,  but  vain,  presuming,  and  without  ability  corre- 
sponding to  his  ambition,  he  was  the  sport  of  the  wits 
and  the  target  of  military  critics  in  his  own  day,  and  now 
is  the  enigma  of  history.  For  success  in  the  Netherlands, 
Leicester,  being  himself  without  military  experience,  re- 
lied upon  Count  Philip  of  Hohenlohe,  and  upon  his  vet- 
eran lord-marshal,  William  Pelham.  He  brought  to  Hol- 
land an  unseasoned  body  of  brave  troops,  not  a  few  of 
whom  were  wild  Irishmen  still  in  a  state  of  semi-civiliza- 
tion, such  as  Dutchmen  of  that  generation  had  never 
seen.  Among  his  captains  and  officers  were  Englishmen 
of  the  noblest  blood  and  purest  character  ;  while  mingled 
with  them,  like  Satan  among  the  sons  of  God,  were  de- 
testable traitors  and  sordid  wretches,  ready  to  sell  their 
swords  at  the  first  opportunity. 
45  705 


706  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1586 

Leicester  arrived  at  the  Hague  wlien  the  headless  re- 
public was  in  great  straits  for  a  leader ;  when,  in  the 
words  of  the  Oriental  proverb,  there  was  danger  of  "  even 
a  sardine's  head  becoming  an  object  of  worship.'^  Yield- 
ing to  a  majority  in  the  States-General,  against  the  strong 
protest  of  Friesland  and  in  the  face  of  his  sovereign's  ex- 
press order,  Leicester  was  made  governor-general,  and  in- 
stalled with  great  pomp  on  the  4th  of  February,  1586. 
Two  Englishmen  now  had  seats  in  the  council  of  state. 
In  place  of  Paul  Buys,  John  van  Olden-Barneveldt  be- 
came the  advocate  of  Holland,  and  was  soon  the  master 
spirit  in  the  legislature  of  the  chief  of  the  seven  confeder- 
ated states  and  in  the  national  congress. 

When  Elizabeth  heard  of  Leicester's  assumption  she 
was  furious,  for  she  still  hoped  to  make  a  treaty  with 
Spain  by  which  she  could  save  herself  and  her  kingdom 
from  war,  even  though  the  republic  should  be  left  in  the 
lurch.  A  lover-like  letter  from  her  favorite  to  his  suscep- 
tible sovereign  enabled  Leicester  to  retain  the  governor- 
ship ;  but  meanwhile,  occupied  with  negotiations  for  peace 
with  Spain,  she  neglected  to  send  reinforcements  to  her 
army,  and  this  at  a  time  when  the  overwhelming  of  Par- 
ma's enfeebled  force  by  the  Dutch  and  English  allied 
army  was  possible.  During  this  year,  1586,  the  English 
dragon,  Francis  Drake  (two  of  whose  ships  were  named 
Mayfloiuer),  was  on  the  distant  seas  ravaging  the  King  of 
Spain's  treasure-house  in  America,  while  Martin  Schenck, 
having  deserted  Parma,  built  a  tremendous  fort  on  an 
island  in  the  river  Rhine,  by  means  of  which  he  com- 
manded the  surrounding  country  and  was  able  to  lay  it 
under  tribute.  With  such  a  situation — Spain  proud  and 
powerful  but  her  army  unpaid  and  unable  to  move,  Lei- 
cester showing  his  incompetency,  the  English  army  lack- 
ing money  and  supplies,  the  Dutch  unable  to  make  head- 
way in  arms  or  diplomacy,  and  Schenck  all  the  while  lively 
and  free-handed — the  wits  had  plenty  to  do.  Pen  and 
pencil  were  busy. 

Caricatures,  still  worthy  of  study,  were  made  numer- 
ously and  sold  freely,  especially  after  Leicester's  prema- 
ture rejoicings  over  the  relief,  in  April,  1586,  of  the  city 


1686]  LEICESTER  CAPTURES   DOESBURG  707 

of  Grave,  on  the  Maas,  which  the  Spaniards  had  invested. 
After  merry  and  imposing  celebrations,  in  various  places, 
of  this  triumph,  Leicester  was  humiliated  by  Parma's 
capture  of  Grave  on  June  7th.  The  Earl  was  so  enraged 
that  he  hanged  the  young  Dutch  commandant  of  the 
city.  Count  van  Hemert.  Meanwhile  he  pawned  his  per- 
sonal property  to  pay  his  ragged  and  starving  troops.  The 
English  pay-masters  outdid  even  the  Spanish  keepers  of 
the  military  chest  by  pocketing  as  many  as  possible  of 
the  Queen's  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence.  The  thrifty 
sovereign  had  guarded  her  own  interests  by  taking  in 
pawn  from  the  Dutch,  as  "cautionary  towns,"  Flushing, 
Brill,  and  Rammekens,  which  were  garrisoned  by  her 
troops  and  put  under  English  martial  law.  One  friend 
of  the  "common"  soldier  (who  had  not  yet  become  the 
"private"  of  the  later  Commonwealth),  who  was  rather 
too  honest  to  be  the  Queen's  favorite.  Sir  Philip  Sidney, 
exposed  the  peculations  of  pay-masters  and  made  direct 
complaint  to  his  sovereign. 

The  prospects  were  very  gloomy,  for  the  Netherlanders 
distrusted  and  suspected  both  the  Queen  and  her  favorite, 
when  Sidney,  with  young  Maurice,  struck  the  first  blow 
that  shed  lustre  on  the  English  arms  by  capturing  the 
important  city  of  Axel,  in  Zeeland. 

Parma  having  moved  eastward  towards  Cologne,  the  the- 
atre of  operations  was  transferred  to  the  great  river  region 
of  eastern  Netherlands.  Leicester  captured  Doesburg, 
the  burg  or  city  which  has  condensed  in  its  name  that  of 
the  Roman  general  Drusus,  who  first  joined  the  waters  of 
the  Rhine  to  those  of  the  Zuyder  Zee  by  enlarging  and 
digging  a  canal  to  the  Ijssel  river,  on  which  is  situated 
the  city  of  Zutphen.  Tliis  latter  pl|ice  was  so  important 
that  Parma  sent  forward  provisions  for  a  three  months' 
siege,  placing  the  wagon-train  under  a  convoy  of  three 
thousand  infantry  and  cavalry  commanded  by  his  best 
officers.  Leicester  planned  to  cut  off  this  train  by  ar- 
ranging an  ambuscade  at  Warnsfeld,  near  the  city.  With 
that  insular  conceit  which,  from  the  days  of  Leicester  to 
those  of  Braddock  and  the  South  African  reverses,  has 
so  often  brought  disaster  to  English  arms,  he  imagined 


708  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1586 

that  one  of  his  men  was  a  good  match  for  two  or  three 
Spaniards.  His  force  lying  in  wait  consisted  of  but  five 
hundred  men  under  Sir  John  Norris.  Early  in  the  morn- 
ing of  October  2,  1586,  while  a  dense  fog  lay  over  the 
meadows,  the  sound  of  wheels  was  heard.  Soon  the  sun 
rose,  revealing  to  view  an  overwhelming  force  of  cavalry, 
followed  by  musketeers  and  pikemen — a  superb  body  of 
the  best  disciplined  soldiers  in  Europe.  Nevertheless  the 
English  knights  dashed  at  once  upon  the  Spaniards.  For 
a  few  moments  the  valor  of  these  horsemen  amazed  Par- 
ma's veterans.  No  more,  however,  than  a  wave  against 
the  rock  or  the  charge  of  Balaklava  did  this  magnificent 
but  unscientific  onset  avail.  The  convoy  and  train  of 
provisions  got  safely  into  the  city.  Beside  many  English 
slain.  Sir  Philip  Sidney  was  among  the  wounded.  He 
was  put  on  board  a  boat  and  floated  down  the  Ijssel  and 
the  Ehine  to  Arnhem,  where  he  lingered  until  the  17th 
of  October,  when  he  passed  cheerfully  away.  His  elegant 
Latin  has  furnished  the  commonwealth  of  Massachusetts 
with  her  motto,  and  his  name  is  immortal  in  literature 
and  in  philanthropy. 

With  stubborn  determination  the  British  troops  be- 
sieged Zutphen,  and  finally  captured  the  city  in  a  manner 
quite  unique  and  as  surprising  to  themselves  as  to  their 
foes.  The  cannon  having  breached  the  wall.  Lieutenant 
Edward  Stanley,  whose  career  both  in  bravery  and  treach- 
ery recalls  that  of  Benedict  Arnold,  rushed  into  the  breach. 
Thrust  at  by  a  Spanish  pikeman,  he  seized  the  long  pole 
with  both  hands  and  was  actually  lifted  up  from  the 
ground.  Leaping  through  the  breach,  he  drew  his  sword 
and  laid  about  most  vigorously,  to  the  astonishment  of  the 
garrison,  while  his  men,  climbing  on  one  another's  shoul- 
ders, leaped  to  his  rescue.  The  allied  troops  poured  in 
and  captured  the  city. 

Leicester  did  not  win  the  confidence  of  the  Dutchmen. 
The  reasons  for  his  failure  are  plain.  He  appointed  to 
high  and  responsible  offices  in  the  republic  three  men 
from  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  though  the  constitution 
did  not  permit  that  privilege  to  any  who  had  not  been  in 
the  country  ten  years.     Paul  Buys  refused  to  take  office 


1586]  TREACHERY   OF   YORKE  709 

under  the  obnoxious  foreigner^  Reingault,  who  had  served 
successively  Granvelle,  Alva,  and  Eequesens.  When  Leices- 
ter had  Buys  imprisoned,  because  the  latter  had  proposed 
that  the  sovereignty  be  offered  to  the  King  of  Denmark, 
the  final  blow  to  the  prestige  of  the  Earl  was  dealt. 
In  disappointment  he  now  resolved  to  return  to  England, 
both  to  checkmate  the  intrigues  of  the  envoys  of  the 
states  in  London  and  to  secure  the  decapitation  of  Mary 
Stuart  of  Scotland. 

Although  his  sovereign  had  warned  him  not  to  interfere 
in  religious  affairs,  Leicester  had  curried  favor  with  the 
clergy  and  politicians  of  the  state  church,  relying  upon 
them  chiefly  for  support  and  personal  advancement.  In 
his  unwarrantable  zeal  and  meddlesomeness  he  suppressed 
as  far  as  possible  all  sects  except  the  Calvinistic,  includ- 
ing the  Romish,  Lutheran,  and  Anabaptist,  and  banished 
some  seventy  or  more  persons  from  Utrecht.  Barneveldt 
was  able  to  foil  most  of  Leicester's  schemes  and  to  reduce 
the  influence  of  the  '* English  party" ;  but  Leicester  was 
allowed  to  make  two  appointments  dangerous  to  the  re- 
public. Before  he  embarked.  Sir  William  Stanley  was 
made  governor  of  Deventer  and  occupied  it  with  his  five 
hundred  wild  Irishmen.  These  "  help-troops  "  were  eaters 
of  raw  flesh  and  users  of  bows  and  arrows.  They  were  as 
thoroughly  at  home  on  their  stilts  among  the  Dutch  mo- 
rasses as  in  the  bogs  of  Ireland.  Their  vernacular  was 
something  which  neither  Dutch  nor  English  could  under- 
stand. They  were  a  terror  to  the  polished  citizens  of  this 
old  home  of  learning  and  culture. 

Rowland  Yorke,  another  brave  but  utterly  unscrupulous 
military  adventurer,  to  whom  all  causes  were  alike,  and 
who,  like  Stanley,  seems  to  have  had  no  such  scruples  as 
trouble  honest  men  when  tempted,  was  put  in  command 
of  Zutphen.  The  Dutch  statesmen  objected  strenuously 
to  the  appointment  of  these  Roman  Catholics  to  such  im- 
portant positions,  especially  when  they  were  made  inde- 
pendent of  Hohenlohe  and  of  Norris,  two  officers  whom 
Leicester  seems  to  have  bitterly  hated.  Pretty  soon  the 
people  of  Zutphen  found  themselves  treated  roughly, 
while  the  Spaniards  seemed  to  be  winning  the  favor  of 


710  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [158*7 

Rowland  Yorke.  On  the  morning  of  January  29,  1587, 
after  a  grand  dinner  given  to  the  city  magistrates,  Zutphen 
was  basely  surrendered  to  the  Spaniards. 

All  at  once  there  seemed  to  burst  out  an  epidemic  of 
treason.  Yorke  handed  over  the  forts  at  Zutphen.  The 
castle  of  Wauw,  between  Rosendaal  and  Bergen-op-Zoom, 
then  under  the  command  of  Le  Marchand,  a  French  of- 
ficer, was  traded  off  to  Parma  for  sixteen  thousand  florins. 
The  Scotch  colonel,  Aristotle  Patton,  in  command  of  Gel  • 
derland,  who  was  greedy  of  money,  who  loved  a  certain 
widow  and  hated  both  Martin  Schenck  and  Leicester,  was 
able  to  gratify  at  one  stroke  his  greed,  his  love,  and  his 
hate  by  selling  out  to  the  Duke  of  Parma.  For  this  job 
he  received  thirty-six  thousand  florins.  It  was  the  widow 
of  that  Seigneur  de  Bours  who  had  once  sold  the  city  of 
Antwerp  whom  the  Scotsman  married — both  her  husbands 
thus  being  traitors.  To  the  Dutch  patriots,  treason 
seemed  to  be  wafted  from  the  four  winds  of  heaven. 

Leicester's  deserted  soldiers,  now  in  desperate,  straits 
for  lack  of  wages,  either  lived  off  the  country  by  robbing 
the  farmers,  or  became  deserters  to  the  Spaniards.  Those 
having  consciences  begged  their  way  home  in  rags,  and 
appeared  in  pitiable  plight  before  the  royal  palace  in  Lon- 
don. The  Dutch  indignation  against  all  the  islanders 
was  great,  and  it  was  months  before  an  honest  English- 
man could  look  a  Dutchman  in  the  face.  Maurice  was 
made  temporary  governor-general,  and  Hohenlohe  com- 
mander-in-chief, their  energies  being  as  much  directed 
against  English  perfidy  as  against  Spanish  gold  and  steel. 
Elizabeth,  who  had  been  so  angry  at  her  neighbors,  lowered 
her  tone  when  she  found  how  terribly  the  fair  name  of 
England  had  been  disgraced  by  traitors.  She  sent  Sir 
Thomas  Sackville,  who  at  first  berated  the  States- General 
soundly,  but  soon  saw  the  real  situation  though  he  could 
not  make  Elizabeth  do  so.  He  was  further  hampered  by 
his  sovereign's  order  to  have  Hohenlohe  seized  and  im- 
prisoned, on  a  charge  of  treasonable  intrigues  with  Spain. 
Sackville,  however,  was  too  sensible  to  attempt  such 
unwarrantable  intermeddling,  especially  after  Leicester's 
ridiculous  experience  with  Paul  Buys  in  a  similar  situa- 


1687]  SURRENDER  OF  SLUIS  711 

tion.  On  the  contrary,  Sackville  urged  Elizabeth  to  aid 
the  republic  with  more  money,  pointing  out  the  danger 
from  Spain  if  Holland  and  Zeeland,  the  two  faithful  states 
which  had  to  bear  the  burden  of  the  war,  should  be  com- 
pelled to  yield. 

Parma  had  moved  eastward,  and  for  some  months  had 
been  operating  in  the  German  Electorate  of  Cologne 
against  Gebhard  Truchsess,  whose  love  for  Agnes  Mans- 
feld  had  driven  him  to  defy  the  Pope.  Parma's  appear- 
ance early  in  June,  1587,  before  Sluis,  a  town  very  im- 
portant for  the  safety  of  England  as  well  as  the  republic, 
alarmed  Elizabeth  and  the  Dutch  Council  of  State.  The 
latter  assumed  supreme  authority  in  civil  affairs  and  ap- 
pointed Maurice  temporary  captain-general,  while  Eliza- 
beth sent  back  her  favorite  Leicester. 

The  harbor  and  town  of  Sluis  were  held  by  Elizabeth, 
who,  in  her  thrif  tiness  and  hope  of  peace  with  Spain,  had 
neglected  to  fortify  it.  Its  garrison  of  a  thousand  men 
was  commanded  by  Arnold  van  Groenevelt,  the  English 
auxiliaries  being  under  Sir  Roger  AVilliams  and  Sir  Fran- 
cis Vere.  Although  unity  in  council  was  vital  to  ultimate 
success,  the  republic  was  cursed  by  distraction.  Already 
hostile  party  spirit  was  giving  a  partial  revelation  of  what 
calamities  were  yet  to  befall  the  country  because  of  mut- 
ual jealousy  and  enmity.  The  nominal  head  of  the  ultra- 
Calvinists,  or  nationalists,  was  Leicester.  The  aristocratic 
or  municipal  party  was  led  by  Barneveldt.  While  Parma 
was  pushing  his  trenches  and  wheeling  his  siege -guns 
nearer  the  walls  of  Sluis,  where  even  the  women  fought 
side-by-side  with  the  men  as  defenders,  the  municipal 
party, through  jealousy  of  Leicester  and  the  democratic  Cal- 
vinists,  prevented  by  delay  any  relief  being  sent  to  the  city. 
Even  when  Leicester  again  arrived,  in  July,  1587,  with  men 
and  money,  he  was  met  with  indifference.  Defended  with 
heroic  valor  and  consummate  skill,  but  unrelieved,  Sluis 
surrendered  on  the  5th  of  August. 

Parma  had  burned  his  powder  freely  in  the  hope  of 
making  Sluis  his  point  of  departure  for  the  invasion  of 
England,  but  as  yet  he  had  no  fleet;  and  the  Zeelanders 
determined  he  should  never  get  any  to  transport  his  vet- 


712  HISTORY  OP  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1587 

erans  beyond  sea.  While  Sir  Francis  Drake  devastated 
the  Spanish  waters  and  ship-yards,  giving  the  Dutch  hints 
and  suggestions  which  they  took  quickly  and  soon  fol- 
lowed, Elizabeth  disgraced  her  faithful  servants,  Wilkes, 
Norris,  and  Sackville,  entered  into  coquettish  diplomacy 
with  Parma,  and  scolded  the  States- General.  Calculating 
to  avoid  war  with  Philip  and  compel  the  republic  to  make 
peace  whenever  it  suited  her,  she  hoped  also  to  get  Parma 
to  become  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  by  inducing  him  to  play 
false  to  his  own  master.  Meanwhile  the  Spanish  Armada 
was  being  built.  Leicester  seconded  her  crafty  policy, 
and  resorted  to  desperate  measures  to  regain  his  power  in 
the  states,  which  he  blamed  for  the  fall  of  Sluis. 

A  key  to  the  complex  politics  in  the  Netherlands  is  to 
be  found  in  the  fact  that  whereas,  on  the  one  hand,  Barne- 
veldt  and  his  supporters  claimed  that  in  the  absence  of  a 
prince  or  sovereign  all  power  remained  with  the  States- 
General,  the  ultra- Gal vinists  and  the  partisans  of  Leicester 
held  that  sovereignty  belonged  to  the  people.  The  men 
of  precedents,  the  lawyers  and  the  Dutch  statesmen  led 
by  Barneveldt,  had  the  best  of  the  constitutional  argu- 
ment ;  but  the  people,  although  they  had  no  recognition 
on  legislative  parchment  or  in  legal  documents,  having 
few  rights  which  the  law-making  assemblies  were  bound 
to  respect,  were  yet  every  day  gaining  power  and  mani- 
festing it.  The  day  was  soon  to  come  when  they  should 
declare  themselves  a  nation  in  a  manner  as  yet  unknown 
to  the  men  of  charters  and  law  books — namely,  through 
the  church — and  when  the  issues  of  politics  should  be 
settled  under  the  guise  of  theology. 

Leicester,  outgeneraled  in  the  field  by  Parma,  foiled  in 
council  by  Barneveldt,  and  duped  by  adventurers  who  had 
everything  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose,  left  the  Nether- 
lands in  disgust,  at  the  end  of  1587.  However,  his  mis- 
rule and  incompetency  proved  a  blessing  in  disguise,  both 
to  the  united  states  of  the  Netherlands  and  to  the  cause 
of  republican  freedom.  The  disgusted  Dutch  abandoned 
the  idea  of  a  national  sovereignty  lodged  in  a  person,  or 
of  placing  any  mere  figure-head  above  the  prow  of  the  ship 
of  state.     Only  England,  by  orderly  evolution  of  law,  has 


w 

H 

IS 


1587]  DEPARTURE  OF  LEICESTER  713 

been  able  to  disguise  a  republic  under  the  fiction  of  roy- 
alty. 

Unfortunately,  and  perhaps  purposely,  Leicester  left  the 
country  without  having  resigned  his  authority.  His  de- 
parture was  the  signal  for  outbreaks  between  his  partisans 
and  those  of  Maurice,  who  was  at  this  time  in  accord  with 
Barneveldt.  It  seemed  for  a  while  as  though  the  Nether- 
lands, which  had  already  suffered  many  times  from  Span- 
ish mutinies,  and  once  from  a  French  attempt  to  seize 
Antwerp,  might  now  have  a  British  "^  fury."  The  English, 
Scotch,  and  Irish  soldiers  revolted,  and  the  prospects  for 
order  seemed  for  a  time  black  indeed.  Meanwhile  the 
commissioners  sent  by  Elizabeth  were  negotiating  with 
Parma.  He  received  them  with  promises  of  peace,  and 
profited  by  their'invitation  to  send  his  envoys  to  Ostend, 
having  his  engineers,  disguised  as  servants,  examine  its 
fortifications.  In  fact,  Parma  turned  himself  into  an  an- 
cient Caninifates,  or  rabbit  -  catcher,  and  in  person  lei- 
surely inspected  the  defences  of  the  city.  Philip  directed 
his  general  to  keep  up  the  negotiations  until  the  armada 
should  appear,  and  then  execute  his  purpose  of  replant- 
ing the  Catholic  religion  on  the  shores  of  England.  Philip 
already  in  vision  beheld  upon  his  own  head  the  crown 
of  England,  which  Pope  Sixtus  V.  had  so  generously  pre- 
sented to  the  Spanish  monarch. 

It  took  a  good  while  for  the  adjustment  of  these  troubles 
between  the  English  and  Dutch  leaders.  Even  after  Eliz- 
abeth had  deposed  Leicester,  and  had  commanded  both 
the  English  and  Dutch  adherents  of  the  Earl  to  submit  to 
the  States  -  General,  irritation  was 'prolonged  by  Herbert, 
the  English  envoy,  who  held  back  the  Queen^s  order  for 
two  months,  meanwhile  leaving  Lord  Willoughby,  the 
English  officer  in  command,  to  feed  his  suspicions  that 
the  Dutch  were  intriguing  with  Spain.  Yet  even  after 
the  English  soldiers  had  returned  to  duty,  in  loyal  obedi- 
ence to  their  Dutch  superiors,  the  ultra  -  Calvinists  sent 
envoys  to  Elizabeth  begging  her  acceptance  of  sovereignty 
over  the  provinces. 

Meanwhile,  although  Philip  supposed  that  Parma  and 
his  army  were  in  England  awaiting  the  armada,  they  were 


714  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1587 

really  shut  up  in  Dunkirk,  having  no  ships  and  only  barges 
with  which  to  adventure  upon  the  seas.  Parma  anxiously 
awaited  the  approach  of  the  armada,  for  he  expected  that 
with  their  united  forces  the  Spaniards  would  make  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  provinces  of  Spain.  While  the  Eng- 
lish warships  were  shattering  and  sinking  the  clumsy 
Spanish  vessels,  the  sailors  of  Holland  and  Zeeland  were 
doing  an  equally  effective  work  in  blockading  the  coast, 
so  that  Parma  was  helpless.  The  Spanish  commander  had 
the  mortification  of  seeing  his  splendid  army  of  thirty 
thousand  men  reduced  to  one -half  that  number,  while 
probably  one-third  of  the  armada  was  destroyed  or  capt- 
ured in  battle  and  another  third  was  lost  in  the  tempests 
of  the  North  Sea. 

Many  a  gallant  ship,  bedecked  with  flags  embroidered  or 
painted  with  saints,  apostles,  and  the  Prince  of  Peace,  was 
dashed  to  pieces  on  the  coasts  of  Scotland  and  Ireland,  or 
captured  by  the  Dutch  privateers  and  ships  of  war.  Some 
of  the  captured  Spanish  trophies  long  adorned  the  homes 
and  castle  halls  within  the  dikes  of  Holland.  In  the 
Leyden  Museum  one  splendid  silken  pennon,  upon  which 
is  painted  the  face  of  the  Crucified,  after  centuries  of  faded 
and  vanished  color,  has  yielded  up  its  halo  of  glory  to  the 
photograph.  In  our  time  the  storms  have  disturbed  the 
long-buried  hulks,  and  cast  out  the  dead  ships  upon  the 
shores  of  the  land  whose  people  gray-haired  Philip  hoped 
to  reduce  to  mental  slavery.  Dutch  divers  and  engineers 
gladly  undertook  to  fish  up  the  treasure-ships  lost  off  the 
Irish  coast.  AVinning  a  new  wealth  out  of  the  seas,  they 
devoted  the  money  to  draining  their  lakes  and  morasses, 
thus  adding  fertile  soil  to  their  own  domain.  To  help 
them  in  their  work,  a  Dutchman  invented  ''the  ship's 
camel,''  that  forerunner  of  the  drydock — the  same  con- 
trivance which,  in  1813,  enabled  Oliver  Hazard  Perry  to 
float  his  gun -boats,  built  on  the  edge  of  the  forest,  over 
the  bar  and  into  Lake  Erie. 

Philip  reproached  Parma  for  not  breaking  the  Dutch 
blockade  and  going  out  to  meet  the  armada ;  but  to  attempt 
this  would  have  been  madness.  Parma  was  enraged  at 
such  a  requital  by  his  sovereign  of  long  and  faithful  ser- 


1688]  BERGEN- OP- ZOOM  INVESTED  715 

vices.  In  England,  Howard,  Drake,  Hawkins,  Frobisher, 
and  Raleigh — names  associated  with  American  discovery 
and  exploration — had  on  sea  and  land  drilled  and  organ- 
ized the  forces  gathered  under  Leicester,  who  died  in  Sep- 
tember, 1588.  His  English  militia  were  brave,  but  poorly 
equipped,  badly  organized,  and  shamefully  neglected  by 
their  government.  There  was  as  yet  no  true  English 
army,  save  that  which  was  being  slowly  developed  in  the 
Dutch  republic. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  Netherlands,  Parma  had  laid  siege 
to  Bergen-op-Zoom,  which  had  a  garrison  of  Dutch  and 
English  troops  under  Maurice  and  Lord  Willoughby.  Af- 
ter a  brave  defence  and  the  loss  at  one  time  of  a  thousand 
Spaniards,  owing  to  a  double  treachery,  Parma  raised  the 
siege,  and  retired  in  November,  1588.  Maurice  now  moved 
his  troops  to  Gertruydenberg,  the  garrison  of  which,  after 
remaining  in  rebellion  since  Leicester's  departure,  had 
sold  out  to  the  Spaniards  in  April,  1589.  The  commander. 
Sir  John  AVingfield,  afterwards  of  Virginia,  had  been  com- 
pelled to  surrender  by  his  mutinous  and  unpaid  soldiers, 
who  in  turn  were  threatened  by  Barneveldt.  By  this 
fresh  act  of  English  treason  the  Dutch  were  infuriated ; 
but  when  the  states  set  a  price  on  Wingfield's  head.  Queen 
Elizabeth  retaliated,  and  again  division  took  place  in  the 
councils  of  the  republic  and  the  kingdom,  when  hearty 
union  was  most  needed.  With  Philip  bankrupt  and  Parma 
ill  at  Spa,  the  enemy  failed  to  profit  by  this  alienation  of 
friends. 

The  united  provinces,  being  thus  so  occupied  with  home 
troubles,  could  not  attend  to  anything  beyond  their  bor- 
ders. The  daring  partisan,  Martin  Schenck,  from  his  big 
schans  or  fort  on  the  Rhine  island,  occupied  himself  by 
robbing  the  farmers  of  the  surrounding  country  and 
plundering  wagon-trains  of  the  Spaniards  containing  grain 
and  money.  He  now  laid  his  plans  for  the  capture  of 
Nymegen.  Making  ready  a  flotilla  of  twenty-five  boats 
filled  with  his  partisans,  he  dropped  silently  down  the 
river  on  a  dark  night,  and  made  the  gate  of  St.  Anthony 
his  first  point  of  attack.  Having  broken  through,  he 
rushed  with  a  few  picked  men  to  the  market-place.     By 


716  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1588 

this  time  garrison  and  citizens  had  armed  themselves  and 
a  great  fight  began,  with  repeated  charges  and  counter- 
charges. Unfortunately  for  the  bold  buccaneer,  most  of 
his  men  had  been  swept  down  the  river  beyond  the  land- 
ing-place, and  could  not  make  headway  back  against  the 
current  to  assist  their  chief.  Obliged  to  retreat  through 
the  streets  towards  the  river,  his  men  leaped  pell-mell 
into  the  boats,  several  of  which  were  sunk,  and  Martin 
Schenck  himself  was  drowned.  His  body  was  fished  out 
and  cut  up  for  trophies,  his  head  and  four  quarters  soon 
adorning  the  battlements  of  the  city.  Thus  ended  the 
career  of  one  of  the  last  of  the  robber  barons,  of  whose 
exploits  his  numerous  descendants  in  America  still  tell. 
It  is  only  a  thin  line  of  division,  however,  that  morally 
separates  Martin  Schenck  from  the  other  robbers  con- 
temporary with  him,  who  sat  on  thrones  or  in  church 
chairs,  held  sceptres  or  croziers,  or  wore  crowns  or  mi- 
tres. 

These  events  in  the  south  had  left  the  Dutch  in  the 
north  comparatively  free,  especially  in  Friesland,  to  carry 
out  their  deliberately  formed  design  of  protecting  their 
country  not  only  from  the  murderous  Spaniards,  but  also 
from  equally  dangerous  popular  ignorance.  To  freedom, 
priestcraft  is  as  inimical  as  kingcraft.  The  Dutch  safe- 
guarded their  liberties  by  erecting  walls  of  popular  educa- 
tion, surmounted  by  university  towers.  In  1586  the 
states  of  Friesland  founded  a  university  at  Franeker,  a 
city  lying  between  Leeuwarden  and  Harlingen,  though  the 
determination  to  do  so  was  made  on  the  very  day  that 
allegiance  to  Spain  was  forsworn.  This  was  the  second  of 
the  five  universities  for  which  the  Dutch  Republic  was 
to  become  famous.  Previous  to  their  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence from  Spain,  the  people  of  the  provinces  north 
of  the  Maas  and  Scheldt  had  to  depend  on  the  university 
of  Louvain.  As  they  were  slowly  educated  into  national- 
ity and  freedom  they  founded,  one  after  the  other,  the 
universities  of  Ley  den,  Franeker,  Groningen,  Harder- 
wijk,  Utrecht,  and  Amsterdam.  Franeker  had  a  long  and 
glorious  history,  being  always  progressive  in  tone  and  dem- 
ocratic in  sentiment.     In  its  faculties  were  men  whose 


1588]  DRENTHE  717 

names  are  illustrious,  such  as  Coccejus,  Venema,  Vitringa, 
Schultens,  Hemsterhuis,  and  Valckenaer.  From  the  be- 
ginning, Scottish  professors  and  undergraduates  were  ad- 
mitted here.  The  Puritans  of  England  furnished  not  a 
few  men  in  the  faculties  and  student  body,  among  whom 
Dr.  William  Ames,  or  Amesius,  is  best  known  in  Nether- 
land,  where  his  theological  writings  in  various  editions 
are  still  read  and  enjoyed.* 

Drenthe,  in  1595,  chose  the  able  and  powerful  Count 
William  Louis  for  stadholder  ;  and  in  this  same  year  the 
States-General  occupied  Embden  with  a  garrison  that  was 
maintained  henceforth  for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half. 
This  city  in  East  Friesland,  on  German  soil,  is  the  alma 
mater  of  the  Reformed  Church.  It  is  more  Dutch  than 
German,  in  population  as  well  as  in  architecture.  Here 
the  English  refugees  during  Bloody  Mary's  reign  gath- 
ered, and  here  was  lived  the  pre-natal  life  of  the  English 
Puritan  party.  Here  the  Netherlanders  driven  before 
Alva  found  a  home,  and  here,  in  1571,  "  the  churches  of 
the  Netherlands,  sitting  under  the  cross "  and  scattered 
throughout  Germany  and  East  Friesland,  held  their  synod. 
The  people  have  ever  been  more  democratic  and  tolerant 
than  in  most  German  cities.  When  Edward  the  Second, 
the  German  Count  of  East  Friesland,  tried  to  force  Lu- 
theranism  upon  Embden,  the  people  appealed  to  the 
States-General,  which  at  once  sent  troops  to  Embden  and 
Leevoord  to  maintain  freedom  of  religion,  f 

*  He  was  for  forty-five  years  a  professor  in  Franeker,  and  was  appointed 
by  the  States-General  a  deputy  to  the  great  national  synod  in  Dordrecht  in 
1618.  Fourteen  years  later,  while  on  his  way  to  Massachusetts,  he  died  in 
Rotterdam,  his  family  and  his  library  going  to  help  in  beginning  educated 
America.  It  was  out  of  this  Franeker  "  High  School,"  as  it  is  called  in  the 
vernacular,  that  the  sentiment  came  forth  which,  in  1781,  prompted  the 
Dutch  to  recognize  the  American  republic.  Franeker  University  was  too 
full  of  "  free  Frisian  "  sentiments  to  suit  Napoleon,  who  suppressed  it  in 
1811.  Ever  lovers  of  learning  as  well  as  of  liberty,  the  Dutch  showed  that 
they  could  protect  from  license  the  freedom  which  they  won  with  their 
swords. 

f  The  curious  conflicts  of  jurisdiction  which  arose  from  the  multitude  of 
time-honored  anomalies  in  the  Dutch  and  German  political  systems  are 
cleverly  exposed  in  Jacob  van  Lennep's  novel  translated  in  English,  The 
Story  of  an  Abduction  in  the  Seventeenth  Century. 


718  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1589 

Like  a  counter-charge  in  a  great  battle,  and  to  affront 
and  humiliate  the  King  of  Spam  for  sending  the  armada 
into  English  waters,  the  allies  despatched  an  expedition 
against  Spain.  The  whole  fieet  consisted  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty  vessels  of  all  sorts,  with  fourteen  thousand  men, 
of  which  the  Dutch  furnished  forty  ships  and  fifteen 
hundred  men.  The  fleet  sailed  from  Plymouth,  April  18, 
1589.  The  same  dauntless  seamen  that  had  repulsed  the 
armada  and  blockaded  Parma  were  largely  in  evidence  as 
leaders,  and  both  Dutch  and  English  believed  that  they 
were  drawing  the  sword  and  lighting  the  torch  for  the 
good  of  Christendom.  The  Spaniards  were  taken  entirely 
by  surprise  when  the  English  fleet  anchored  off  San  Se- 
bastian. There  was  some  gallant  fighting  and  much  de- 
struction of  Spanish  property  by  fire,  amounting  to  over 
twenty  million  ducats;  but  the  allies,  who  remained  two 
weeks  at  Cadiz,  accomplished  little  in  their  marching, 
fighting,  and  manoeuvring.  Some  money  was  gained  by 
ransoms  and  several  towns  were  burned,  but  little  booty 
was  obtained.  One-half  of  the  men  died  by  disease,  and 
the  survivors  came  home  disappointed.  Nevertheless,  this 
blow  crippled  the  resources  of  Spain  and  clouded  the  last 
years  of  the  tyrant  with  mortification  and  shame,  while  it 
cheered  the  islanders  and  the  Dutch  patriots  as  they  felt 
that  slowly  but  surely  their  oppressor  was  being  weakened. 

In  France  the  dagger  of  a  fanatic  monk  set  a  Protestant 
king,  Henry  the  Fourth,  upon  the  throne.  Elizabeth  made 
haste  to  recognize  and  reward  the  new  sovereign,  the  States 
doing  the  same,  making  him  a  handsome  gift  of  gold,  and 
thus  the  power  of  Spain  to  injure  the  republic  was  further 
weakened.  While  the  naval  power  of  Spain  had  been 
nearly  annihilated,  her  army,  was,  indeed,  drawing  rations 
and  eating  up  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  food  and  sup- 
plies, but  otherwise  was  doing  nothing. 


CHAPTER  m 

THE  MODEL  ARMY 

The  time  had  now  come  in  the  repuhlic  for  the  forma- 
tion of  a  new  army  on  a  new  model,  composed  of  true  pa- 
triots. Of  this  army,  John  of  Barneveldt  and  Maurice  of 
Nassau  were  the  creators.  Barneveldt,  who  incarnated 
the  spirit  of  the  burghers  and  the  city  governments,  be- 
lieved that  the  first  thing  necessary  for  a  prolonged  war 
was  sound  finance.  He  perceived  how  the  valor  of  the 
mercenaries  of  Philip  had  been  neutralized,  and  the  results 
of  their  fighting  and  splendid  discipline  had  been  lost,  by 
non-payment  of  soldiers'  wages.  A  victory  had  been  often 
succeeded  by  a  mutiny.  For,  although  fanatical  as  Turks, 
superb  in  physique,  matchless  in  discipline,  and  fertile  in 
resources,  the  Spanish  soldiers  nevertheless  became  anar- 
chists when  unpaid  or  ill  fed.  Therefore  it  was  that  the 
arms  of  Philip  could  make  no  steady  progress. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Dutch  people,  having  been  for 
centuries  immersed  in  trade  and  commerce,  were  not  only 
averse  to  war  but  had  no  natural  qualifications  for  it,  ex- 
cept courage,  tenacity,  patience,  and  like  virtues,  which 
furnish  the  raw  material  out  of  which  good  soldiers  are 
made.  "When  hostilities  began,  because  of  that  murderous 
church  discipline  called  ''The  Holy  Inquisition,"  in  which 
organized  Christianity  seemed  to  have  reverted  to  the  sys- 
tems of  Moloch  and  Woden,  the  Dutch  were  ready  to 
plead  and  protest,  but  were  not  prepared  for  organized  re- 
sistance. When  Alva  marched  his  invincible  infantry  into 
their  country  and  camped  upon  their  soil,  these  trading 
and  farming  folks  had  no  idea  that  they  could  withstand 
the  dreaded  veterans,  who  seemed  to  have  almost  super- 


720  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1589 

natural  power  in  the  field  or  at  a  siege.  It  seemed  to  the 
Dutch  government  that  only  mercenaries  from  warlike 
countries  were  worth  anything  as  soldiers.  Hence  the 
curious  spectacle  of  hosts  of  foreigners  led  by  sons  of  the 
House  of  Orange,  and  of  an  army  which,  though  organized 
and  paid  by  native  Dutchmen,  was,  as  to  rank  and  file, 
almost  wholly  alien.  Furthermore,  the  Dutch  knew  next 
to  nothing  of  military  science,  which  had  been  developed 
by  the  wars  in  the  southern  countries  against  the  Moors 
and  Turks,  and  in  Germany  and  France,  which  were  then 
the  great  magazines  of  hireling  soldiery.  It  was  not  until 
Maurice  had  created  a  new  science  of  war,  and  Barneveldt 
had  made  the  statecraft  of  Holland  equal  to  its  necessities, 
that  the  Dutch  secured  a  standing  army  of  patriots  who 
were  able,  without  quailing,  to  look  the  Spaniard  in  the 
face. 

The  national  army  consisted  chiefly  of  natives,  though 
it  was  handsomely  reinforced  by  the  British  auxiliaries, 
and  at  first  numbered  but  twelve  thousand  men.  Under 
Maurice  and  his  successors,  the  men  who  fought  beneath 
the  orange,  white,  and  blue  flag  were  superbly  drilled  and 
kept  in  the  highest  state  of  discipline.  It  was  a  genuine 
republican  army,  in  which  men  were  not  given  positions  on 
account  of  birth.  Three  years'  service  on  foot  with  pike 
or  gun  were  required  before  a  man  could  become  a  lieu- 
tenant, and  four  years'  service  in  arms  were  necessary  be- 
fore he  could  be  made  a  captain.  High  discipline  was  ac- 
companied by  high  wages.  Both  the  pay  and  the  rewards 
were  unusual  for  those  times,  and,  what  was  equally  im- 
portant, the  soldier  was  paid  every  week.  Notwithstand- 
ing this  tremendous  strain  upon  the  treasury,  the  republi- 
can government  found  it  to  be  very  advantageous  to  pay 
its  troops  promptly,  for  thereby  a  discipline  was  secured 
that  surprised  the  Spaniards.  Mutinies  were  thereafter 
unknown,  as  well  as  that  shameful  swindling  and  pecula- 
tion which  so  often  marked  the  English  and  Spanish 
methods  of  military  administration.  Furthermore,  the 
soldiers,  instead  of  being  ^  terror  to  the  people  whom 
they  defended,  were  everywhere  welcomed.  The  pres- 
ence of  a  camp  meant  a  thriving  market  for  the  peasants 


1589]  THE  NATIONAL   ARMY   AND  NAVY  721 

and  prosperity  to  the  farming  population  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. 

The  cavalrymen  were  remarkably  well  equipped,  dis- 
ciplined, and  paid.  Maurice  made  his  troopers  discard 
the  long  boots  of  Cordovan  leather,  which  took  a  large 
fraction  of  an  hour  to  get  on  and  take  off.  Stout  and 
comfortable  foot-gear,  as  quickly  put  off  and  on  as  a 
sailor's,  was  provided.  He  armed  his  riders  with  carbines 
instead  of  pistols.  In  time  of  siege,  as  well  as  in  an  or- 
dinary campaign,  the  soldier  on  horseback  did  harder 
work  than  the  other  soldiers  in  any  arm  of  the  service. 

From  this  time  forth,  also,  the  artillery  trains  under 
Maurice  were  larger  and  heavier  than  any  known  in  Eu- 
rope. The  power  and  accuracy  of  his  siege-guns  aston- 
ished students,  who  came  from  all  parts  of  Europe  to 
study  in  this  university  of  war.  Maurice,  whose  influence 
steadily  increased  as  he  received  new  honors,  becoming 
in  1590  the  stadholder  of  Gelderland  and  Over-Ijssel,  as 
he  had  been  of  Zeeland  and  Holland  since  1585,  was  most 
diligent  in  labor  and  unique  in  genius.  While  in  the 
trenches,  or  actively  engaged  in  sieges,  he  wore  a  plain 
suit  of  clothes.  The  only  mark  of  rank  was  upon  his  hat, 
around  which,  probably  in  imitation  or  defiance  of  the 
Duke  of  Alva's  jewelled  hat  given  by  the  Pope,  he  strung 
a  cord  of  diamonds.  His  cousin.  Count  AVilliam  Louis, 
stadholder  of  Friesland,  aided  him  powerfully  in  build- 
ing up  a  truly  national  army. 

From  the  first  the  Dutch  had  possessed  the  sea  as  an 
ally  and  friend.  They  were  perfectly  at  home  among  the 
shoals,  the  narrows,  and  the  intricate  water  passages  of 
their  half -submerged  land.  They  knew  the  bottom  of 
their  coasts,  their  inland  and  outer  sea  with  its  deeps  and 
its  wads,  its  zands,  its  gats  and  vliets,  nearly  as  well  as 
they  knew  the  land's  surface.  To  men  living  in  a  coun- 
try whose  farms  were  alternately  above  and  below  the 
flood,  there  were  no  difficulties  or  peculiarities  of  the 
watery  element  which  could  appall  them  or  furnish  per- 
manent obstacles.  They  felt  at  home  also  when  out  on 
the  deep  sea,  and  in  all  their  long  career  the  Spaniards 
could  make  no  headway  against  them.     Gradually  a  na- 

46 


722  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1590 

tional  navy  was  formed.  Instead  of  armed  fishing  smacks 
and  traders^  vessels,  warships  with  heavy  oaken  bulwarks, 
swiftly  sailing,  quickly  turning,  and  embodying  the  best 
results  of  naval  science,  were  built  and  manned,  and  able 
officers,  graduated  from  the  school  of  the  merchant  navi- 
gators and  the  fisheries,  were  set  in  command.  These 
fleets,  which  became  the  scourge  of  Spain,  suffered  no 
check  until  the  British  disputed  their  power  upon  the 
sea  and  by  superior  resources  carried  off  the  prize. 

A  series  of  military  triumphs,  for  which  Maurice  de- 
serves the  credit,  was  begun  in  1590  at  Breda.  Having 
selected  seventy  picked  men,  the  hardiest,  healthiest,  most 
valorous  and  intelligent  of  his  Dutch  lads,  he  loaded  a 
peat-boat  with  this  human  freight,  stowing  it  in  the  hold, 
while  the  decks,  as  usual  on  a  Dutch  fuel-boat,  were  piled 
high  with  bricks  of  dried  soil.  It  was  on  the  night  of  the 
26th  of  February,  1590,  when  the  canal  being  full  of  ice 
and  progress  difficult,  the  Spanish  soldiers  of  the  garrison 
themselves  came  out  of  the  town  and  actually  assisted  to 
draw  the  boat  inside  the  walls.  The  wily  captain,  who 
was  in  the  secret,  prevented  the  load  of  peat  from  being 
set  on  land  too  fast.  By  clever  tricks  he  lulled  all  sus- 
picions, and  the  job  of  unloading  was  left  to  be  finished 
in  the  morning.  The  boat  discharged  its  living  cargo 
about  midnight.  The  citadel  was  first  assailed,  and  the 
English  and  Dutch  troops  from  without  being  promptly 
on  hand,  they  marched  into  Breda  playing  the  national 
hymn,  "William  of  Nassau,"  composed  by  Philip  de 
Marnix  Sainte-Aldegonde.  In  his  wrath  Parma  hanged 
three  of  his  captains  and  degraded  a  fourth,  because  of 
the  surrender,  which,  on  the  other  hand,  gave  joy  all  over 
the  republic. 

With  his  model  army  increased  to  twenty-five  thousand 
men,and  having  practically  the  supreme  authority,  through 
the  all-powerful  influence  of  Barneveldt,  Maurice  pro- 
ceeded with  the  war  as  if  he  were  playing  a  game  of  chess. 
Indeed,  at  this  time,  the  Netherlands  with  their  numerous 
walled  cities  seemed  wonderfully  like  a  chess-board.  He 
gave  new  and  surprising  efficiency  to  his  artillery,  which, 
whether  in  the  field  or  in  the  trenches,  was  served  by  a 


1590]  MAURICE   CAPTURES  ZUTPHEN  723 

special  corps  of  men  assisted  by  nimble  sailors.  While 
keeping  his  cavalry  well  employed  on  vidette  and  scouting 
duty,  he  habitually  made  his  defences  in  the  rear  so  sure 
from  successful  attack  that  he  could  not  be  diverted  from 
his  purpose  by  any  feints  of  his  enemies.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  was  so  skilful  and  rapid  in  his  movements  that 
Parma  was  puzzled  and  unable  to  check  him.  By  his 
making  a  demonstration  on  Gertruydenburg  and  Herto- 
genbosch,  Parma  was  compelled  to  march  to  the  relief  of 
Zutphen.  This  city,  however,  Maurice  was  able  to  capt- 
ure within  a  week,  having  first  lured  out  beyond  their 
walls  the  Spanish  garrison  of  one  of  the  great  forts  by  a 
grim  joke,  which,  in  some  respects,  paralleled  that  which 
resulted  in  the  capture  of  Breda. 

Some  of  the  cleverest  of  Vere's  Englishmen  dressed 
themselves  as  farmers  and  women  coming  from  the  coun- 
try with  eggs  and  chickens  to  sell,  and  seemed  to  the 
Spanish  garrison  to  be  only  a  party  of  boers  with  their 
wives  and  daughters.  All  these,  with  plenty  of  short 
swords  and  pistols  inside  their  clothes,  sat  down  by  the 
ferry  on  the  river's  side  opposite  the  city,  and  near  the 
forts,  waiting  to  be  taken  across.  While  they  were  talking 
together  Vere  sent  some  cavalry,  who  appeared  as  if  ap- 
proaching. Pretending  to  be  terrified,  these  country-folks, 
as  the.  Spaniards  supposed  them  to  be,  ran  towards  the 
fort,  the  gates  of  which  were  at  once  thrown  open  to  re- 
ceive them  ;  but  no  sooner  were  they  inside  than  egg-bas- 
kets were  dropped  and  the  farmers,  fat  women,  and  young 
girls  turned  into  muscular  soldiers  armed  to  the  teeth, 
who  in  a  few  minutes  were  in  possession  of  the  fort.  A 
short  time  afterwards  Maurice  crossed  the  river  on  a 
bridge  of  boats,  and,  putting  thirty-two  great  guns  in  posi- 
tion, in  five  days  compelled  the  city  to  surrender ;  but 
his  trusted  commander,  Count  Overstein,  was  killed  by  a 
shot  from  the  walls. 

That  same  night  of  the  occupation,  without  stopping, 
the  young  general  sent  down  his  siege-guns  in  boats  and 
began  a  movement  against  Deventer,  a  few  miles  further 
down  the  river.  Sir  Francis  Vere  and  the  Englishmen 
were  especially  eager  to  recapture  this  city,  which  had 


724  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1591 

been  betrayed  by  the  infamous  Stanley.  Eight  days  were 
spent  in  trenching  and  making  approaches.  Then,  after 
an  all -day  cannonade,  a  breach  was  made  in  the  brick 
walls,  and  late  in  the  afternoon  Vere  led  his  English 
troops  to  the  attack.  Unfortunately,  the  bridge  was  too 
short  and  at  first  there  were  heavy  losses,  but  the  next 
day,  after  another  heavy  cannonade,  the  city  surrendered. 
The  council  of  war,  which  was  a  committee  of  the 
States-General  representing  not  the  states,  but  the  nation, 
now  determined  that  the  northern  provinces,  Drenthe, 
Groningen,  and  Friesland,  should  be  completely  liberated 
from  the  Spaniards  ;  but,  before  advancing  northward  too 
far,  Maurice  turned  his  army  suddenly  towards  the  south 
to  Nymegen,  and,  having  entrapped  a  whole  regiment  of 
the  enemy's  soldiers,  drove  Parma's  army  in  rapid  though 
skilful  retreat  across  the  Waal.  Having  safely  placed  his 
army  inside  this  old  city  of  Charlemagne,  Parma,  a  worn-out 
warrior,  sought  again  the  waters  of  Spa.  Maurice  moved 
quickly  to  the  southwest,  captured  the  town  of  Hulst,  near 
Antwerp,  after  five  days'  siege,  and  then  returned  to  the 
fort  of  Knodsenburg,  on  the  side  of  the  river  opposite 
from  Nymegen.  At  this  fort  he  had  left  his  heavy  guns  to 
be  mounted,  and,  going  himself  enthusiastically  to  work 
among  his  men  in  the  trenches,  he  soon  had  sixty-eight 
cannon  belching  fire  and  flame  against  the  picturesque 
city.  This  he  captured  within  twenty-four  hours  from 
the  time  when  its  citizens  answered  with  defiance  his  first 
summons  to  surrender.  This  city  and  the  magnificent 
campaign  of  1591  gave  the  patriots  control  of  the  splendid 
region  of  Gelderland.  With  his  fondness  for  a  grim  joke, 
Maurice,  having  ordered  the  five  portions  of  the  corpse  of 
Martin  Schenck  to  be  taken  out  of  the  brine -tub  into 
which  they  had  been  put  when  taken  down  from  the 
battlements,  had  the  remains  buried  with  great  state 
alongside  of  the  Dukes  of  Gelderland,  in  their  mausoleum 
in  Nymegen. 

When  the  young  Prince  Maurice  entered  The  Hague  to 
receive  the  grateful  welcome  of  the  nation,  the  people 
were  enraptured  with  his  martial  bearing  and  strong  re- 
semblance to  his  father.     All  felt  that  the  sprout  had  at 


1592]  NEW  METHODS  OF  WARFARE  725 

length  become  the  tree.  Elizabeth  wrote  him  a  long  let- 
ter, congratulating  him  on  his  victories.  Hugo  de  Groot, 
afterwards  knowa  as  Grotius,  the  father  of  written  inter- 
national law,  then  a  boy  eight  years  old,  wrote  a  Latin 
poem  in  praise  of  the  young  general. 

In  the  old  school  of  war,  it  was  the  prevalent  theory 
that  the  great  pentagon  fortresses  should  be  carried  by  as- 
sault. When  the  assailant  was  unable  to  breach  the  heavy 
walls  of  brick  and  earth,  it  was  usual  to  assemble  the  army 
in  mass,  quickly  bridge  the  moat  or  fill  it  up  with  rubbish 
of  various  sorts.  After  the  pioneers  had  done  this  work 
and  fixed  scaling  ladders  against  the  walls,  the  pikemen 
and  the  swordsmen  mounted  and  cleared  the  walls,  the 
gunners  meanwhile  plying  their  craft  as  they  were  able. 
In  case  of  an  assault  through  the  breach,  the  cavalry  were 
also  introduced  as  quickly  as  possible,  though  usually  they 
rode  through  the  open  gates,  which  were  opened  by  the 
victorious  troops.  In  any  event,  the  storming  of  a  walled 
city  or  fortress  was  a  scene  of  awful  confusion. 

Maurice  of  Nassau  changed  this  wasteful  system  by 
honoring  the  spade.  In  a  country  made  largely  by  this 
old  implement,  and  containing  hundreds  of  place-names, 
which,  like  Delft,  Grave,  or  tliose  ending  in  dijk  or  dam, 
tell  but  one  story — that  of  the  earth  delved,  graven,  dug 
or  dammed — what  could  be  more  appropriate  ?  It  was 
Maurice  who  made  the  spade  a  great  weapon  of  war.  He 
taught  the  soldier  to  fortify  and  intrench,  to  mine  and  to 
countermine.  Under  his  administration  the  engineer  be- 
came not  merely  a  map-maker,  builder,  and  director  of 
masons  and  delvers,  but  the  commander  of  large  bodies  of 
intelligent  troops  trained  to  use  the  spade,  the  hatchet, 
and  the  fuse,  as  well  as  the  pike  and  the  sword. 

Taking  advantage  of  the  absence  of  Parma  in  France, 
Maurice  transported  his  great  guns  to  Steenwijk  during 
May,  1592.  The  soil  around  this  place,  as  its  name  im- 
plies, is  rich  in  the  pebbles  brought  down  by  Scandinavian 
glaciers.  The  town  lies  on  high  ground,  surrounded  by 
low  meadows,  from  which  heavy  artillery  could  do  little 
harm  and  make  but  slight  impression  on  the  lofty  walls 
of  brick  and  turf.     Seeing  this,  Maurice  at  once  set  his 


726  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1592 

men  to  use  the  shovel.  Mines  were  made  under  the  two 
great  bastions  which,  on  being  fired,  sent  up  far  into  the 
air  great  columns  of  earth,  stone,  plaster,  and  timber,  and, 
on  the  4:th  of  July,  compelled  the  surrender  of  the  city. 
The  medals  struck  at  this  time  show  how  efficient  and 
well-appreciated  were  the  mattock  and  spade  that  had 
done  more  damage  than  cannon-balls.  The  soldiers 
hailed  the  engineer  as  the  lightener  and  sharer  of  their 
labors. 

From  Steenwijk  Maurice  moved  his  men  and  trains 
eastward  to  Coevorden,  which,  like  Oxford  and  Bosphorus, 
tells  the  meaning  of  its  name  in  its  spelling.  Situated  in 
the  southern  part  of  Drenthe,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by 
swamps,  and  built  on  a  ridge  of  hard  land,  which,  on  either 
side  has  heath  and  swamp  extending  in  every  direction, 
this  ancient  place  of  the  cows'  ford  is  the  gateway  into 
Germany.  Anciently  a  Roman  fortress,  and  possibly  the 
city  of  Oruptoricis,  referred  to  by  Tacitus,  it  was  the  me- 
diseval  capital  of  the  Counts  of  Drenthe.  The  sluggish 
streams  that  meet  and  flow  together,  forming  the  Kleine 
Vecht,  enabled  the  city  to  have  excellent  fortifications 
skirted  with  wide  moats.  The  massive  walls  of  earth  and 
brick  were  mirroj.'ed  in  deep  water  not  easily  bridged. 
When  Maurice  had  mounted  his  cannon  he  sent  a  trum- 
peter to  summon  the  commander,  his  renegade  cousin. 
Count  Frederick  Van  den  Berg,  to  surrender.  The  an- 
swer was,  '^  Tell  Prince  Maurice  first  to  level  my  walls  to 
the  ditch,  and  then  make  five  or  six  assaults.  Six  months 
after  that  I  will  think  about  a  surrender." 

The  siege  of  Coevorden  tested  handsomely  the  quali- 
ties of  this  young  engineer  and  soldier.  Here  he  proved 
that  in  both  tactics  and  strategy  he  was  a  master.  Just 
at  a  critical  moment,  when  their  presence  was  most  need- 
ed, Elizabeth  ordered  away  three  British  regiments  to  the 
relief  of  her  ally,  the  French  King.  Nevertheless,  the 
Prince  went  on  with  his  spade-work.  Soon  Count  Philip 
of  Nassau  entered  his  camp,  with  troops  from  France 
equal  in  number  to  the  English  who  had  marched  away. 
The  civilian  deputies  of  the  States  -  General  advised 
Maurice  to  order  out  his  German  cavalry  against  the  re- 


1692]  THE    CAMICIATA  727 

inforcements  which  were  marching  to  assist  the  garrison. 
As  Lee,  by  sending  Early  to  menace  Washington,  failed 
to  draw  Grant  out  of  his  intrenchments,  so  the  Spaniard 
Verdugo,  though  he  tried  to  lure  Maurice  out  of  his 
works,  made  no  impression  upon  the  young  general. 
Maurice  refused  to  risk  weakening  his  army,  and  a  fort- 
unate interception  of  a  letter  enabled  him  to  neutralize 
the  magic  of  the  Spaniards'  night-shirts.  For  years  it 
had  been  their  favorite  game  to  wear  these  white  gar- 
ments over  their  armor,  attack  by  night,  terrify  and  con- 
fuse their  enemies,  and  thus  to  win  many  a  bloody  vic- 
tory. Coming  suddenly  in  the  darkness,  driving  in  the 
sentinels,  and  alarming  their  foes,  who  woke  up  suddenly 
at  night  to  confront  what  seemed  to  be  a  host  of  white 
demons  or  a  band  of  murderous  ghosts,  they  were  thus 
able  to  demoralize  the  best  troops  and  put  them  to  flight. 
The  Spaniards  could  easily  distinguish  each  other,  but 
the  attacked  knew  neither  friend  nor  foe  in  the  darkness. 
Before  Coevorden  the  Dutchmen  were  forewarned  and 
forearmed.  The  white  shirts  of  the  on-coming  Spaniards 
only  served  to  make  them  splendid  targets  for  the  Dutch 
musketeers.  Verdugo's  men  fought  bravely,  and,  since 
they  would  not  easily  give  up  the  struggle,  the  battle 
lasted  while  the  darkness  continued.  Maurice,  by  his 
splendid  courage,  everywhere  inspired  his  men,  and  the 
enemy  was  driven  off  with  heavy  loss.  After  this,  the 
time -honored  camiciata,  or  shirt-attack,  lost  its  charm. 
On  the  17th  of  September,  five  days  after  the  night-bat- 
tle, Coevorden  surrendered.  Fresh  laurels  were  added 
to  the  brow  of  Maurice,  and  a  spade  entwined  with  flow- 
ers became  the  symbol  of  victory. 

The  States-General  had  been  much  irritated  by  Eliza- 
beth's withdrawal  of  her  troops  from  Coevorden  at  a  crit- 
ical moment,  while,  at  the  same  time,  the  rough  treat- 
ment of  Dutch  ships  and  sailors  on  the  ocean  by  English 
cruisers,  because  trade  with  Spanish  ports  was  still  kept 
up,  was  a  constant  source  of  dissatisfaction.  To  these 
difficulties  there  was  a  third,  which  went  deeper  than  the 
surface.  The  Dutch  rulers  were  plain  burghers,  who  de- 
tested aristocratic  airs  and  pretensions  of  superiority,  be- 


728  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1592 

canse  of  birth  or  of  precedence  at  court.  The  repub- 
licans were  blunt  and  independent,  and  did  not  like  the 
dictatorial  manners  of  Englishmen.  There  was  also  a 
difference  in  the  way  of  looking  at  things.  International 
law  and  morality  were  not  as  clearly  established  then  as 
now.  In  Italy,  even  the  gre*t  Michel  Angelo  fought 
against  the  Medici  while  in  their  pay  as  a  sculptor.  Both 
Elizabeth  and  her  subjects  traded  secretly  with  the  Span- 
iards, and,  accordingly,  as  it  suited  her  whim,  she  owned 
or  disowned  the  buccaneers  and  traders  who  fought, 
robbed,  and  traded  in  her  name.  On  the  contrary,  the 
Dutch  openly  trafficked  with  the  Spaniards  and,  growing 
rich  thereby,  were  enabled  to  provide  the  very  means  with 
which  they  kept  up  the  war  against  their  enemies.  The 
English,  however,  claimed  the  right  of  search.  Under 
the  plea  of  seeking  Spanish  property  they  burned  or 
plundered  Dutch  ships,  and  often  brutally  treated  the 
captains  and  crews.  The  case  was  somewhat  analogous 
to  that  of  the  American  revolutionary  war,  when  the 
Dutchmen  at  the  island  of  St.  Eustatius  supplied  the 
American  Continental  army  with  cannon,  powder,  and 
supplies,  most  of  which  had  been  made  in  England  and 
directly  provided  by  English  merchants.  Before  the  end 
of  the  century  the  King  of  Spain,  perceiving  the  vastly 
greater  benefit  which  inured  to  the  Dutchmen  through 
their  commerce  with  his  subjects,  seized  all  Dutch  ships, 
forbade  further  traffic  with  the  enemy,  and  sent  the 
Dutchmen  to  the  inquisition  or  drove  them  out  of  the 
country. 

The  situation  took  on  a  new  phase  when,  September  3, 
1592,  Parma  died,  amid  his  preparations  for  a  new  cam- 
paign. Distrusted  by  his  sovereign,  he  yet  gave  his  fort- 
une and  his  life  to  the  service  of  the  monarch  and  to  the 
great  ecclesiastical  corporation  of  which  he  was  so  fanat- 
ical a  servant.  Both  as  a  general  and  a  diplomatist,  be- 
longing to  the  school  of  that  day  which  believed  both 
in  massacre  and  in  assassination,  he  attained  the  highest 
rank.  He  conquered  as  many  cities  by  his  tongue  as  by 
his  sword  and  cannon.  The  failure  of  the  invasion  of 
England  was  due  to  no  fault  of  his.    Among  his  compeers 


1693]  GERTRUYDENBURG   CAPTURED  729 

• 

he  was  a  man  of  moderation.  He  died  while  on  his  way 
to  meet  his  sovereign,  who  had  recalled  him.  After  a 
grand  funeral  in  Brussels  his  body  was  taken  for  burial 
to  the  Italian  city  of  Parma,  and  (o-day  in  Piacenza  he 
is  remembered  in  a  bronze  statue.  He  was  the  most  cele- 
brated member  of  the  princely  house  of  Farnese,  whose 
members,  whether  women  or  men,  popes  or  cardinals, 
dukes  or  counts,  knew  so  well  how  to  use  the  influence 
and  revenue  of  their  positions  for  the  advancement  of  the 
family.  The  male  line  of  the  Farnese  houae  became  ex- 
tinct in  1731. 

Old  Count  Mansfeld,  now  white  with  the  snows  of  four- 
score years  upon  his  head,  was  made  Philip's  lieutenant, 
though  Count  Fuentes  took  command  of  active  operations 
in  the  field,  and  reversed  by  his  unscrupulous  cruelty  the 
comparatively  mild  policy  of  Parma.  Maurice  began  the 
siege  of  Gertruydenburg,  and,  as  usual,  made  his  own 
position  safe  before  attacking  the  enemy.  This  city  was 
then  well  garrisoned,  and  considered  to  be  impregnable 
because  so  easily  opened  to  relief  by  water.  Availing 
himself  of  all  the  resources  of  the  military  engineer's  art, 
Maurice  began  a  line  of  intrenchments  twelve  miles  in 
length,  inside  of  which  farmers  tilled  their  fields  and  the 
peasants  sold  their  poultry  and  eggs,  while  from  many 
parts  of  Europe  came  distinguished  visitors  to  behold  the 
wonderful  novelties  in  war.  In  vain  did  old  Count  Mans- 
feld attempt  to  lure  young  Maurice  out  of  the  intrench- 
ments into  the  open  field,  though  part  of  the  Spanish 
infantry  was  attacked  and  routed  by  a  body  of  a  thousand 
Frieslanders  and  six  hundred  Englishmen  under  Sir 
Francis  Vere.  By  the  time  Maurice  had  his  galleries 
run  under  the  ramparts  in  three  places  and  as  many 
governors  of  the  city  had  been  killed,  one  of  them  by  a 
stone  bullet,  the  three  months'  siege  terminated  June  24, 
1593.  Frederick  Henry,  then  ten  years  of  age,  being  heir 
to  the  place  by  his  father's  will — Gertruydenburg  being 
the  family  property  of  the  Nassaus — was  made  honorary 
governor  of  the  city.  To-day  the  quiet  little  place  is  in- 
teresting to  literary  men  as  containing  the  only  authentic 
portrait  of  the  immortal  author  of  the  Imitation  of  Christ — 


730  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1594 

Thomas  a  Kempis.  On  the  corner  of  the  canvas  is  the 
famous  motto,  "In  a  little  nook  with  a  little  book." 

The  English  auxiliaries  had  done  so  handsomely  that 
the  treachery  of  Stanley  and  Yorke  was  forgotten  by  the 
Dutch,  who  were,  however,  not  yet  certain  that  Elizabeth 
had  given  up  her  hopes  of  alliance  with  Spain,  and  so  were 
still  anxious  lest,  through  British  treachery.  Flushing  or 
Ostend  might  get  into  Spanish  hands.  Happily  disap- 
pointing the  Hollanders,  Elizabeth  changed  her  attitude. 
She  warned  her  officers  in  command  at  these  places,  and 
wavered  no  more.  Colonel  Verdugo,  still  smarting  over 
his  defeat  in  the  shirt-attack  before  Coevorden,  now  at- 
tempted to  recapture  that  place,  but  the  rapid  and  brill- 
iant movements  of  his  opponent  foiled  him,  and  he  re- 
treated towards  his  base  of  supplies,  while  Maurice  marched 
northward  to  Groningen.  Sending  his  heavy  artillery  for- 
ward by  water,  Maurice  was  soon  able  to  concentrate  a 
resistless  fire  from  four  batteries  upon  as  many  different 
points  of  the  city,  while  the  Englishmen  took  their  places 
eagerly  in  the  trenches.  Scientific  engineering  went  on 
underground,  while  the  iron  shot  pounded  the  walls. 
After  the  strong  ravelin  in  front  of  the  Ooster  Poort  had 
been  blown  up,  the  city  surrendered  on  the  23d  of  July, 
1594,  after  a  siege  of  sixty-five  days,  in  which  it  had  lost 
half  its  garrison.  Maurice  made  a  triumphal  entrance, 
with  great  pomp  and  display.  The  Catholics  were  treated 
with  especial  liberality,  in  order  to  reconcile  them  to  en- 
trance into  the  Union.  Henceforth  Groningen  was  one 
arrow  in  the  sheaf,  which,  in  the  symbolism  beloved  of 
Dutchmen,  is  ever  held  in  the  one  fore-paw  of  the  lion, 
while  with  the  other  it  wields  the  sword,  its  head  wearing 
the  hat  of  liberty. 

Deliverance  from  the  Spaniards  was  also  celebrated  by 
preparations  to  found  a  university,  which,  however,  were 
not  carried  out  until  1614.  This  Dutch  habit  of  commem- 
orating a  victory  by  establishing  a  new  school,  or  erecting 
some  fresh  defence  against  ignorance,  is  noteworthy.  Not 
only  Leyden  and  Groningen,  but  the  other  universities 
are  monuments  of  gratitude  for  deliverence  from  peril 
and  safeguards  against  the   dangers  of  ignorance.     At 


1595]  DEATH   OF   ARCHDUKE  ERNEST  731 

every  centennial  celebration  of  these  mighty  events  in 
the  fatherland,  the  Dutch  have  shown  their  true  spirit  by 
enlargement  of  the  means  of  education. 

The  obedient  provinces  in  the  southern  or  Spanish 
Netherlands  were  now,  except  for  the  periodical  mutinies 
of  the  Spanish  troops,  in  comparative  peace.  The  soldiers 
of  Philip  when  unpaid,  as  they  often  were,  ravaged  the 
country,  while  their  sovereign  was  busy  in  attempting  to 
secure  the  crown  of  France  for  his  daughter.  His  hopes 
were  frustrated  and  utterly  destroyed  when  Henry  the 
Fourth  of  Navarre,  on  the  24th  of  July,  1593,  became  a 
member  of  the  Roman  communion.  Yet,  though  a  Catho- 
lic, Henry  was  a  friend  to  the  Dutch,  and  the  States-General 
stood  ready  to  aid  him  with  men  and  money  for  the  inva- 
sion of  the  Spanish  Netherlands.  These,  in  January,  1594, 
received  their  new  governor  -  general,  the  Archduke  Er- 
nest of  Austria,  who  was  welcomed  as  a  harbinger  of  peace. 
His  genial  manners  won  all  hearts,  especially  as  he  had 
come  without  soldiers.  After  the  usual  ceremonies  of 
welcome,  which  included  the  extravagance  of  custom  and 
of  rhetoric,  the  representations  of  history  in  procession 
and  of  mythology  in  masquerade,  for  which  the  Nether- 
landers  are  famous,  he  addressed  himself  to  the  tasks  of 
government.  The  politicians  of  noble  blood  and  rank 
were  hungry  for  the  spoils  of  office,  and  the  mutinous  sol- 
diers made  his  first  year  one  of  anxiety.  Even  the  assas- 
sins who  through  their  agents  were  plotting  the  death  of 
the  sons  of  William  of  Orange  managed  to  have  the  odium 
of  their  failure  loaded  upon  the  Archduke.  Besides,  being 
unable  to  win  over  the  republican  patriots  to  the  yoke  of 
the  Spaniard,  Ernest,  who  was  a  man  of  humane  and  ten- 
der feelings,  had  the  sorrow  of  seeing  the  retaliatory  laws 
against  Roman  Catholics  more  rigorously  enforced  in  the 
Protestant  republic.  Harassed  with  troubles  on  every 
side  and  with  disease,  the  result  of  dissipation,  the  Arch- 
duke died  in  Brussels  on  the  20th  of  February,  1595,  hav- 
ing spent  but  thirteen  months  of  the  forty-two  years  of 
his  life  in  the  low  countries. 

While  this  nobleman,  who  was  more  fond  of  pleasure 
than  of  work,  lay  dying,  the  allies  were  more  busy  in  de- 


732  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1595 

voting  themselves  to  the  pretty  women  and  rosy-cheeked 
daughters  of  the  Netherlanders  than  to  their  enemies.  An 
epidemic  of  matrimony  seemed  to  have  burst  out,  moving 
in  rapid  undulations  from  the  chief  commanders  to  the 
privates.  Both  the  German  Count  Hohenlohe  and  the 
French  Duke  of  Bouillon,  in  command  of  the  troops  of 
Henry  the  Fourth,  in  Luxemburg,  wedded  daughters  of 
William  the  Silent,  while  Count  Solms,  who  commanded 
the  Zeelanders,  led  to  the  altar  a  daughter  of  Count  Eg- 
mont.  As  for  the  British  auxiliaries,  whether  English, 
Scotch,  Welsh,  or  Irish,  the  marriages  and  consequent  wed- 
ding celebrations,  festivities,  and  furloughs  were  so  fre- 
quent as  to  be  less  epidemic  than  chronic — a  state  of  af- 
fairs which  at  times  seriously  interfered  with  discipline. 
The  Dutch  maidens,  because  of  their  fair  faces,  house- 
wifely qualities,  and  practical  abilities,  were  largely  re- 
sponsible in  the  matter. 

Count  Fuentes  succeeded  as  temporary  governor-gen- 
eral. This  but  added  fuel  to  the  rage  of  the  Netherland 
nobles,  who  were  loth  to  submit  to  the  rule  of  a  foreigner 
of  any  rank  lower  than  that  of  prince.  The  Duke  of  Aer- 
schot,  angry  and  disappointed,  left  his  native  country  and 
went  to  Italy,  where  he  died  at  Venice.  Against  his  own 
will  Fuentes  was  obliged  to  express  the  desire  of  the  obe- 
dient provinces  for  peace  with  the  republic,  but  Maurice 
refused  to  treat  unless  they  declared  themselves  indepen- 
dent of  Spain.  Fuentes  in  the  summer  of  1595  marched 
into  France. 

To  old  Colonel  Mondragon  was  committed  the  respon- 
sibility of  watching  Maurice.  He  exercised  it  in  so  clever 
a  manner  that  the  Spanish  prestige  was  raised.  Nineteen 
miles  southeast  of  Zutphen  lies  Grroenlo,  near  the  frontier 
of  Germany,  and  to  this  place  Mondragon,  et^rly  in  Septem- 
ber, marched  a  force  of  picked  men  from  Antwerp.  Mau- 
rice at  once  arranged  to  ambush  the  old  colonel,  but,  al- 
though supported  by  Philip  of  Nassau  and  the  splendid 
cavalry  commanders.  Cutler  and  Bax,  he  was  outwitted 
and  beaten  by  the  Spaniard.  Mondragon  having  received 
accurate  information  from  his  scouts,  learned  the  exact 
position  of  his  opponents.     He  was  thus  enabled  to  draw 


1595]  PHILIP  OF  NASSAU  KILLED  733 

the  fiery  and  impatient  Philip  of  Nassau  into  a  lane  where 
the  Dutch  lancers  could  not  use  their  weapons.  As  they 
slowly  emerged,  a  few  at  a  time,  into  the  field,  they  had  to 
fight  at  a  disadvantage,  both  as  to  numbers  and  because  of 
their  inability  to  make  formations,  and  so  fell  an  easy  prey 
to  their  enemies.  Maurice  lost  one  hundred  men  and 
several  of  his  best  officers,  among  whom  was  Philip  of  Nas- 
sau. 

On  his  death-bed,  in  the  Spanish  camp  at  Rheinberg, 
Philip  was  courteously  visited  by  Mondragon  and  his  fel- 
low officers.  In  their  presence  he  concealed  his  agony 
and  responded  with  equal  courtesy.  When,  however, 
his  ignoble  and  traitorous  cousin  Van  den  Berg — the  Ar- 
nold of  the  Dutch  war  of  independence  —  taunted  him 
with  serving  the  cause  of  the  Beggars,  the  dying  man 
turned  away  as  the  expiring  lion  might  from  the  kicking 
ass.  Philip  died  at  midnight.  Thus  again  the  generous 
blood  of  the  Nassaus  enriched  the  soil  of  freedom.  Will- 
iam and  his  three  brethren,  and  now  the  oldest  son  of 
John,  had  given  up  their  lives  to  the  patriot  cause.  Ten 
others  of  the  same  illustrious  house  and  many  of  their  re- 
lations were  bearing  arms  for  their  adopted  country,  Hol- 
land. Old  Mondragon,  ninety-two  years  old,  triumphing 
over  the  difficulties  of  age,  and  in  the  very  teeth  of  the 
hostile  criticism  of  his  younger  officers,  had  planned  this 
expedition  from  Antwerp  and  won  the  victory  over  a  rival 
less  than  one-third  his  own  age.  Thus  did  the  field  of 
Groenlo  illustrate  phases  of  humanity  more  interesting 
even  than  those  of  war. 

Eleven  years  afterwards,  in  this  same  region,  the  war  of 
nearly  forty  years  ''  dribbled  out  of  existence.''  For  some 
reason  best  known  to  himself,  Maurice,  who,  however, 
could  not  afford  to  make  a  misstep,  though  having  a  fresh 
army  in  front  of  Spinola's  wearied  troops,  who  were 
fatigued  after  forced  marches,  refused  battle.  Here,  long 
afterwards,  it  could  be  written,  "The  long  struggle  for 
independence  had  come,  almost  unperceived,  to  an  end." 

The  new  governor-general,  a  new  tool  of  Philip,  who, 
after  Margaret,  Alva,  Don  John,  Matthias,  Alexander  Far- 
nese,  and  Archduke  Ernest,  to  say  nothing  of  regents  and 


734  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1596 

temporary  governor-generals,  had  failed  to  crush  Dutch 
liberty,  was  the  Archduke  Cardinal  Albert  of  Austria, 
Archbishop  of  Toledo.  He  came  with  an  army  of  three 
thousand  men,  and  had  plenty  of  money  with  which  to 
pay  the  mutineers  and  an  enormous  amount  of  personal 
baggage.  Having  been  a  mild  governor  of  Portugal,  great 
hopes  were  expected  of  him  as  a  bringer  of  peace.  The 
throned  assassin  in  Madrid  also  sent  with  him  a  middle- 
aged  gentleman  of  forty-two,  who  was  none  other  than 
the  kidnapped  son  of  William  the  Silent,  and  who  was 
exactly  the  kind  of  person  likely  to  emerge  from  a  long 
training  under  Jesuits.  After  the  usual  extravagances  of 
Flemish  and  Walloon  rhetoric,  costume  parades,  and  torch- 
light processions,  the  new  soldier  and  diplomatist  began 
his  sapping  and  mining  operations  under  the  fortress  of  law 
and  freedom  by  attempting  to  bribe  Count  Hohenlohe  and 
the  officer  who  had  captured  Breda.  He  failed  in  this  foul 
work,  but  he  won  Calais  from  the  French  and  then  took 
the  town  of  Hulst. 

These  victories  were  more  than  counterbalanced  in  the 
sack  of  Cadiz  by  the  combined  English  and  Dutch  fleets, 
which  sailed  from  Plymouth  January  13,  1596.  Of  the 
six  thousand  soldiers  engaged  in  this  foray,  a  large  number 
consisted  of  English  regiments  in  the  states'  service,  while 
of  the  ships  and  sailors  one-half  were  Dutch.  Sir  Walter 
Kaleigh  led  the  attack  on  the  Spanish  fleet  in  Cadiz,  and 
Essex  and  Louis  Gunther  of  Nassau  stormed  Puntal. 
The  flags  of  St.  George,  of  the  House  of  Orange,  and  of 
the  republic  floated  on  the  walls.  Cadiz  was  looted  and 
burned,  signal  revenge  being  taken,  not  particularly  on 
the  people  but  on  the  edifices  of  a  cult  that  required  the 
infernal  inquisition. 

England  and  France  having  formed  a  league  against 
Spain,  the  united  states  of  the  Netherlands  joined  in, 
signing  the  compact  on  the  31st  of  October,  1596.  One 
of  the  results  of  this  action  was  that  the  national  troops 
were  kept  busy  on  various  foreign  expeditions.  This 
proved  to  be  not  only  a  source  of  great  expense,  requiring 
the  levy  of  new  taxes  and  the  imposition  of  heavier  burdens 
upon  the  people,  but  it  necessitated  an  increase  of  the 


■'^^^ 


16961  TAXES  MANIFOLD  AND  HEAVY  735 

home  guard  for  the  defence  of  the  frontier  and  towns. 
The  States-General  seemed,  therefore,  obliged  to  raise  a 
small  army  of  at  least  six  thousand  men,  who  were  ex- 
pected to  serve  anywhere  within  the  country.  They 
were  the  minute -men  of  that  time,  and  were  called 
Waartgelders — that  is,  they  were  hired  for  gold  in  order 
to  keep  ward  and  watch.  These  were  the  originals  of  the 
famous  waartgelders  employed  by  the  state-rights  party 
under  Barneveldt  to  maintain  the  local  as  against  the 
national  cause,  or  of  secession  against  union.  Although 
foreign  war  threatened  the  nation,  these  burgher  guards 
did  not  add  very  much  to  the  power  of  the  cities. 

To  maintain  the  burdens  of  war,  taxes  were  manifold 
and  heavy;  but  the  Dutch  paid  them  cheerfully,  finding 
fault,  strange  to  say,  only  when  the  imposts  seemed  dispro- 
portionately directed  against  luxury  in  dress  and  personal 
ornament,  in  which  they  so  delighted.  One  who  looks  to- 
day upon  the  corporation  pictures  of  the  great  painters 
may  see  how  fond  the  Hollanders  were  of  display  in  cos- 
tume. The  enormous  collars  and  cuffs  of  the  Dutch 
Puritans,  the  ruffs  on  the  necks  of  both  male  and  female, 
adults  and  children,  the  voluminous  petticoats,  stomach- 
ers, and  lace  of  the  women,  make  one  wonder  how  so  small 
a  country  could  have  produced  the  grain  to  yield  starch 
sufficient  for  such  snowy  costume.  Put  into  one  mass, 
the  white  pulp  made  in  one  generation  for  the  stiffening 
of  linen  and  lace  would  have  formed  a  glacier  of  Alpine 
proportions.  The  tax  on  starch  yielded  a  handsome  rev- 
enue for  carrying  on  the  government  and  equipping  the 
army  and  navy. 

Introduced  from  the  Netherlands  by  Mrs.  Dinghen  van 
den  Plass,  the  process  of  clear  starching  was,  at  a  high 
price,  taught  to  Queen  Elizabeth's  ladies  as  a  great  secret. 
The  knowledge  and  fashion  spreading  from  the  Court  in 
London  to  the  people,  all  classes  were,  within  a  genera- 
tion, able  to  afford  the  luxury  of  a  texture  imported  from 
the  Netherlands.  Snowy  linen  stiffened  and  made  glossy 
became  all  the  rage.  In  England,  however,  starch  took 
on  a  new  phase  of  usefulness.  It  became  the  means  of 
expressing  one's  opinion — a  badge  of  religion  and  politics 


736  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1597 

according  as  it  was  tinted,  white,  yellow,  and  blue.  The 
nse  or  abstinence  of  this  extract  of  corn  became  the 
evidence  of  moderate  or  of  ultra  Puritanism.  William 
Bradford  tells  us  how  a  godly  but  blind  old  dame  was 
highly  edified  by  the  presence  and  conversation  of  him- 
self and  his  young  companions,  until  her  hands  touched 
their  starched  collars,  whereat  she  was  hurt  and  offended 
at  their  vain  conformity  to  fashion.  Their  savor  to  her 
changed  at  once  from  that  of  holiness  to  that  of  worldli- 
ness. 

In  revenge  for  the  assaults  upon  Cadiz,  Philip  of  Spain, 
at  the  end  of  the  same  year,  sent  a  fresh  armada  into  the 
British  seas ;  but  it  was  also  destroyed  by  storms. 

Early  in  the  next  year,  January  24,  1597,  the  Dutch  re- 
publicans won  a  brilliant  victory  over  the  Spaniards  in 
their  first  battle  on  the  open  field.  The  cavalry  of  Mau- 
rice was  now  splendidly  mounted,  equipped  with  carbines, 
and  trained  to  new  and  effective  evolutions.  It  was  his 
brilliant  subordinate,  Marcellus  Bax,  who  suggested  the 
enterprise  of  moving  on  Turnhout.  Maurice,  instead  of 
being  attacked,  as  he  expected  to  be  after  his  long  march, 
by  the  Archduke's  forces  under  Count  Varax,  found  the 
enemy  moving  back  into  the  southwest,  apparently  retreat- 
ing to  the  fortress  of  Herenthals.  The  next  day  he  came 
up  with  the  Spaniards  on  the  heath  of  Tiel,  and  having  only 
eight  hundred  horsemen,  but  with  none  of  his  infantry  at 
hand,  he  sent  Hohenlohe  and  his  Brabanters  ahead,  while 
Vere  and  Bax  struck  the  rear  of  the  enemy.  The  heavily 
armed  Netherlanders  seemed  nerved  by  the  remembrance 
of  fifty  years  of  outrage  and  oppression.  They  set  the 
Spanish  cavalry  flying  in  a  panic,  and  then  rode  with  fire 
and  sword  over  the  demoralized  infantry.  Over  two 
thousand  of  the  enemy  were  slain  and  five  hundred  were 
taken  prisoners,  the  republican  army  losing  but  a  half 
score  of  men.  The  cheer  which  this  first  victory  in  the 
field  inspired  in  the  Dutch  armies  exceeded  that  caused 
by  the  loss  inflicted  on  the  enemy,  although  the  castle  of 
Turnhout  surrendered  next  morning.  The  whole  story 
seemed  like  romance.  In  London  the  battle  was  drama- 
tized and  represented  on  the  stage.     It  was  purely  the 


1597]  FINANCIAL  PANIC  737 

triumph  of  cavalry,  the  infantry  not  taking  part  because  of 
not  arriving  in  time.  Thirty-five  battle  standards  which 
Maurice  had  taken  at  Turnhout  were  shown  to  the  Polish 
envoy  who  had  declared  that  the  attempt  against  Philip 
was  hopeless.  After  another  splendid  reception  at  the 
Hague,  these  standards,  with  others  captured  from  Alva 
and  Parma,  were  hung  up  in  the  old  Hall  of  the  Knights 
in  which  the  congress  of  the  republic  held  its  sessions. 

Philip,  now  nearly  bankrupt,  and  unable  to  borrow 
any  more  money,  seized  the  pledges  which  he  had  given 
for  his  loans.  This  created  a  financial  panic  in  Europe, 
and  compelled  the  Archduke  to  sell  his  personal  valua- 
bles in  order  to  pay  his  household  expenses.  When  the 
merchants  and  bankers  protested  against  this  new  sort  of 
*'the  final  argument  of  kings,"  and  demanded  both  secu- 
rity and  interest  for  the  fresh  loans  asked  for,  the  repudi- 
ator  at  Madrid  upbraided  them  with  checking  the  progress 
of  the  Gospel.  No  one  could  talk  more  piously  than  this 
Spanish  repudiator. 

The  great  battle  of  freedom  was  to  be  one  of  finance  as 
well  as  of  valor.  While  Spain  was  steadily  losing,  even 
though  she  had  America  to  draw  upon,  the  Dutch  united 
states  were  steadily  organizing  victory  out  of  defeat, 
maintaining  their  financial  credit,  and  building  up  a  solid 
defence  by  their  thorough  system  of  taxation  and  scrupu- 
lously honest  administration.  So  respectable  a  place  had 
the  republic  won  in  the  eyes  of  Europe  that,  during  the 
summer  of  1597,  when  the  Turks  were  threatening  Vienna 
and  the  Emperor  of  Germany  and  the  Kings  of  Denmayk 
and  Poland  were  endeavoring  to  unite  all  Europe,  they 
urged  the  Dutch  to  make  peace  with  Spain,  and  proposed 
that  Maurice  of  Nassau  should  be  general  and  chief  of 
the  combined  armies  of  Christian  Europe.  They  hoped 
thus,  and  then  to  drive  the  crescent  and  followers  of  the 
prophet  back  into  Asia.  The  proposal  was  declined. 
Maurice  now  continued  his  chess-game  of  war,  moving 
five  castles  and  nine  walled  cities,  including  Eheinberg, 
Enschade,  Groenlo,  Ootmarsum,  Oldenzaal,  and  Lingen, 
upon  his  side  of  the  board.  His  captures  of  Spanish  sol- 
diers numbered  five  thousand,  but,  instead  of  attempting 
47 


738  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1598 

to  hold  and  feed  them,  he  liberated  them  to  join  their 
mutinous  brethren,  who  kept  the  obedient  provinces  in 
terror  for  nearly  a  year.  Having  seized  the  citadel  of 
Antwerp,  they  invited,  and  not  in  vain,  the  citizens  to 
support  them,  offering  bombardment  in  case  of  refusal. 

In  France  the  outlook  at  the  close  of  the  century  was 
dark.  Henry  the  Fourth,  confronted  by  distraction  with- 
in his  own  realm  and  poorly  aided  by  England,  yielded  to 
Philip's  diplomacy,  and,  on  May  2,  1598,  signed  a  treaty 
which  was  highly  favorable  to  him,  so  much  so  that  the 
peace  of  Vervins  was  felt  by  Philip  to  be  a  fearful  humilia- 
tion, and  doubtless  hastened  his  death.  The  States  sent 
an  embassy  of  remonstrance,  headed  by  Barneveldt  and 
Justine  of  Nassau ;  but,  accomplishing  nothing  in  France, 
they  went  to  England,  and  were  there  scolded  by  Queen 
Elizabeth,  who  demanded  repayment  of  her  loans,  hold- 
ing over  them  the  threat  of  making  peace  with  Spain.  To 
appease  her  wrath  and  to  further  secure  England's  aid, 
the  envoys  signed  a  fresh  treaty,  August  10,  1598,  modi- 
fying her  claims  by  reducing  them  nearly  one-half,  but 
also  relinquishing  the  annual  loan  heretofore  given.  The 
Dutch  stipulated  to  furnish  thirty  ships  of  war  and  fifty- 
five  hundred  soldiers  in  case  of  the  invasion  of  England 
and  Spain.  As  collateral  security  for  payment,  the  "  three 
cautionary  towns,"  Flushing,  Brill,  and  the  fort  of  Kam- 
mekins,  remained  in  English  custody,  and  the  English 
ambassador  was  given  a  seat  in  the  Council  of  State. 

Philip  the  Second  died  on  the  12th  of  September,  1598. 
His  forty  years'  reign  made  for  Spain  an  awful  chapter  of 
decay,  while  the  countries  under  his  sceptre  sank  into  deg- 
radation or  rose  in  rebellion.  This  man,  four  times  mar- 
ried, might,  as  a  private  citizen,  have  been  a  useful  and 
perhaps  harmless  member  of  society.  As  a  king,  an  ig- 
norant bigot,  and  a  crafty  politician,  he  was  able  to  do 
vast  harm  in  the  world,  and  to  entail  misery  upon  thou- 
sands of  thousands,  because  of  his  position  in  that  very 
artificial  form  of  society  wherein  despotic  monarchs  are 
thought  to  be  necessary.  He  died  after  long  sufferings,  in 
which  perhaps  his  personal  agony  was  quite  equal  to  that 
of  anv  one  of  the  thousands  whom  he  had  made  unnatu- 


1598]  PHILIP  THE   SECOND   DEAD  739 

rally  to  suffer.  He  seemed  to  have  no  more  remorse  for 
the  murders  which  he  had  committed  than  that  Italian 
brigand  who,  having  slaughtered  over  nine  hundred  human 
beings  during  his  active  lifetime,  regretted  on  his  death- 
bed that  he  had  not  made  the  number  exactly  one  thou- 
sand. Like  the  pagans,  whom  one  sees  in  Japan  rubbing 
their  sores  and  infirm  parts  with  the  relics  of  saints  and 
the  images  in  the  temples,  so  in  the  great  gridiron  palace 
of  the  Escorial  of  Madrid,  Philip  had  his  limbs  rubbed 
with  the  bones  of  the  saints.  The  white-haired  old  king, 
whose  memory  the  Spaniards  still  revere,  though  he  curbed 
their  spirit  and  prostrated  their  country,  was  in  his  seventy- 
second  year  when  he  died.  Trained  from  childhood  in 
the  system  of  education  and  government  which  he  inher- 
ited, he  was  at  once  its  passive  victim  as  well  as  its  active 
instrument.  Like  those  children  of  Christian  parents  who 
are  taken  in  infancy  by  the  Turks,  and  trained  in  the  at- 
mosphere of  Mahometan  fatalism  so  that  they  outgrow 
the  Turks  in  bigotry  and  cruelty,  so  Philip  the  Second 
was  a  Mameluke  in  a  system  wherein  polity  and  culture 
were  one.  He  was  one  of  those  many  so-called  vicars  of 
God  on  earth  who,  whether  in  Kioto,  Peking,  Teheran, 
Dahomey,  Constantinople,  or  Rome,  crush  intellect,  and 
make  man's  mind  as  well  as  his  body  the  passive  instru- 
ment of  a  united  state  and  church. 


CHAPTER  IV 
NIEUPOET   AND   OSTEND 

The  successor  of  Philip  the  Second  on  the  throne  of 
Spain  hastened  to  strike  a  terrible  blow  at  the  prosperity 
of  the  Netherlands,  though  by  so  doing  he  defeated  his 
own  ends  and  opened  to  them  new  gateways  of  enterprise 
in  the  Far  East.  Suddenly,  and  without  warning,  he  seized 
all  the  Dutch  vessels  in  Spanish  ports,  and  condemned 
their  crews  to  the  inquisition,  to  the  prison,  or  to  the 
galleys.  By  this  act  the  Spanish  government  hoped  to 
paralyze  the  republic,  which  had  long  drawn  its  supplies 
from  the  ports  of  Spain.  An  entirely  opposite  result  was 
produced.  Even  as  persecution  first  scattered  the  Chris- 
tian church  over  the  world,  so  now  necessity  drove  the 
Dutch  into  all  the  seas  of  the  globe,  thus  beginning  in 
Holland  those  enterprises  that  were  to  make  the  Nether- 
landers,  during  the  whole  seventeenth  century,  leaders  in 
discovery  and  exploration. 

Portugal  had  been  the  pioneer,  and  Africa,  with  its  out- 
lying islands,  had  really  been  discovered  under  the  navi- 
gator Prince  Henry,  who  created  that  spirit  of  which 
Columbus  was  only  the  pupil.  Fifty  years  of  adventure 
had  brought  the  Portuguese  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
whence  they  had  sailed  to  India,  to  the  Golden  Cherson- 
ese, to  the  Spice  Islands,  China,  and  Japan.  Vasca  da 
Gama  had  circumnavigated  the  globe ;  and  in  the  East 
and  in  Brazil  the  Portuguese  had  become  powerful  colon- 
izers. Italy,  whose  sailors,  merchants,  and  caravans  for 
centuries  had  maintained  trade  with  Egypt,  Arabia,  Per- 
sia, and  the  great  gold  and  spice  lands  beyond,  furnished 
to  Portugal,  and  especially  to  Spain,  most  of  their  great 


1598]  DUTCH   DISCOVERIES  AND   EXPLORATION  741 

navigators,  geographers,  and  admirals,  including  the  dis- 
coverer of  America.  These  Italians  added  half  the  earth 
to  the  crown  of  Spain,  but  owned  not  one  foot  of  land  in 
the  new  world  for  Italy,  and  thus  their  sons  were  left  free 
to  serve  as  mercenaries  in  aiding  the  lord  of  the  Indies  to 
crush  the  little  Protestant  republic.  The  Pope  had  di- 
vided the  world  between  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese, 
who  owned  the  charts  and  maps  which  were  the  sailor^s 
keys  to  the  American  and  Oriental  treasure-houses.  When, 
in  1580,  the  two  crowns  of  Spain  and  Portugal  became 
one,  the  two  treasure-houses  became  one  also,  and  the 
owner  was  Philip ;  but  with  many  doors  of  entrance,  it 
was  more  difficult  to  keep  out  all  who  sought  entrance. 

The  keys  were  stolen  when  Jan  Hugo  van  Linschoten, 
the  Dutchman,  after  having  lived  some  years  in  Portugal, 
travelled  in  India  and  the  Spice  Islands,  returned  with  a 
marvellous  store  of  maps  and  charts,  withal  having  ob- 
tained profound  theoretical  and  practical  geographical 
knowledge.  He  reached  home  at  the  right  time.  There 
were  men  in  Holland  already  studying  the  problem  of 
how  to  reach  India  by  a  shorter  northern  route  through 
Arctic  seas,  unvexed  by  human  enemies,  instead  of  mak- 
ing the  long  and  expensive  journey  around  Africa  in  a 
pathway  along  which  Spanish  vessels  swarmed.  In  their 
carrying  and  fishing  trade  the  Dutch  had  educated  a 
host  of  brave  navigators,  who  were  now  ready  to  strike 
out  into  new  fields  and  to  win  the  alluring  prizes.  Lin- 
schoten accompanied  Barentz,  when  this  explorer  began 
that  glorious  career  of  Arctic  discovery  which  has  been 
crowned  in  our  day  by  Nordenskold  and  Nansen.  Besides 
discovering  and  naming  Nova  Zembla  and  Spitsbergen, 
they  made  a  thrilling  record  of  enterprise  and  endurance, 
whereon  a  commentary  may  now  be  read  in  those  relics 
and  journals  so  eloquent  and  appealing  to  the  imagina- 
tion which  were  discovered  in  1871  and  1875,  and  are 
now  in  the  National  Museum  at  Amsterdam.  Linschoten, 
baffled  by  ice  and  storm,  returned  home  to  serve  as  a 
magistrate  in  Enkhuizen,  where  he  wrote  his  famous 
Itinerary.  This  book  was  quickly  translated  into  Latin 
and  the  modern  languages,  and,  having  been  circulated 


742  HISTORY   OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1598 

all  over  Europe,  revolutionized  the  geography  and  the 
navigation  of  the  age. 

Furthermore,  the  world  had  no  school  of  geographers 
more  brilliant  than  that  made  up  of  his  countrymen  who 
seconded  Linschoten's  efforts.  There  was  the  Christian 
pastor,  Domine  Plancius,  who,  in  books  and  discourses, 
preached  the  reasonable  probability  of  Dutch  discoveries 
and  of  finding  profitable  trade-routes  east  and  west. 
There  was  Gerard  Kramer,  called  also  Mercator,  whose 
ideas  of  map-making  marked  a  new  era  in  geographical 
science.  Born  at  Rupelmonde,  in  Flanders,  March,  1512, 
but  living  for  a  time  in  Bruges,  where  he  made  two  superb 
globes  for  Charles  the  Fifth,  he  spent  the  prime  of  his 
life  at  Doesburg.  He  invented  the  style  of  projection 
now  called  after  his  name,  and  emancipated  the  students 
of  geography  from  the  yoke  of  Ptolemy. 

After  the  brave  but  ineffectual  attempts  of  Barentz  and 
Heemskerk  to  find  China  and  India,  through  the  icy  path- 
way of  the  north,  the  brothers  Cornelius  and  Frederik 
Houtman,  of  Gouda,  who  had  lived  at  Lisbon,  started  from 
Texel  Island,  April  2,  1595,  with  four  armed  ships  and 
two  hundred  and  fifty  men,  bound  for  the  Spice  Islands 
at  the  ends  of  the  earth.  They  doubled  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  and  thence  sailed  to  Bantam,  Java,  and  Bali. 
After  fighting  Portuguese  and  Malays,  treachery,  disease, 
and  storms,  they  purchased  cheap  cargoes  of  pepper,  nut- 
megs, cloves,  and  mace,  and  reached  Amsterdam  with 
three  ships  and  ninety  men,  having  opened  the  way  for 
whole  fleets  to  follow.  Their  return  was  joyfully  cele- 
brated as  an  event  of  national  importance. 

Other  adventurers  carried  the  flag  of  the  republic  and 
planted  it  on  the  shores  of  America.  This  was  done  with 
the  idea,  not  only  of  rifling  the  king  of  Spain's  treasure- 
house,  but  of  making  the  shores  of  the  western  continent 
bases  of  supplies,  whence  the  resources  of  war  could  be  ob- 
tained for  fighting  tyranny  at  home.  After  the  Dutch 
came  the  English ;  but  no  one  studying  a  modern  map  of 
the  world  would  get  any  proper  idea  of  the  great  extent 
of  Dutch  explorations  and  discoveries  all  over  the  world. 
Through  the  East  Indies,  and  even  to  Formosa  and  Japan, 


1599]  STATES   ON   THE   DEFENSIVE  743 

the  flag  of  the  republic  floated  over  merchants  and  mis- 
sionaries, over  forts,  school  -  houses,  and  churches,  where 
the  tongue  of  '^Het  Nederland''  was  spoken  and  the 
school-master  and  minister  of  religion  were  beloved.  The 
first  Protestant  foreign  missionary  enterprise  was  begun 
by  the  Dutch  in  Formosa,  to  which  place  they  sent  no 
fewer  than  twenty-six  ordained  ministers,  who  translated 
the  scriptures  and  introduced  Christian  civilization.  The 
good  work  was  continued  until  it  was  swept  away  by  the 
ferocious  Chino- Japanese  pirate,  Koxinga.  Over  all  these 
settlements,  on  the  five  continents,  the  Classis  of  Amster- 
dam exercised  during  three  centuries  not  only  ecclesias- 
tical supervision  but  a  practical  benevolence,  in  assisting 
emigrants  and  immigrants,  the  poor,  the  sick,  and  the 
unfortunate  that  forms  one  of  the  brightest  pages  in 
Christian  history.* 

Time  was  needed,  however,  for  the  republic  to  recover 
from  the  blow  dealt  by  the  sudden  loss,  in  1598,  of  its 
Spanish  trade.  Meanwhile,  having  no  help  from  France 
or  Germany,  and  with  very  little  aid  from  England,  the 
States  were  compelled  to  stand  on  the  defensive.  Mau- 
rice, whose  little  army  was  reduced  to  seventy-five  hun- 
dred men,  remained  along  the  line  of  the  rivers  so  as  to 
be  ready  to  succor  Schenck's  fort,  Nymegen,  Doesburg, 
or  any  other  point  that  might  be  attacked.  Mendoza, 
with  twenty-five  thousand  men,  crossed  the  Maas  on  the 
4tli  of  May,  1599,  and  invaded  the  Island  of  Bommelwaart, 
but  the  splendid  engineering  and  heavy  artillery  of  Mau- 
rice compelled  the  admiral  to  retreat.  The  Spaniard 
then  took  revenge  by  devastating  the  neutral  German 
territory.  He  also  built  the  fort  of  St.  Andres.  In  this 
most  critical  hour  Elizabeth,  fearing  a  new  invasion  from 
Spain,  ordered  away  many  more  of  her  best  troops  from 
the  Low  Countries  to  Ireland,  despite  the  earnest  remon- 
strance of  Barneveldt.  Nevertheless,  the  Spaniards  lost 
all  the  benefit  of  Mendoza's  half -triumph  by  another  mu- 

*  From  personal  knowledge  of  the  original  minutes  of  the  Classis  of 
Amsterdam,  obtained  in  1892  from  their  custodian  and  translator  into 
modern  Dutch. 


744  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1600 

tiny^  while  the  obedient  but  oppressed  provinces  were 
disgusted  by  the  extravagance  of  their  new  rulers.  Tak- 
ing advantage  of  the  disorder  in  the  enemy's  camp,  Mau- 
rice ushered  in  the  new  century  by  capturing  two  forts, 
whose  ragged  and  hungry  Walloon  garrisons  he  persuaded 
to  join  his  forces.  They  were  put  under  the  honorary 
command  of  Frederick  Henry,  the  future  stadholder. 

The  Dutch,  as  they  looked  westward,  now  became  all 
the  more  suspicious  and  watchful,  for  Elizabeth  had  re- 
opened diplomatic  relations  with  Spain,  and  sent  an  envoy 
to  Madrid.  The  truth  was  that  the  Dutch  and  English 
were  mutually  distrustful,  each  thinking  that  the  other 
might  make  peace  with  Spain,  though,  in  reality,  both 
these  Protestant  powers  hated  tyranny  and  were  deter- 
mined to  fight  freedom's  battle  to  the  end. 

There  was  a  feeling  of  good  cheer  and  great  exultation 
in  the  hearts  of  the  Dutch  statesmen  at  the  beginning  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  even  though  they  were  confronted 
with  an  empty  treasury  and  a  discouraged  people,  while 
in  some  parts  of  the  country  the  Catholics  absolutely  re- 
fused to  pay  any  taxes.  In  addition  to  the  loss  of  Spanish 
trade,  the  resources  of  the  country  had  been  greatly 
strained  in  1599  in  fitting  out  a  fleet  against  the  West 
Indies,  which,  after  burning  and  pillaging  some  Spanish 
settlements,  was  wasted  by  disease  which  swept  off  hun- 
dreds of  the  men,  including  the  admiral  and  his  succes- 
sor. Returning  to  the  Netherlands  empty  and  forlorn, 
the  expedition  left  the  admiralty  greatly  in  debt,  and  af- 
forded the  discontented  a  pretext  for  pernicious  activity. 

The  Union  itself  had  been  threatened  by  the  attempted 
secession  of  one  of  the  discontented  states.  Had  this 
movement  been  successful,  it  would  have  imperilled,  not 
only  the  federal  government,  but  the  very  existence  of  the 
nation.  But  while  lawyers  still  talked  the  language  of 
parchment  and  law-books,  the  Dutch  common  people  had 
seen  a  nation  born  and  living,  and  they  were  determined 
that  the  Union  must  and  should  be  preserved.  Gronin- 
gen  had,  in  1581,  seceded  from  the  rest  of  the  northern 
provinces,  when  these  had  issued  their  Declaration  of 
Independence  from  Spain.     To  reward  them.  King  Philip 


1600]  OPPOSITION   TO   WAR  TAXES  745 

had  granted  certain  privileges,  to  which  the  majority  of 
the  inhabitants,  who  were  Roman  Catholics,  clung  most 
tenaciously.  When,  therefore,  after  the  recovery  of  the 
province  from  the  Spaniards  by  Maurice  and  the  union 
army,  the  States  -  General  levied  its  contingent  of  civil 
expenses  and  assessed  war  taxes,  the  Groningeners  refused 
to  pay  the  money  or  send  the  troops.  For  three  years 
they  were  able  to  withhold  their  quotas  of  men,  money, 
and  supplies ;  but  in  1600,  when  its  finatices  were  most 
necessitous,  and  fearing  that  such  a  precedent  of  nullifi- 
cation and  secession  might  infect  other  provinces,  the 
national  congress  resolved  on  coercion.  The  States-Gen- 
eral sent  commissioners,  backed  by  a  thousand  picked  men 
of  the  union  army,  who  disarmed  the  local  militia  and 
made  collections  of  the  arrears  of  taxes  due,  not  only 
from  the  capital  city,  but  the  towns  and  villages.  A 
citadel  was  built  in  Groningen.  A  body  of  the  leading 
citizens  went  to  appear  before  the  National  Congress  at 
the  Hague,  where  they  were  forced  to  contribute  to  the 
treasury  of  the  republic  four  hundred  thousand  guilders 
as  a  fine  before  they  could  obtain  an  audience,  and  thus 
the  province  was  restored  to  the  Union.  After  six  years 
of  wise  reconstructive  measures,  and  when  magistrates 
loyal  to  the  Union  had  been  chosen  to  fill  the  local  offices, 
the  citadel  was  dismantled.  In  this  manner,  the  federa- 
tion of  Dutch  states  passed  its  first  great  internal  dan- 
ger, and  also  made  a  mighty  precedent  for  national  unity 
against  the  extreme  form  of  the  doctrine  of  state-sover- 
eignty, which,  later,  was  presented  in  the  threatened  se- 
cession of  Holland,  the  most  powerful  state  in  the  con- 
federacy, incarnated  in  Barneveldt,  and  backed  by  the 
armed  force  of  his  Leyden  "teeth"  and  the  Utrecht 
waartgelders. 

We  have  now  reached  that  period  in  Dutch  history 
where  the  friendship  between  the  wise  civilian  statesman 
and  the  brilliant  young  military  captain  began  to  weaken. 
The  disagreement  of  stadholder  and  legislator  led  first  to 
suspicion,  then  to  personal  dislike,  and  finally  to*  the  slow 
embodiment,  on  the  one  side,  of  the  centripetal  forces  of 
union  and  nationality  and  of  conservatism  and  piety  and, 


746  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1600 

on  the  other  side,  of  the  centrifugal  forces  of  state-right 
in  its  most  extreme  form,  of  aristocracy,  municipal  power, 
agnosticism,  and  severe  state-churchism  under  the  guise 
of  freedom  of  religion. 

Barneveldt,  seeing  the  dangers  within  the  Union,  believed 
that  the  situation  could  be  improved  by  offensive  warfare, 
and  especially  by  invading  the  disobedient  provinces  and 
cleaning  out  the  nest  of  pirates  at  Dunkirk.  The  Span- 
ish mercenaries  being  in  mutiny,  it  was  thought  by  Barne- 
veldt to  be  a  golden  opportunity  for  the  conquest  of 
Flanders.  The  gradual  but  sure  recovery  of  the  rest  of 
the  southern  Netherlands  he  imagined  would  follow,  and 
then  would  be  consummated  a  union  of  the  whole  seven- 
teen provinces,  making  one  great  commercial  nation,  rich 
in  civic  privileges  and  governed  by  burghers  able  to  dic- 
tate to  the  world.     A  noble  dream. 

The  States  -  General  constituted  but  one  chamber,  and 
had  both  legislative  and  executive  functions.  They  had 
usurped,  or  at  least  assumed,  the  sovereignty  which  in  the 
absence  of  a  feudal  lord  really  belonged  to  the  whole 
people.  Nevertheless,  by  means  of  the  Council  of  State, 
which  represented  not  the  various  states  but  the  nation 
at  large,  the  Dutch  people  had  what  was  practically  a  bi- 
cameral government.  The  Council  of  State  had  execu- 
tive functions  corresponding  somewhat  to  those  of  the 
later  American  Senate,  which,  in  confirming  nominations 
and  making  treaties,  shares  executive  power  with  the 
President.  This  permanent  committee  or  council  was 
composed  of  eighteen  or  twenty  eminent  men  chosen  from 
the  various  states  of  the  republic,  who  represented  not 
their  particular  states,  but  the  whole  country.  Indeed, 
they  were  obliged  to  forswear  allegiance  to  their  states  in 
order  to  be  true  to  the  whole  commonwealth.  This  body 
represented  the  principle  of  nationality,  as  against  that 
of  state-sovereignty  embodied  in  the  States-General.  This 
council,  or  committee  on  the  conduct  of  the  war,  had 
high  executive  powers,  especially  in  military  matters. 
They  in  reality  were  the  true  commander-in-chief  of  the 
nation's  army  and  navy,  for  neither  William  of  Orange 
nor  Maurice — each  of  whom  was  "  the  first  servant  of  the 


1600]  INVESTMENT   OF  NIEUPORT  747 

States-General" — ever  held  any  commission  from  this  na- 
tional legislature.  As  agent  of  the  Union,  Maurice  must 
obey  the  order  to  march  into  Flanders  even  though  it  was 
against  his  judgment. 

The  military  men  were  all  against  the  plan,  which 
seemed  to  them  rash  almost  to  madness.  Slowly  and 
painfully  the  united  states  had  built  up  a  fine  army  and 
a  scientific  military  system.  An  invasion  of  the  Belgic 
Netherlands  seemed  like  risking  all  on  a  single  venture. 
But  Barneveldt  was  then  the  virtual  sovereign  of  the  re- 
public. He  controlled  not  only  the  states  of  Holland, 
which  contributed  half  the  national  taxes,  but  the  States- 
General  also,  and  he  insisted  on  this  scheme.  So  after 
what  the  Dutch  call  ^'  woordenwisseling,"  and  the  Eng- 
lish "  a  few  words,"  young  Maurice  yielded.  Gathering 
together  the  whole  regular  army,  which  consisted  of 
twelve  thousand  infantry,  sixteen  hundred  cavalry,  and 
ten  pieces  of  artillery,  he  divided  these  forces  into  three 
divisions.  Sir  Francis  Vere  led  the  van.  Count  Everhard 
the  centre,  and  Count  Ernest  of  Nassau  the  rear,  while 
Count  Louis  Gunther  of  Nassau  was  general  of  cavalry. 
The  troops  embarked  on  board  a  mighty  fleet  from  Flush- 
ing, their  objective  point  being  the  well-fortified  city  of 
Nieuport.  The  wind  was  not  favorable,  and  the  troops 
had  to  be  landed  forty  miles  distant  from  the  place  of 
disembarkation  as  planned.  Only  after  a  thirteen  days' 
march  was  the  republican  army  able  to  begin  the  in- 
vestment of  water-girdled  Nieuport,  July  1, 1600.  Much 
to  his  surprise  and  utterly  against  the  calculations  of 
Barneveldt,  Maurice  heard  that  the  mutinous  Spanish 
soldiers  had  responded  to  the  appeals  of  the  Archduke 
and  the  Infanta,  and  under  skilful  leaders  were  marching 
against  the  invaders,  capturing  the  forts  and  murdering 
the  garrisons  on  the  way.  Maurice  had  to  arrange  for 
his  own  defence  and  prepare  for  a  desperate  battle  within 
twenty-four  hours.  His  army  was  divided,  part  having 
been  left  in  garrison  and  the  larger  half  of  the  remainder 
being  still  beyond  the  haven.  Whatever  could  be  done 
must  be  done  quickly. 

The  Spaniards  were  coming  along  the  road  that  passes 


748  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1600 

through  Leffingen.  Maurice  sent  his  cousin,  Ernest  Casi- 
mir,  to  hold  the  bridge,  until  all  the  troops  could  be 
brought  from  the  other  side  of  the  haven  to  rejoin  the 
main  body  of  his  army.  Ernest  moved  gallantly  towards 
the  bridge,  but  found  it  already  within  the  enemies'  hands. 
With  his  two  thousand  men  he  faced  the  twelve  thousand 
advancing  veterans,  not  expecting  to  do  more  than  hold 
the  enemy  in  check.  But  when  the  Spaniards  made  a  ter- 
rific charge  his  troops  became  panic  stricken,  and,  break- 
ing ranks,  fled,  only  to  be  pursued  and  slaughtered. 

Haid  the  Archduke  immediately  moved  forward  and 
struck  Maurice's  force  while  it  was  divided,  the  republic 
might  have  been  crushed  then  and  there.  Most  fortunate- 
ly for  the  little  republican  army  shut  up  in  the  dunes, 
with  a  certainty  that  a  reverse  would  be  little  less  than 
annihilation,  the  Archduke  moved  slowly  and  with  long 
halts,  although  he  was  leading  ten  thousand  exultant  in- 
fantry, with  sixteen  hundred  horsemen  and  six  guns. 
Sending  word  to  his  wife  that  he  had  won  a  victory  and 
would  soon  capture  Maurice,  he  still  proceeded  leisurely 
along  the  hardened  portion  of  the  sea  shore  between  the 
soft  dry  sand  and  the  edge  of  the  waves.  It  was  high 
tide,  and  there  was  barely  a  space  of  thirty  yards  between 
the  sea  and  the  steep  sand-hills.  The  Spanish  infantry 
marched  into  the  dunes,  while  the  cavalry  crossed  over  to 
the  Greenway,  a  road  lying  inland  between  the  dunes  and 
the  cultivated  fields.  Maurice's  effective  force,  after  his 
losses  at  the  bridge,  numbered  but  seven  thousand  five 
hundred  men.  The  heaviest  part  of  the  battle  was  to  be 
borne  by  the  vanguard,  of  about  four  thousand  five  hun- 
dred men,  under  Sir  Francis  Vere.  The  artillery,  which 
very  wisely  had  been  put  in  charge  of  the  Zeeland  sailors, 
was  planted  on  top  of  the  sand-hills.  Maurice  had  ordered 
planks  to  be  laid  under  the  wheel-tires,  so  that  the  guns 
could  be  fired  rapidly  and  accurately,  and  yet  would  not  be 
driven  by  the  concussion  into  the  sand  so  as  to  become 
stalled  and  immovable. 

The  Spanish  Archduke  had  taken  off  his  helmet  so  as 
to  be  easily  recognized.  Mounted  on  a  snow-white  stall- 
ioo;  h©  ro4©  ^iQug  i^Q  lines  near  the  front  and  cheered 


mo]  MAtJlltCE'g  GREAT  VICTORY  740 

his  troops.  Maurice,  wearing  a  bright  orange  scarf  across 
his  breast,  and  having  his  helmet  decked  with  orange- 
tinted  feathers,  rode  through  his  lines,  sword  in  hand, 
calling  on  his  troops  to  fight  for  the  fatherland  and  make 
their  choice  between  death  and  victory.  Then,  at  the  ur- 
gent request  of  his  officers,  he  retired  to  one  of  the  two 
prominent  sand-hills,  whence  he  could  see  the  battle  and 
be  ready  to  take  advantage  of  any  emergencies  or  mistakes 
of  the  enemy. 

On  that  Sunday  afternoon  of  the  2d  of  July,  1600,  be- 
gan the  pitched  battle  between  the  troops  of  the  republic 
and  the  mercenaries  of  despotism,  in  a  place  and  on  a 
footing  where  scientific  evolutions  were  impossible.  The 
battle  opened  with  a  rather  premature  fire  from  the  Dutch 
artillery  on  the  Spanish  cavalry.  The  soldiers  were  soon 
knee-deep  in  the  hot  sand,  charging,  counter- charging, 
and  fighting  hand  to  hand.  At  last,  Vere's  division  of  Brit- 
ish and  Frisians,  though  stubbornly  contesting  its  ground, 
was  driven  back  towards  the  battery  on  the  sands.  Then 
Count  Lewis  Gunther's  fresh  horsemen,  supported  by  three 
hundred  foot-men,  charged,  and  for  a  moment  stemmed 
the  tide  of  defeat,  only  to  find  themselves  unable  to  break 
the  front  of  the  enemy's  horsemen  or  to  withstand  the  fire 
of  his  infantry.  After  faltering,  they  broke  and  fled  in 
disorder.  Seeing  this,  the  Archduke  ordered  forward  all 
his  reserves  against  Vere's  Frisians  and  Englishmen.  Hav- 
ing carried  the  East  Hill,  the  Spaniards  formed  in  the 
valley  beyond,  and  the  Frisian  musketmen  were  driven 
from  the  south  ridge,  while  the  Archduke's  arquebusiers 
advanced  along  the  Greenway.  This  was  the  crisis  of  the 
battle.  For  a  few  moments  it  looked  as  if  the  whole  re- 
publican army  would  be  overwhelmed. 

Maurice,  sitting  unmoved  upon  his  horse  on  the  West 
Hill,  took  in  the  whole  scene.  His  commanders  had  been 
beaten  back  and  his  troops  were  in  panic.  Nevertheless, 
he  had  kept  in  reserve  three  squadrons  of  cavalry,  and  the 
Spaniards  were  showing  signs  of  weariness.  The  Arch- 
duke, thinking  he  saw  victory  at  hand,  had  paused  amid 
the  awful  heat.  That  moment  revealed  the  key  of  the 
situation,  and  instantly  Maurice   made  decision.      First 


•J'SO  HISTORY  OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1600 

checking  the  flight  of  the  infantry,  and  entreating  them  to 
rally  to  his  support,  for  love  of  him  and  to  show  that  they 
were  men  of  honor,  he  ordered  his  horsemen  to  charge  on 
the  tired  and  halting  Spaniards  near  the  battery.  The 
cavalry,  wasting  no  breath  or  time,  made  every  pound  of 
weight  in  horse,  man,  and  sword  tell.  The  Frisian  pike- 
men,  fresh  and  eager  for  the  fray,  also  rallied  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  cavalry,  while  the  Zeeland  artillerymen  opened 
with  wonderful  vigor  and  effectiveness.  This  concentrat- 
ed attack  by  cavalry,  infantry,  and  artillery  rolled  back 
the  tide  of  battle  and  decided  it  for  victory.  The  Span- 
iards broke  in  every  direction,  and  the  victors  began  a 
pursuit  in  which  even  those  who  had  retreated  joined. 
The  Admiral  of  Aragon  was  captured  and  the  Archduke 
barely  escaped. 

This  was  the  first  pitched  battle  in  which  the  whole  of 
the  republican  army  had  been  engaged.  The  Spanish  loss 
was  three  thousand  men,  all  their  artillery,  thirty  flags, 
and  six  hundred  prisoners.  The  patriots  lost  two  thou- 
sand. Maurice  knelt  upon  the  sand  and  thanked  God  for 
the  great  victory.  In  this  battle,  English  blood  had 
flowed  liberally  in  freedom\s  cause.  Sir  Francis  Vere  re- 
ceived four  wounds.  The  Spaniards  had  fought  as  far  as 
possible  according  to  their  old  system  of  tercios,  or  large 
battalio'ns ;  and  the  Archduke  had  sent  his  whole  force 
into  the  fight.  On  the  contrary,  Maurice,  fully  develop- 
ing to  his  system  of  small  battalions,  had  kept  back  his 
reserves,  knowjng  well  the  limits  of  human  endurance, 
and  had  communicated  his  own  indomitable  spirit  to  his 
troops.  Indeed,  he  had  ordered  off  his  ships  so  as  to 
compel  his  army  to  fight  well.  Maurice's  tactics  resulted 
in  victory,  because  the  noble  English  brothers,  Sir  Fran- 
cis and  Horace  Vere,  with  their  British  and  Frisian  troops, 
and  Louis  Gunther  and  Count  Ernest  of  Nassau  had 
fought  so  bravely. 

IiJ"evertheless,  not  only  had  the  battle  been  gained  at 
an  awful  risk,  but  Nieuport  still  remained  in  the  hands 
of  the  enemy,  while  Barneveldt's  self-conceit  and  com- 
placency were  dangerously  strengthened  by  the  letters  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  who  gave  the  credit  of  the  victory  to 


1601J  BOMBARDMENT   OF  OSTEND  J'51 

the  civilians  and  the  States-General.  Furthermore,  the 
pirates  of  Dunkirk  continued  to  prey  upon  the  Dutch 
fishing -vessels,  which  were  manned,  for  the  most  part, 
by  those  peaceable  people,  formerly  nicknamed  Anabap- 
tists, but  now  called  Mennonites,  after  the  name  of  their 
saintly  teacher,  Menno  Simons.  The  cruelties  of  these 
Dunkirkers  were  so  frequent  and  savage  that  when  sev- 
eral of  their  craft  had  been  captured  the  States-General, 
in  retaliation,  ordered  the  men  on  board  to  be  hanged. 
A  daring  crew  of  Hollanders  in  the  Black  Galley  of  Dort 
made  a  bold  venture  into  the  Scheldt,  and,  under  the 
walls  of  Antwerp,  captured  a  man-of-war  and  other 
prizes,  towing  them  out  of  the  harbor,  while  the  trum- 
peters played  the  Dutch  national  hymn,  *'  William  of 
Nassau.^' 

To  offset  the  triumph  of  the  republic  at  Nieuport,  the 
Archduke  now  laid  siege  to  Ostend,  the  last  of  the  pos- 
sessions held  by  the  republic  in  the  provinces  which  had 
become  obedient  to  Philip.  The  states  of  Flanders  had 
prayed  to  the  Archduke  Albert  to  take  Ostend,  offering 
to  do  their  share  in  conducting  the  siege.  The  town 
was  powerfully  fortified  with  walls  and  moats,  and  had 
strong  outworks.  An  army  of  twenty  thousand  men  be- 
gan operations,  July  5,  IGOl.  The  garrison  consisted  of 
seven  or  eight  thousand  troops  under  command  of  Sir 
Francis  Vere.  Meanwhile  Maurice  was  busy  in  captur- 
ing Rheinberg  and  Meurs,  on  the  Ehine,  besides  investing 
Ilertogenbosch,  or  Bois-le-Duc. 

The  Archduke  placed  fifty  siege  guns  in  position,  and 
the  roar  of  artillery  began,  which  lasted  all  summer  and 
winter.  Easily  provisioned  by  Dutch  vessels  running  by 
two  water-ways  into  Ostend,  the  garrison  kept  up  good 
spirits,  not  only  repairing  the  breaches  but  building  new 
defences  within,  repelling  the  storming  parties  and  mak- 
ing sorties.  At  night  great  fires  were  kindled,  so  that 
the  shotmen  could  enjoy  good  target  practice  at  the 
besiegers,  and  in  case  of  assault  the  pikemen  could  do 
battle  at  an  advantage.  Often  detachments  of  Spaniards 
were  swept  away  by  the  floods  from  the  open  sluices. 
Nevertheless,  they  persevered  and  got  steadily  nearer.   In 


752  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1602 

March,  1602,  a  new  garrison,  was  thrown  into  the  town, 
and  Vere  exchanged  the  trenches  for  the  open  field,  where 
Maurice  was  so  active  that  the  Archduke  was  obliged  to 
send  off  a  large  force  to  keep  watch  of  the  boy-general, 
and  at  the  same  time  his  army  was  weakened  by  a  fresh 
mutiny  of  unpaid  troops.  Nevertheless,  the  siege  con- 
tinued, and  all  resources  of  the  art  of  attack  and  defence 
known  to  that  age  were  employed. 

While  the  brave  English  and  Dutch  comrades  in  lib- 
erty's cause  were  defending  Ostend,  the  lion-hearted  Queen 
Elizabeth  died.  This  caused  great  grief  to  the  Nether- 
landers,  who  honored  her  despite  her  vacillating  policy 
and  parsimonious  spirit.  She  seems  to  have  utterly  fail- 
ed to  understand  the  character  of  William  of  Orange, 
whose  toleration  and  self-sacrifice  were  unintelligible  to 
her,  whose  idea  of  morals  and  religion  seemed  to  be  sim- 
ply that  of  self-interest  and  national  utility.  She  had 
neither  sympathy  with  nor  appreciation  of  zeal  like  that 
of  Philip  of  Spain,  nor  with  pure  conscientiousness  like 
that  of  the  Silent.  She  was  a  great  sovereign  because 
of  her  courage  and  her  determination  to  make  Eng- 
land great.  She  died,  it  may  be,  of  overwork  for  her 
country. 

Meanwhile  the  time  and  tide  of  war  waited  for  none, 
royal  or  plebeian.  The  siege  of  Ostend  went  on.  The 
Dutch  provision-ships  dashed  past  the  Spanish  batteries, 
and  the  garrison  kept  fat  and  hearty.  Fire-ships  were 
employed  against  the  wooden  dikes.  Mining  and  counter- 
mining were  resorted  to.  Sentinels  stood  knee-deep  in 
the  icy  salt-water  watching  for  an  attack  that  might  be 
made  at  any  time  except  at  high-tide.  In  a  fierce  night 
assault,  13th  of  April,  1603,  the  Spaniards  threw  rope-lad- 
ders, hooked  at  the  ends,  upon  the  walls.  Then,  with  their 
swords  in  their  teeth,  they  swarmed  over  the  outworks, 
which,  though  repeatedly  assaulted,  could  not  be  recapt- 
ured by  the  garrison. 

At  length  the  Italian,  Frederik  Spinola,  appeared  upon 
the  scene.  He  had  fitted  out  some  galleys  at  Sluis,  on 
which  the  Dutch  sailors  and  traders  seized  in  Spain  had 
been  compelled  to  work  as  slaves.     Enlarging  his  fleet. 


1603]  A  THREE   YEARS'  SIEGE  753 

he  became  bold  enough  to  encounter  a  squadron  under 
the  Dutch  Vice-Admiral  Cant,  in  October,  1602,  and  lost 
six  of  his  galleys,  which  were  sunk  by  the  Dutchmen. 
Nevertheless,  Spinola  was  undaunted,  and  equipped  eight 
more  new  galleys,  each  with  two  hundred  and  fifty  pris- 
oners chained  to  the  oars.  With  a  force  of  thirteen  hun- 
dred marines  on  board  he  attacked  four  Dutch  ships  un- 
der Admiral  Joost  de  Moor.  Again  the  winds  of  Heaven 
and  the  skill  of  the  Zeeland  sailors  won  victory.  The 
Spanish  galleys,  having  lost  hundreds  of  men,  were  com- 
pelled to  make  their  way  back  to  Sluis,  their  commander 
being  among  the  slain.  Spinous  elder  brother,  the  Mar- 
quis Ambrose,  now  came  forward.  The  Marquis  was  a 
thorough  student  of  military  affairs,  but  as  yet  had  no  ex- 
perience. He  had  enriched  himself  by  commerce  with 
the  spice-lands.  For  the  honor  of  the  appointment  given 
him  he  aided  the  Spanish  cause  with  gifts  which  greatly 
replenished  Philip's  war  chest. 

Though  without  previous  military  training,  Ambrose 
Spinola  was  destined  to  become  a  great  warrior.  He  was 
given  command  of  the  siege  operations  before  Ostend,  in 
October,  1G03,  and  at  once  began  to  make  use  of  newer 
and  more  scientific  methods,  at  the  same  time  encouraging 
his  men  by  the  example  of  his  personal  skill  and  bravery. 
His  underground  galleries  were  run  first  under  the  out- 
works, and  then  under  the  very  bulwarks  of  the  town,  so 
that  the  besieged  themselves  had  to  blow  up  many  parts 
of  the  fortifications  which  had  not  already  yielded  to  min- 
ing and  assault.  It  is  no  wonder  that  to  contemporary 
writers  the  investment  of  Ostend  seemed  another  and 
greater  siege  of  Troy,  for,  one  after  another,  four  govern- 
ors of  the  town  were  killed,  or  desperately  wounded. 
Yet  Ostend  kept  the  orange,  white,  and  blue  flag  flying 
defiantly.  Though  provisioned  from  without,  even  the 
very  material  of  fortification  failed.  Scarcely  a  house 
was  left,  and  the  bricks,  stone,  and  timber  had  been  used 
to  fill  up  breaches  or  make  new  works.  Even  the  prod- 
ucts of  graveyards  above-soil,  and  the  bodies  of  the  fresh- 
ly slain,  as  well  as  earth,  stone,  and  timber  brought  in  on 
ships,  were  utilized.     On  the  other  hand,  the  cannonade 

48 


754  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1604 

of  Spinola  seemed  to  grow  more  furious,  the  total  number 
of  shots  running  into  hundreds  of  thousands. 

To  divert  the  Spanish  army,  Maurice,  by  order  of  tlie 
war  committee  of  the  Union,  invaded  Flanders  with  the 
idea  of  raising  the  siege  of  Sluis.  Though  the  Archduke 
was  able  to  rally  his  mutinous  troops  by  granting  full 
pardon  and  arranging  for  the  payment  of  their  wages,  so 
that  they  could  be  sent  against  the  stadholder,  the  latter 
was,  however,  able  to  beat  them  off.  The  wretched  in- 
habitants of  Sluis  having  suffered  the  horrors  of  famine, 
surrendered  on  August  18,  1604.  The  war  committee 
now  ordered  the  union  commanders  to  raise  the  siege  of 
Ostend,  notwithstanding  its  lessened  importance,  but 
after  making  cautious  preparations  to  advance,  and  hav- 
ing been  greatly  hindered  by  the  bad  condition  of  the 
roads,  which  the  autumn  rains  had  turned  into  quag- 
mires, Maurice  learned  of  the  surrender  of  Ostend  Sep- 
tember 20,  1604,  after  a  siege  of  eleven  hundred  and 
seventy-three  days.  "The  Sand  Hill,*^  the  key  of  the 
whole  position,  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniard 
September  13.  When  the  Archduke  received  his  prize, 
he  found  only  a  mass  of  smouldering  ruins.  Four  mill- 
ion dollars  and  a  hundred  thousand  lives  had  been  de- 
voted to  the  capture  of  this  wretched  little  sand-bank, 
which  to-day  is  a  smiling  watering-place  where  thousands 
enjoy  themselves  with  summer  mirth.  For  over  three 
years  Ostend  had  occupied  the  entire  Spanish  army  in 
the  Netherlands,  exhausting  utterly  the  resources  of  Spain, 
while  leaving  the  Dutch  free  to  increase  their  wealth  and 
power  by  trade  and  commerce,  and  to  concentrate  their 
military  forces  in  one  place.  It  had  paid  to  defend  Os- 
tend. The  humiliation  of  Spain  was  now  assured,  and 
the  recognition  of  the  Dutch  republic  became  simply  a 
question  of  time. 


CHAPTER  V 

LOOKING   TO   THE   GREAT  TRUCE 

Dutch  diplomacy  and  commerce  had  not  been  idle  dur- 
ing the  long  siege  of  this  Belgian  Troy.  Barneveldt  and 
Prince  Frederick  Henry  went  promptly  to  England  on  the 
accession  of  James  the  First  to  enlist  royal  sympathy  in  aid 
of  the  republic,  but  the  prospect  was  not  very  promising. 
This  conceited  monarch,  whose  temperament  was  doubt- 
less moulded  by  pre-natal  influences — his  beautiful  mother, 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  having  in  her  own  palace  seen  her 
favorite  Rizzio  murdered  and  left  in  his  own  blood — was 
excessively  timid.  He  was  also  narrow-minded,  vulgar  in 
manners,  and  a  lover  of  peace  without  honor.  Being  a 
hearty  hater  of  republicanism,  he  turned  a  deaf  ear  to 
the  entreaties  of  the  Dutch  envoys,  though  he  was  after- 
wards to  be  outwitted  and  humiliated  by  the  diplomatic 
talents  of  Barneveldt,  who  knew  his  man  to  perfection. 
The  Dutchmen  thereupon  made  overtures  to  the  Marquis 
of  Rosny,  afterwards  Duke  of  Sully,  who  was  the  French 
ambassador  then  in  England.  They  pictured  the  poverty 
of  their  fellow  countrymen,  their  great  distress  through 
loss  of  life,  their  galling  taxes,  and  their  general  suffer- 
ings. Nor  is  it  likely  that  these  leaders  of  an  almost  for- 
lorn hope  were,  as  the  French  ambassador  imagined,  ex- 
aggerating the  actual  condition  of  their  fellow-country- 
men. As  matter  of  fact,  the  disunion  sentiment  was  very 
strong,  many  of  the  people  were  tired  of  the  war,  and  their 
needs  were  undeniably  great,  so  that  the  foreign  diplo- 
matists at  the  Hague  were  surprised  because  the  republic 
had,  when  apparently  bankrupt,  held  out  so  long.  It  was 
the  policy  of  Henry  the  Fourth  of  France  to  keep  Eng- 


756  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1604 

land  and  Spain  at  variance,  so  that  the  united  provinces 
would  not  be  sacrificed.  Barneveldt  urged  that  a  French 
army  should  be  sent  to  save  Ostend,  and  De  Rosny,  after 
liberal  promises  and  gifts  to  the  English  nobility,  pre- 
vailed upon  King  James  to  make  an  alliance  with  France, 
which  was  dated  June  25,  1603  ;  but  wherein,  however, 
James  kept  the  way  open  for  peace  with  Spain,  promising 
only  indirect  aid  to  the  Dutch.  Contemptible  as  such 
conditional  help  was,  it  enabled  the  pedantic  King  to  in- 
terfere in  Dutch  politics  and  religion,  to  meddle  even 
with  their  universities  and  professors,  to  pose  as  the 
guardian  of  religion,  and,  generally,  to  cause  his  name  to 
be  everywhere  spoken  of  in  the  Netherlands  with  con- 
tempt and  disgust. 

In  urging  feheir  cause,  the  Dutch  envoys  used  arguments 
which  then  seemed  to  the  authorities  in  London  as  but 
iridescent  bubbles  or  empty  dreams.  They  told  of  their 
oriental  commerce,  which  had  already  begun  and  which 
in  time  was  to  bring  them  untold  wealth.  Already  the 
ships  of  the  republic,  which  had  sailed  in  1598  by  way  of 
the  straits  of  Magellan  and  Peru,  had  reached  Japan. 
Dutch  captains  had  also  informed  the  natives  of  the 
Chinese  world  and  the  Malay  archipelago  that  Portuguese 
and  Spaniards  were  not  the  only  white  men  in  Europe, 
and  that  they  themselves  were  not  pirates,  as  their  rivals 
in  politics  and  religion  had  represented  them  to  be  to  the 
yellow  and  brown  men  at  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

Early  in  1602  the  Dutch  Captain  Wolfert  Hermann, 
with  five  little  armed  vessels,  beat  off  the  fleet  of  the 
Portuguese  Admiral  Mendoza,  consisting  of  twenty -five 
ships,  and  opened  trade  with  the  King  of  Bantam.  Jacob 
Heemskerk,  with  two  small  ships,  captured  a  great  carack 
on  its  way  to  Lisbon,  loaded  with  spices  and  jewels,  and 
carrying  seventeen  guns  and  seventeen  hundred  men.  The 
King  of  Atcheen,  one  of  the  several  petty  sovereigns  with 
whom  the  Dutch  had  made  treaties,  sent  to  Europe  two 
envoys,  who  were  received  with  great  ceremony  by  Maurice 
of  Nassau,  in  his  camp  before  the  city  of  Grave.  Return- 
ing home,  the  Malay  ambassador  gave  glowing  accounts 
of  the  rich  cities  of  Holland,  the  splendid  army,  and  the 


1605]  ENGLISH  TREATY  WITH   SPAIN  757 

great  naval  power  of  the  republic.  Soon  the  various 
Dutch  trading  companies  were  merged  into  the  general 
East  India  Company,  which,  on  the  20th  of  March,  1602, 
received  a  charter  conferring  a  monopoly  of  oriental  trade 
for  twenty-one  years.  With  a  capital  of  over  three  million 
dollars,  this  great  corporation  was  empowered  to  make 
treaties,  raise  armies,  build  forts,  and  exercise  immense 
power,  subordinate  only  to  the  government  of  the  Dutch 
United  States,  which  it  was  destined  vastly  to  enrich. 

What  Barneveldt  had  foreseen  came  to  pass  on  the  18th 
of  August,  1604,  one  month  before  the  surrender  of  Os- 
tend.  King  James  of  England  made  a  treaty  with  Spain, 
in  which  it  was  stipulated  that  neither  party  should  as- 
sist the  other's  rebels  or  enemies,  and  that  Englishmen 
should  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  trade  which  the  Dutch 
carried  on  with  Spaniards  or  the  Belgic  Netherlands. 
Eearing  that  James  would  now  develop  into  an  active 
enemy,  the  Dutch  statesmen  plead  for  help  from  France, 
but  in  vain.  The  real  object  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain 
was  to  become  a  more  despotic  monarch  and  to  get  rid  of 
his  parliament.  This  was  a  dark  hour  for  the  republic. 
While  Spinola  seemed  to  be  constantly  gaining  in  skill, 
Maurice  had  apparently  lost  for  a  time  his  cunning. 
Nevertheless,  as  the  tide  of  fortune  ebbed  at  home,  Dutch 
wealth  and  power  grew  in  Asia.  In  1605  the  East  India 
Company  captured  the  island  of  Amboyna  from  the  Port- 
uguese, gained  new  allies  among  the  Malay  Rajahs,  and 
secured  control  of  the  Moluccas,  the  centre  of  the  spice 
world,  thereby  also  kindling  English  jealousy. 

In  1605  there  was  indecisive  fighting  at  Bergen-op- 
Zoom  and  Sluis.  Spinola,  expecting  to  enter  Holland 
through  Utrecht,  was  foiled  by  Maurice,  who  guarded  the 
approaches  and  prevented  his  proud  enemy  from  pro- 
ceeding further  than  Groenlo  and  Lochem,  in  eastern  Gel- 
derland.  Spinola,  however,  compelled  the  surrender  of 
Rheinberg,  after  a  siege  of  six  weeks.  Again  the  patriot 
cause  looked  so  dark  that  prominent  men  openly  proposed 
an  accommodation  with  the  Archduke,  and  once  again 
Barneveldt  and  Aerssens  used  all  their  power  to  obtain 
aid  from  France,    Heury  the  Fourth  did  not  dare  to  euter 


758  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1605 

into  war  with  either  England  or  Spain  by  directly  assist- 
ing the  States.  The  Dutch  people  seemed  to  be  at  the 
midnight  of  hope,  but  they  would  not  listen  to  the  sug- 
gestion of  offering  the  sovereignty  to  the  French  King, 
although  they  had  once  begged  his  predecessor  to  accept 
it.  Despite  their  poverty  and  internal  dissensions,  they 
were  more  sternly  republican  than  ever,  and  were  deter- 
mined to  be  their  own  masters.  Fortunately,  since  the 
strength  of  the  growing  republic  consisted  largely  in  the 
weakness  of  its  enemies,  the  situation  was  greatly  relieved 
when  another  tremendous  mutiny  among  Philip's  merce- 
naries broke  out. 

Maurice  began  the  siege  of  Groenlo,  but  Spinola  com- 
pelled him  to  abandon  it.  The  year  ended  with  the  young 
stadholder's  military  reputation  eclipsed  by  that  of  the 
brilliant  Italian.  But  neither  party  was  able  to  resume 
hostile  operations,  and  on  the  slippery  heath,  at  the  east- 
ern end  of  Gelderland,  the  war  of  half  a  century  was 
ended  because  of  mutual  exhaustion. 

While  on  land  military  events  had  been  indecisive,  the 
Dutch  were  strengthening  their  power  on  the  sea,  and 
this  not  only  in  the  Indian  Ocean  among  the  Portuguese 
possessions,  but  also  on  the  Atlantic.  The  Dutch  men- 
of-war  began  to  search  for  the  Spanish  plate  fleets  coming 
from  America,  and,  nearer  home,  to  intercept  war  supplies 
for  the  obedient  provinces.  On  one  occasion,  Reynier 
Claaszoon,  the  Zeelander,  sent  out  to  overhaul  a  Portu- 
guese fleet  on  its  return  from  the  East,  met  the  eight 
great  galleons  of  the  enemy  off  Cape  Vincent.  He  was 
deserted  by  his  chief,  with  the  other  ships  of  the  repub- 
lic, who  feared  to  give  battle  against  overwhelming  odds ; 
but  he  began  the  fight.  Admiral  Hautain  with  five 
vessels  came  to  his  aid,  but  soon  afterwards  drew  off 
again  under  cover  of  the  night.  Claaszoon,  after  his  ship 
had  been  dismasted,  nailed  his  colors  to  the  stump,  and 
for  two  days  and  nights  kept  up  a  fight  with  the  eighteen 
vessels  of  the  enemy,  refusing  all  offers  of  surrender  or 
mercy.  As  the  hulk  was  sinking  he  knelt  with  his  sixty 
fellow  survivors  in  prayer  to  God,  and  then  fired  the  pow- 
der magazine.     Two  mangled  sailors,  fished  up  out  of  the 


160Y]  MICHAEL  DE  RUYTER  759 

sea  by  the  Spaniards,  told  the  story,  and  defied  their  foes 
until  death  made  them  silent. 

The  next  year,  on  the  25th  of  April,  1607,  the  war  was 
carried  into  Africa.  When,  in  805  a.d.,  Tarik  the  Sara- 
cen crossed  from  the  Dark  Continent  to  plant  the  cres- 
cent flag  in  Europe,  he  named  that  great  rock,  which  in 
the  ancient  world  of  thought  formed  one  of  the  pillars 
of  Hercules,  after  himself,  Gib-al-Tarik,  or  Gibraltar,  and 
here  the  orange,  white,  and  blue  flag  was  destined  to  win 
fresh  glory.  Jacob  Heemskerk,  the  Arctic  explorer,  with 
his  fleet  of  twenty-six  vessels,  encountered  the  much 
heavier  force  of  Juan  d'Avila,  consisting  of  twenty-one 
ships,  sheltered  under  the  fortresses  on  the  frowning  cliff. 
But  so  splendid  was  the  seamanship  of  the  Dutch,  and  so 
terrific  was  their  cannonade,  that  all  the  Spanish  galleons 
were  soon  burned  or  sunk,  except  the  flag-ship  St.  Augus- 
tine, which  was  captured.  A  Dutch  trumpeter  climbed, 
up  the  rigging,  and  having  hauled  down  the  admiral's 
pennon  set  the  hulk  adrift.  The  Dutchmen  mercilessly 
slaughtered  their  enemies  whether  on  deck  or  in  the 
water.  Rage  became  fury  when  they  discovered  their 
countrymen  chained  on  board  the  Spanish  vessels  and 
also  found  among  the  Spanish  Admiral's  papers  from 
Madrid,  one  signed  "I,  the  King,"  which  commanded 
the  infliction  of  all  possible  cruelties  upon  captives.  In 
this  battle  the  gallant  Heemskerk  was  slain.  His  funeral 
at  Amsterdam  was  made  a  gorgeous  pageant  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  state — a  unique  honor. 

Michael  de  Ruyter,  the  boy  in  whom  Dutch  sea-power 
was  to  find  its  supreme  incarnation,  was  born  March  24, 
1607,  one  month  before  this  battle  of  Gibraltar.  In  a 
cradle  at  Flushing  was  being  rocked  a  new  treasure  for 
the  nation,  while  there  rose  at  Amsterdam  the  Oude  Kerk, 
a  gorgeous  monument  to  the  memory  of  that  brave  sailor 
who,  having  twice  borne  the  republic's  flag  through  icy 
seas  as  pathfinder  to  the  Orient,  at  last  annihilated  the 
sea-power  of  the  owner  of  the  Indies.  This  naval  victory 
made  Philip  and  the  Spanish  cabinet  quite  ready  to  open 
negotiations  for  peace  with  the  ''  men  of  butter,"  who  fed 
their  cows  on  the  ocean's  bottom,  lived  on  top  of  forests 


760  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1607 

planted  downward,  who  had  turned  a  mndhole  into  a 
garden,  and  who  had  proved  themselves  men  of  iron. 

Active  war  operations  had  now^  continued  nearly  forty 
years,  and  both  sides  desired  peace.  With  an  empty 
treasury  Spain  could  no  longer  continue  the  fight ;  and 
neither  France  nor  England  would  help  in  strangling  the 
republic.  On  the  other  hand,  among  the  Dutch  it  was 
uncertain  how  long  the  Catholic  provinces  would  pay 
their  war  taxes,  while  there  was  also  a  steadily  growing 
alienation  between  Maurice  and  Barneveldt  and  the  ten- 
dencies which  each  represented.  Barneveldt  imperson- 
ated the  municipal  spirit,  with  its  jealousy  of  centralized 
power.  He  and  his  supporters  were  aristocratic  in  their 
tastes  and  feelings,  and  cared  comparatively  little,  per- 
sonally or  politically,  for  the  common  people.  They  mag- 
nified state  and  local  pride,  loved  trade  with  its  accom- 
panying wealth  and  luxury,  and  disliked  war  with  its 
great  expense  and  risk.  This  party  feared  that  the  Dutch 
people,  led  by  Maurice,  would  be  dazzled  by  military  suc- 
cess and  more  and  more  would  yearn  for  glory  in  arms. 
This  would  not  only  jeopard  federal  government,  but 
might,  in  case  of  defeat,  make  the  republic  a  mere  de- 
pendency of  France. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Dutch  common  people  had  im- 
bibed the  idea  that  they  were  something  more  than  mere 
groups  of  human  beings  associated  as  municipal  and  state 
units.  They  felt  that  they  were  no  longer  Hollanders, 
Frisians,  Zeelanders,  and  Groningeners,  but  that  they  were 
Dutchmen.  They  believed  in  absolute  independence  and 
wanted  nothing  more  to  do  with  kings  or  emperors,  un- 
less these  accepted  office  as  a  sacred  trust  and  became 
not  merely  the  rulers  but  also  the  servants  of  the  Dutch 
people.  They  believed  in  a  strong  war  policy,  because 
they  thought  that  nothing  else  would  give  them  nation- 
ality and  freedom.  They  supported  every  measure  cal- 
culated to  injure  Spain,  and  hence  were  heartily  in  favor 
of  naval  prowess,  of  colonization,  of  exploration  and  dis- 
covery. It  was  not  only  the  office-holders  and  the  sailors 
and  soldiers,  but  also  the  East  India  Company,  that  made 
up  the  war  party,  which  was  powerfully  reinforced  and 


1608]  HOSTILITIES  TEMPORARILY  SUSPENDED  761 

kept  alive  by  the  pastors  of  that  stronghold  of  democracy, 
the  Reformed  Church. 

Calvinism  is  always  democratic,  always  in  favor  of  pop- 
ular education  and  popular  rights.  It  teaches  that  every 
true  Christian  is  a  prophet,  priest,  and  king  unto  God ; 
that  the  poorest  and  humblest  soul  is  a  man,  by  nature 
a  sinner  before  God,  but  by  divine  grace  a  son  ;  and 
a  king  is  nothing  more.  Logically  and  as  a  matter-of- 
course,  the  Dutch  Calvinists,  both  clerical  and  lay,  were 
hearty  adherents  of  the  war  policy.  They  wanted  peace, 
but  only  with  honor  and  liberty,  and  they  were  ready  to 
sacrifice  their  last  stiver  to  win.  Maurice  was  at  the  head 
of  this  powerful  party,  not  merely  because  he  was  ambi- 
tious and  his  abilities  and  tastes  were  those  of  a  soldier, 
but  also  because  he  was  a  Calvinist  and  in  sympathy  with 
the  hopes  and  ambitions  of  the  people — especially  when 
these  coincided  with  his  own. 

The  weak  King  of  Spain,  Philip  the  Third,  absorbed  in 
the  delights  of  spectacular  worship  and  the  effeminate 
pleasures  of  the  court,  was  only  too  ready  to  listen  to  the 
appeals  for  peace  of  his  poorly  supported  general,  Spinola. 
Early  in  April,  1607,  envoys  from  the  two  countries  agreed 
to  suspend  hostilities  for  eight  months,  beginning  with 
the  4th  of  May.  Both  the  British  and  the  French  min- 
isters at  the  Hague  assisted  in  the  peace  negotiations, 
which,  however,  were  hardly  made  before  fresh  intrigues 
for  and  against  their  continuation  were  begun  in  the  re- 
public ;  on  the  one  hand  by  Barneveldt,  who  wished  for 
a  long  truce  ;  and  on  the  other  by  Maurice,  who  hoped 
for  a  speedy  renewal  of  hostilities.  The  breach  widened 
between  the  old  statesman,  who  was  freely  accused  of  sell- 
ing out  to  Spain,  and  the  young  general,  who  was  charged 
with  aspiring  to  the  sovereignty. 

Barneveldt's  superior  craft  in  controlling  the  town  and 
city  governments  won  the  day.  The  peace  negotiations 
were  renewed.  On  the  last  day  of  January,  1608,  when 
the  canals  of  Holland  were  frozen  over,  so  that  men  were 
compelled  to  travel  on  sledges,  the  Spanish  envoys,  among 
whom  was  the  brilliant  Spinola,  arrived  in  the  Hague,  led 
by  Richardot.     Maurice,  William  Louis,  and  other  Dutch 


762  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1608 

dignitaries  went  out  to  meet  them.  Spinola  and  Maurice, 
like  brothers,  rode  in  a  coach  together.  As  soon  as  the 
peac«  -  congress  was  opened  inside  the  legislative  cham- 
bers overlooking  the  Binnenhof  and  the  Vijver,  a  war  of 
pamphlets,  placards,  and  caricatures  began  between  the 
partisans  of  the  war-lord  and  the  civilian.  Barneveldt 
was  called  a  tool  of  Spain,  and  charged  with  having  re- 
ceived bribes  from  Spinola.  In  his  indignation,  Barne- 
veldt resigned,  but  was  prevailed  upon  to  resume  office 
again.  Their  naval  victories  and  a  fresh  alliance  which 
they  succeeded  in  making  with  England  emboldened  the 
Dutch,  but  the  Spanish  envoys  stubbornly  refused  to 
yield  the  freedom  of  the  seas  and  of  trade  with  the  Indies, 
or  to  recognize  the  rights  of  the  Dutch  government  to 
regulate  the  public  exercise  of  the  Roman  form  of  Chris- 
tianity within  the  united  provinces. 

The  negotiations  were  broken  off  by  the  Dutch,  August 
20,  1608,  when  they  discovered  that  the  King  of  Spain, 
in  order  to  alienate  France  from  the  republic,  had  offered 
the  Crown  Prince  of  Spain  in  marriage  to  King  Henry's 
oldest  daughter.  In  the  marriage  market  of  Europe, 
princes  and  princesses  were  simply  the  pawns  which 
crowned  politicians  used  in  playing  the  game  of  statecraft. 
War  again  seemed  imminent. 

The  English  and  French  ambassadors  now  made  pro- 
posals of  a  truce  for  several  years,  but  Zeeland,  Amster- 
dam, and  Delft  so  strongly  opposed  the  proposition  that 
threats  were  even  made  of  secession  from  the  Union,  but 
the  skilful  envoys  carried  the  day.  The  religious  ques- 
tion was  settled  in  favor  of  the  Dutch,  who  reserved  the 
right  to  regulate  the  public  processions  and  demonstra- 
tions of  the  Roman  Catholics,  while  in  the  treaty  docu- 
ments they  modified  the  title  of  the  States-General  from 
Noble  and  Mighty  Lords  to  that  of  High  Mightinesses. 
Actually  the  Dutch  won  all  for  which  they  contended — 
the  regulation  of  popular  religious  demonstrations,  trade 
in  the  eastern  seas,  and  national  independence.  After  the 
Chinese  fashion  of  ^'  saving  the  face  "  of  a  thing,  Spanish 
pride  was  humored  by  having  no  direct  mention  made 
in  the  treaty  of   several  of  the   most  important  points 


1608]  THE   GREAT   TRUCE  SIGNED  763 

gained.  The  guarantors  of  the  truce  were  England  and 
France. 

Thus  after  twenty-eight  months  of  tedious  negotiation 
and  the  consumption  of  an  enormous  amount  of  ink,  pa- 
per, parchment,  and  wax,  the  great  truce  was  signed.  The 
stadholder  had  been  won  over  by  the  brilliant  diplomatist 
Jeannin,  the  accomplished  envoy  of  Henry  the  Fourth. 
The  States-General  agreed  to  reward  Maurice  for  his  past 
services  and  for  his  loss  of  command  in  war,  by  paying 
him  the  princely  salary  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
guilders  a  year,  while  all  the  illustrious  members  of  the 
House  of  Orange  were  richly  pensioned  or  rewarded.  The 
envoy  Jeannin  was  acting  for  his  master,  who  hoped  to 
control  the  republic  through  the  House  of  Orange.  Bar- 
neveldt,  who  was  thought  by  his  enemies  to  have  looked 
with  jealousy  upon  this  action  of  the  States-General,  op- 
posed with  all  his  might  a  further  proposal  of  Jeannin  to 
have  a  council  of  state  created  in  which  the  British  and 
French  ambassadors  should  sit  as  members.  Barneveldt, 
who  was  first  of  all  opposed  to  any  increase  of  the  stad- 
holder's  power,  and  was  withal  the  determined  foe  of 
foreign  infiuence  in  the  national  councils,  defeated  the 
project. 

A  little  over  one  year  after  the  signing  of  the  truce  the 
dagger  of  Ravaillac  had  removed  from  earth  the  noble 
soul  of  King  Henry  the  Fourth  of  France.  During  the 
truce  neither  Spinola  nor  Maurice  attacked  each  other, 
though  there  were  hostilities  in  the  German  territory  in 
1610  and  1614,  in  which  both  Spinola  and  Maurice  seized 
a  number  of  cities. 


CHAPTER  VI 

CALVIN^IST  AND  AEMINIAJT 

Philip  the  Third  of  Spaij^^  had  been  led  to  grant  the 
truce,  because  his  spiritual  advisers  assured  him  that  no 
sooner  would  the  Dutch  heretics  be  freed  from  the  pres- 
ence of  Spanish  armies  than  they  would  tear  each  other 
to  pieces  in  their  controversies.  All  too  soon,  the  Spanish 
papists  were  able  to  gloat  over  the  fierce  dissensions  which 
they  saw  breaking  out  in  the  Protestant  Netherlands. 

In  the  obedient  provinces,  religious  bigotry  and  op- 
pression were  to  continue.  Foreign  dominion  paralyzed 
the  national  spirit,  but  progress  in  industry  and  increase 
in  agricultural  wealth  made  ordinary  life  comfortable. 
Though  there  was  scarcely  a  Belgian  ship  upon  the  sea, 
the  natural  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the  genius  of  the  peo- 
ple for  patient  toil  and  their  love  of  the  picturesque  as- 
serted itself.  A  brilliant  line  of  painters  and  architects 
made  the  southern  Low  Countries  the  home  of  art  and  lit- 
erature. The  land  of  Rubens  became  the  delight  of  tour- 
ists and  travellers. 

In  the  Dutch  United  States  the  great  and  ever  vital 
principles  of  harmony  between  the  centrifugal  and  cen- 
tripetal principles  of  government,  between  state  rights  and 
national  supremacy,  between  secession  and  federal  union, 
were  to  be  discussed  and  come  to  issue  without  costly 
civil  war  or  much  bloodshed,  though  not  without  some 
victims  to  popular  frenzy.  The  problems  and  dangers  of 
federal  government  are  not  those  of  monarchies  ;  but 
whereas,  in  the  same  case  of  the  American  republic  in 
1861  the  pretext  for  secession  was  African  slavery,  in  the 
Dutch  union  of  states  it  was  theology,  though  the  real 
questions  at  issue  in  both  were  the  right  of  secession  from 


1608]  DIVERSITY   OF  OPINION  765 

the  Union  which  had  made  a  nation,  and  whether  there 
should  be  a  real  federal  republic,  or  only  the  shadow  of 
one  with  a  stadholder  as  autocrat. 

On  the  one  side  were  the  men  of  law,  of  parchment,  of 
precedents,  who  claimed  to  have  the  constitutional  argu- 
ment all  on  their  own  side.  These  demanded  a  literal 
and  close  construction  of  the  Union  of  Utrecht  and  vindi- 
cation of  local  rights,  of  the  cities  and  the  provinces,  as 
guaranteed  by  charter  and  interpreted  not  by  new  light  or 
fresh  experiences,  but  by  old  precedents.  These  men,  the 
lawyers,  burghers,  and  city  magistrates,  formed  the  aristo- 
cratic party,  caring  little  either  for  the  peasantry,  the  sail- 
ors, or  the  common  people  generally.  In  the  eyes  of  the 
men  who  held  to  state  sovereignty — the  Barneveldians — 
the  common  people  had  few  rights  which  the  magistrates 
and  burghers  were  bound  to  respect.  They  believed  in 
peace,  commerce,  and  the  right  of  each  particular  prov- 
ince to  control  religion.  In  a  word,  to  the  unprejudiced 
student  their  opinions  present  a  curious  compound  of 
ultra-conservatism  and  liberalism.  Their  idea  of  govern- 
ment seemed  to  be  little  better  than  that  of  a  monarchy 
comminuted  and  distributed — a  multitude  of  petty  sover- 
eigns ruling  by  their  wealth  and  aristocratic  power  the 
mass  of  the  people. 

On  the  other  hand  were  the  people  at  large  and  their 
religious  and  military  teachers,  powerfully  reinforced  by 
other  educated  men  whose  minds  were  ruled  less  by  prec- 
edent than  by  the  teachings  of  experience.  They  be- 
lieved that  in  the  absence  of  the  land's  lord,  or  master,  of 
old  feudal  days,  sovereignty  belonged  to  the  people  of  the 
land,  and  that  authority  resided  in  the  people  who  had 
become  a  nation  by  standing  shoulder  to  shoulder  against 
the  inquisition,  the  Pope,  and  the  armies  of  the  King  of 
Spain.  The  Dutch  people  believed  that  revolution  had 
been  forced  on  them  from  without.  New  life  gave  new 
power,  and  so  they  fiercely  opposed  the  idea  that  a  local 
body  of  magistrates,  or  a  provincial  government,  should 
regulate  conscience  or  religion.  They  had  not  yet  reached 
that  point  of  view  from  which  it  may  be  seen  that,  in  the 
divorce  of  statecrOfft  and  priestcraft,  of  ecclesiasticism  and 


766  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1608 

politics,  there  is  ever  the  best  guarantee  of  pure  religion, 
sound  progress,  and  good  government.  Nor  had  they  yet 
clearly  discriminated  between  the  form  and  the  spirit  of 
true  religion  —  between  the  life  which  is  more  than  the 
meat  and  the  body  which  is  more  than  the  raiment.  To 
them,  religion  was  the  Reformed  body  of  doctrine  and  or- 
der, and  the  Reformed  religion  was  Calvinism,  and  only 
that. 

All  churches,  except  those  of  the  Independents  and 
Anabaptists — spiritual  ancestors  of  the  majority  of  Eng- 
lish-speaking Christians  —  were  then  national,  and  the 
majority  of  the  Dutch  people  believed  that  the  religion 
of  a  nation  should  be  decided  in  national  council  with  na- 
tional authority.  The  old  formula  of  mediaeval  Europe, 
ejus  regio  cujus  religio,  was  still  observed,  but  in  the  Cal- 
vinist's  eye  the  sovereign  was  now  the  people — the  nation ; 
while  the  men  in  the  state-right  party  held  that  each  state, 
representing  the  cities,  was  sovereign,  and  not  the  people. 
The  Dutch  people  believed,  further,  that  freedom,  both 
political  and  religious,  could  be  obtained  only  by  victory 
over  Spain  and  complete  defiance  of  her  power.  Hence, 
though  they  had  no  special  liking  for  war  and  found  its 
burdens  almost  intolerable,  they  were  in  favor  of  renew- 
ing the  struggle  when  the  truce  was  over.  They  looked 
towards  Maurice,  the  stadholder,  as  the  incarnation  of  the 
idea  of  nationality,  of  religion,  and  of  democracy. 

In  studying  the  history  of  the  Netherlands,  religion  and 
politics,  or  rather  ecclesiasticism  and  state-craft,  cannot 
be  separated.  So,  having  considered  the  political  forma- 
tion of  the  country,  let  us  now  glance  at  the  religion  of 
the  Dutchmen  and  the  origin  and  formation  of  religious 
parties,  and  discover  how  was  begun  that  sectarian  strife 
which,  joined  with  politics,  so  powerfully  influenced  pub- 
lic opinion  in  favor  of  a  renewal  of  the  war. 

Christianity  when  entering  the  Netherlands  did  not  ob- 
literate, but,  while  modifying,  only  intensified  the  race- 
traits  of  the  Teutonic  portions  of  the  people.  Their  sturdy 
independence  and  their  intellectual  freedom  were  but 
slightly  restrained.  The  native  of  the  morass  and  heath, 
of  town  and  city,  never  yielded  the  right  of  private  judg- 


1608]  BROTHERS  OF  THE  COMMOX  LIFE  767 

ment,  except  partially  or  temporarily.  The  missionaries 
who  brought  the  knowledge  of  Christ  did  not  come  di- 
rectly from  Rome,  but  from  Britain  and  Ireland.  When, 
later,  the  British  bishop  Winfrid  or  Boniface  became  one 
of  the  political  and  ecclesiastical  partisans  of  the  Bishop  of 
Rome,  and  returning  to  Friesland  attempted  to  bring  the 
Christian  churches  into  thorough-going  obedience  to  the 
Latin  prelate,  there  were  prompt  reaction  and  determined 
resistance.  Historians  who  believe  that  the  church  founded 
by  Him  whose  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world  ought  to  be  a 
great  political  corporation,  with  graded  offices  and  a  des- 
potic head  like  an  Oriental  potentate,  have  been  only  too 
ready  to  characterize  this  reaction  as  "  pagan."  In  reality, 
the  uprising  in  which  Boniface  was  slain  at  Dokkum,  in 
Friesland,  was  a  patriotic  or  national  movement,  which  as- 
serted native  rights  against  foreign  priestcraft.  All  through 
the  Middle  Ages  there  was  intense  and  active  protest 
against  the  continuing  usurpations  of  the  bishop,  who  had 
his  seat  by  the  banks  of  the  Tiber,  and  of  his  servants. 
The  northern  Netherlanders  in  being  Christianized  re- 
fused to  become  hopelessly  Romanized. 

The  southern  Netherlanders,  having  more  of  Celtic 
blood  and  Celtic  traits  of  character,  were  earlier  Chris- 
tianized, and  also  earlier  Romanized.  There  was  a  Prank- 
ish church  in  Utrecht,  in  a.d.  720,  though  Christian  wor- 
ship had  been  celebrated  there  before  that  time.  Utrecht 
became  what  it  may  still  be  called,  the  ecclesiastical  capi- 
tal of  the  Northern  Netherlands.  Yet,  down  to  the  time 
of  Charles  the  Fifth  and  Philip  the  Second,  there  was  but 
one  bishopric  north  of  the  Scheldt,  while  there  were  three 
in  the  Southern  Netherlands.  It  was  in  the  north  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ijssel  river,  in  the  town  of  Deventer,  where, 
under  Gerhard  Groote,  began  that  fraternity  of  the  Broth- 
ers of  the  Common  Life,  from  which  proceeded  the  im- 
pulse to  popular  education  and  the  free  instruction  of  the 
poor.  Their  work  and  influence  resulted  in  the  establish- 
ment of  schools  throughout  the  Low  Countries  and  in 
the  formation  of  that  public  opinion  which  in  the  towns 
called  for  and  created  public  schools  sustained  by  taxation. 
These  public  schools  were  free  to  the  little  ones  of  those 


768  HISTORY   OF  THE   KETHERLANDS  [1608 

unable  to  pay,  and  open  for  nominal  tuition  fees  to  the 
children  and  youth  of  the  burghers.*  Out  of  these 
schools  came  those  harbingers  of  the  Reformation,  Thom- 
as a  Kempis,  whose  world  -  influencing  book,  The  Imita- 
tion of  Christ,  tends  to  the  cultivation  of  the  soul  with- 
out priest,  or  altar,  or  hierarchy  ;  Zerbolt  who  labored  to 
have  the  Bible  and  devotional  books  expressed  in  the 
common  people^s  Dutch  speech  ;  Wessel  Gansvort,  fore- 
runner in  thought  of  Zwingli  and  Luther,  who  believed 
with  the  Church  but  not  in  her ;  Erasmus,  the  father  of 
modern  biblical  criticism  and  the  pioneer  of  Bible  socie- 
ties ;  and  a  host  of  lesser  stars.  The  Netherlands,  soon 
becoming  the  printing-office  of  Europe,  began  to  supply 
the  demand  already  created  by  the  intellectual  movements 
abroad,  while  also  leading  all  other  countries  in  the  number 
of  editions  of  the  New  Testament  and  of  the  Holy  Bible 
printed  in  the  language  of  the  people.  When,  therefore, 
those  sacred  writings,  having  ceased  to  be  merely  a  na- 
tional literature  in  possession  of  the  Rabbins,  or  the  mys- 
tery in  a  dead  language  of  a  mediaeval  learned  caste,  got 
into  the  hands  of  the  people,  they  became  a  tremendous 
engine  for  the  overthrow  of  privilege,  monopoly,  and 
hereditary  power,  both  ecclesiastical  and  critical.  The 
old  face  of  society  must  needs  be  changed. 

Earlier  than  the  Zwinglian,  Lutheran,  or  Calvinistic 
movements  was  that  of  the  Bible-readers  or  Brethren, 
nicknamed  Anabaptists.  These  not  only  protested  against 
pope  and  king,  but  against  all  monopoly  of  power  in  the 
hands  of  a  few.  The  democratic  movement  coming  into 
contact  with  the  churches  having  political  force,  whether 
of  Rome  or  of  the  Reformation,  overflowed  Switzerland, 
and  flowed  through  Germany  into  the  Netherlands.  The 
seed  sown  found  a  most  congenial  soil  in  Frisia  and  other 
provinces.  The  first  wave  of  the  Dutch  Reformation 
was  wrought  by  putting  the  Bible  into  the  hands  of  the 
people.  It  was  these  plain  peasants,  mechanics,  traders, 
and  common  folks,  upon  whom  knights  and  soldiers  and 

*  Verhandeling  over  de  Broederschap  von  O.  Groote  en  over  den  Injioed 
der  Fraterhuizen.     E,  H.  M.  Delprat,  Arnhem,  1856. 


ERASMUS 


1608]  THE  MENNONITES  769 

the  rich  merchants  looked  with  profound  contempt,  that 
first  made  the  Netherlands  Protestant.  On  the  foun- 
dations laid  by  them,  the  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  were 
able  to  build.  The  idea  that  religion  should  be  a  thing 
between  the  individual  man  and  God,  and  need  not  be 
associated  with  a  great  corporation  that  included  thrones 
and  governments,  with  their  sources  of  wealth  and  chan- 
nels of  power  through  the  sword  and  the  treasury,  seemed 
to  the  men  of  privilege  to  be  sheer  insanity.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  see  why  the  Anabaptists,  or  Mennonites,  as 
they  were  called  in  the  Netherlands  when  organized  by 
Menno  Simons — without  the  mention  of  whose  name  and 
influence  no  true  history  of  the  Dutch  Kepublic  can  be 
written — were  hated  by  all  average  men  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  but  were  beloved  and  honored  by  great  souls  like 
William  of  Orange.  Menno  Simons^s  fundamental  teach- 
ing was  based  on  a  holy  life,  as  taught  in  primitive  Chris- 
tianity, before  the  church  had  any  union  with  secular 
powers,  or  had  built  great  edifices  of  dogma.  The  Men- 
nonites' spiritual  reformation  was  mistaken  for  anarchy. 

Historic  science  shows  that,  first  of  all,  the  Dutch  peo- 
ple were  converted  to  the  Reformed  faith  through  the 
so-called  Anabaptists.*  It  was  these  despised  congrega- 
tions of  believers  who  furnished  the  first  martyr  in  the 
Netherlands,  Willem  Dirks ;  and  of  those  slain  in  the  sev- 
enteen provinces  for  conscience'  sake  the  majority  were 
of  these  churches  of  Christ  in  which  Menno  is  the  shin- 
ing name.f 

The  second  movement  in  the  Dutch  Reformation  came 
through  the  gate  of  Augsburg.  The  Lutheran  writings 
and  doctrines  were  read  and  studied  by  monks  and  priests. 


*  Geschiedenis  der  Kerkhervorming  in  Nederland  van  haar  ontstaan  tot 
1531,  door  Dr.  J.  G.  de  Hoop  Scheffer,  Amsterdam,  18*73. 

\  The  ground  -  thought  from  which  Menno  proceeded  was  not,  as  with 
Luther,  justification  by  faith ;  or,  as  with  the  Swiss  reformers,  the  absolute 
dependence  of  the  sinner  upon  God  in  the  work  of  salvation.  The  holy 
Christian  life,  in  opposition  to  worldliness,  was  the  point  whence  Menno 
proceeded,  and  to  which  he  always  returned.  In  the  Romish  church  we 
see  the  ruling  spirit  of  Peter;  in  the  Reformed  Evangelical,  of  Paul;  in 
Menno  we  see  rise  again  that  of  James  the  Just,  the  brother  of  the  Lord. 
49 


770  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1608 

by  merchants  and  the  well-to-do  classes ;  and  a  strong 
party,  not  numerically  great  but  very  influential,  made 
the  Netherlands  Protestant  in  Luther^s  way. 

Third,  and  greatest  of  all,  was  the  reformatory  wave 
which  came  in  through  the  Geneva  gate.  The  men 
trained  under  Calvin  entered  into  the  southern  provinces, 
while  those  taught  by  A^'Lasco  came  in  from  the  north- 
east. Especially  in  the  south,  singing  Marot^s  psalms  as 
they  met  in  the  open  fields  by  the  thousands,  and  listen- 
ing to  the  fiery  and  uplifting  sermons  of  men  who  knew 
their  Bible,  the  Calvinists  found  in  the  system  of  truth 
presented  by  their  preachers,  and  as  elaborated  by  Calvin 
and  Beza,  a  message  from  God  that  seemed  to  satisfy  the 
deepest  yearnings  of  their  nature,  while  it  made  them 
fear  no  mortal  man.  It  was  as  though  one  born  with  all 
longings  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  richest  music  were  sud- 
denly ushered  into  a  great  cathedral  filled  with  the  har- 
monies of  organs  touched  by  master-hands. 

Calvinism  means  reality  in  religion.  Whatever  it  may 
be  now,  mummied  in  cases  of  words,  that  hold  death  in- 
stead of  life ;  whatever  it  may  be  now,  lacking  the  genius, 
fervor,  and  power  of  men  unable  to  make  verbal  state- 
ments that  shall  fit  science,  which  now  is  more  determi- 
nistic and  has  more  of  the  spirit  and  method  of  the  great 
realist  and  investigator  than  even  the  church  dogmas; 
whatever  it  may  be  in  the  hands  of  despots  and  self-seek- 
ers, whether  in  church  or  state,  Calvinism  so-called  was 
a  world-moving  system  of  thought. 

Whether  in  the  hands  of  Paul,  of  Augustine,  or  of  Cal- 
vin, the  theologian,  republican,  and  popular  educator  in 
Geneva,  a  system  which  supremely  honors  God  and  at 
once  exalts  and  abases  the  humblest  man  is  sure  to  turn 
upsidedown  any  world  built  by  priest  and  king.  This  is 
true  democracy,  that  in  its  ken  kings,  popes,  bishops,  and 
men  of  all  classes  are  but  sinful  creatures  on  an  equal 
level,  while  the  peasant  and  the  boer  may  be  the  very 
elect  of  God,  and  priests  and  kings  unto  Him — all  man- 
kind in  sin,  God  alone  sovereign  and  merciful.  Of  neces- 
sity, such  a  system  requires  and  compels  intelligence, 
thought,  self-sacrifice,  courage,  tenacity,  and  perseverance. 


1608]  RELIGIOUS  CONTROVERSIES  771 

and  therefore  becomes  the  mother  of  popular  rights  and 
education,  of  schools  and  colleges,  of  beautiful  family  and 
civic  life.  Militant  Calvinism  creates  brave  warriors  and 
superb  armies. 

The  Dutch  are  very  different  in  temperament,  tastes, 
and  character  from  the  Germans,  and  never  in  all  their 
history  did  they  show  these  differences  more  than  in  re- 
jecting Lutheranism  and  accepting  Calvinism. 

But,  like  all  other  engines  of  power,  Calvinism  may  be- 
come the  means  of  oppression,  bigotry,  and  iniquity.  Paul- 
inism,  when  carried  to  an  extreme  and  expressed  in  forms 
of  human  authority,  without  regard  to  other  truths  and 
opinions,  bred  heresy  -  hunters,  inquisitors,  and  bigots. 
Augustinism,  when  continuing  and  exaggerating  Paulin- 
ism,  nursed  the  usurpation  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and 
formed  the  great  ecclesiastical  machine  with  its  inquisi- 
tion, producing  such  servants  as  the  mediaeval  popes  and 
cardinals,  Charles  the  Fifth  and  Philip  the  Second.  In 
Protestant  countries,  Calvinism — which  is  Paulinism  and 
Augustinism  put  into  a  new  engine — shows  that,  like  some 
other  good  and  great  things  in  the  world,  it  is  not  proof 
against  perversion.  Its  professors  have  at  times  demand- 
ed that  human  sacrifices  be  offered  on  the  Moloch  of  their 
private  and  corporate  opinions.  From  the  burning  of 
Anabaptists  by  the  thousands,  Romish  monks  and  nuns 
by  the  score,  and  the  Socinian  individual  at  Geneva,  down 
to  our  anachronistic  heresy -trials  and  condemnations, 
Calvinism  has  upon  it,  despite  its  otherwise  noble  and 
clear  record,  stains  of  cruelty  and  intolerance  which,  not 
greatly  different  in  kind  from  those  of  Islam  or  Angli- 
canism, arise  from  human  passions  cloaking  themselves 
under  the  plea  of  service  to  God.  On  the  other  hand, 
among  all  races  and  on  all  continents,  arbitrary  force  in 
religion  is  followed  by  various  protestantisms. 

What  actually  happened  in  the  Dutch  republic  during 
the  Great  Truce  had  been  clearly  foreseen  by  the  theolo- 
gians of  the  Roman  church.  They  sincerely  hoped  that 
the  aeon-old  controversies  over  dogma  and  church-govern- 
ment would  break  out  in  fresh  forms  and  tear  the  Prot- 
estant republic  to  pieces,  so  that  Philip  and  the  Pope 


772  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1608 

could  step  in  and  rule  again.  And  this  great  rent  in  the 
Keformed  faith,  as  many  a  Spaniard  delighted  to  notice, 
began  in  the  University  of  Leyden,  of  which  William  the 
Silent,  the  arch-heretic  and  rebel,  was  the  father. 

Jacob  Harmensen,  whose  name  in  Latin  is  Arminins, 
and  who  was  born  at  Oudewater  in  1560,  became  a  de- 
clared enemy  of  the  Aristotelian  philosophy  while  he  was 
yet  a  student.  After  studying  in  Geneva  under  Beza,  he 
returned  to  his  native  country  less  a  Calvinist  than  a 
Christian.  He  saw  the  danger  of  perverting  vital  truths 
into  stiff  dogmatism  and  partisan  tendencies.  Appointed 
preacher  in  Amsterdam,  where  D.  V.  Coornheert,  the  man 
of  letters,  had  attacked  the  doctrine  of  predestination, 
Harmensen  was  invited  to  refute  the  writings  of  this  lay- 
man. Urged  on  by  Lydius  of  Franeker,  he  took  up  the 
task  even  while  the  controversy  was  raging  between  the 
supra  -  lapsarians  and  infra  -  lapsarians.  While  pondering 
the  questions  he  became  convinced  that  the  Calvinistic 
doctrines  of  predestination  and  grace,  as  then  taught, 
were  the  extreme  statements  of  one  form  of  truth,  and 
not  the  expression  of  reality.  Nevertheless,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Professor  of  Theology  in  the  University  of  Ley- 
den.  Soon  he  and  those  who  thought  with  him  were 
called  Remonstrants,  because  they  remonstrated  against 
the  extreme  Calvinistic  view,  while  those  who  maintained 
the  extreme  Calvinistic  views  were  called  Contra-Remon- 
strants. 

In  one  sense  this  was  the  breaking -out  afresh  of  the 
conflict  between  the  opinions  held  by  Calvin  himself  and 
those  maintained  by  Zwingli,  whose  views  have  devel- 
oped into  what  are  thought  to  be  more  liberal  forms.  It 
was  but  the  Dutch  phase  of  that  problem  of  the  ages  in 
the  discussion  of  which  the  Pelagians  and  Jansenists  in 
the  Roman  Catholic  church,  the  strict  Lutherans,  and  the 
followers  of  Melancthon  in  Germany,  have  demonstrated 
the  limits  of  the  human  intellect.  By  the  year  1603,  when 
Harmensen  was  made  professor  in  Leyden,  the  Dutch 
Protestants  were  mostly  Calvinists,  as  that  word  was  then 
generally  used,  though  different  shades  of  opinion  prevailed 
among  them,    By  this  time,  also,  many  of  the  Lutherans, 


1609]  CHANGES  AND  GROWTH   OF  ARMINIANISM  773 

Anabaptists,  and  followers  of  Zwingli  had  entered  the  na- 
tional Keformed  church.  Their  belief  was  formulated  in 
the  mild,  sweet,  and  scriptural,  but,  in  the  eyes  of  extrem- 
ists, rather  vague  Heidelberg  Catechism,  which,  unlike 
some  of  the  other  and  even  later  Protestant  creeds,  was 
based  upon  proof-texts  drawn,  for  the  most  part,  from 
the  New  Testament  instead  of  from  the  Old. 

On  the  other  hand,  Francis  Gomaer,  who  Latinized 
his  name  as  Gomarus,  born  at  Bruges  in  1563,  and  made 
Professor  of  Divinity  in  Leyden  in  1594,  was  the  leader 
of  the  severe  Calvinistic  party.  He  opposed  the  Remon- 
strants with  virulence  and  intolerance.  His  followers 
found  their  expression  of  divine  truth  in  the  acute,  but 
rigid  and  intense,  Belgic  Confession,  which  had  been  writ- 
ten by  Guido  de  Bres,  whom  the  Spaniards  beheaded  after 
the  siege  of  Valenciennes.  In  1604  Gomarus  and  Armin- 
ius  fell  into  disagreement,  and,  the  controversy  having 
taken  on  large  proportions,  a  general  synod  was  talked 
of  as  early  as  1606 ;  but  no  form  of  public  disputation 
was  held  until  1608.  On  the  19th  of  October,  1609,  six 
months  after  the  signing  of  the  Great  Truce,  Arminius 
died.  His  was  a  meek  Christian  spirit,  and  Grotius,  who 
thought  with  him,  says  of  Arminius,  ''Condemned  by 
others,  he  condemned  none." 

The  decease  of  a  man  is  not  the  death  of  his  thought. 
Arminius  had  been  simply  the  exponent  of  a  school  repre- 
senting the  opposite  extreme  of  equally  good  truth  held 
by  those  who  were  unable  to  see,  as  Augustine  and  John 
Calvin  saw,  into  those  questions  which  perhaps  will  never 
be  settled  on  earth  ;  for  the  problem  of  the  divine  sover- 
eignty and  the  freedom  of  the  human  will,  if  not  in- 
soluble, has  certainly  yet  shown  no  solution  in  human 
thought. 

Yet,  as  certainly  as  Calvin^s  system  of  dogma  under- 
went modifications  and  internal  development,  so  Armin- 
ianism,  when  discussed  by  the  nation  at  large,  experi- 
enced changes  and  growth.  Instead  of  being  a  mere 
philosophic  discussion,  it  became  an  assertion  in  the 
realm  of  theology  of  universal  grace  and  conditional  elec- 
tion.    Then  began  a  great  liberalizing  of  religion  and  of 


•J'74  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1610 

morals,  and  the  shaping  of  new  political  forces.  The 
Anabaptists  had  been  so  reorganized  by  Menno  Simons 
that  the  pietistic,  peaceable,  and  unworldly  features  of 
their  discipline  had  almost  excluded  all  liberalizing  phases 
and  reforming  tendencies,  which,  however,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  new  system  called  Arminianism  reasserted 
themselves. 

The  movement  begun  in  Leyden  soon  extended  far 
beyond  the  learned  classes,  and  took  powerful  hold  of 
the  people,  and  when,  in  1610,  the  followers  of  Arminius 
presented  their  '^Remonstrance"  to  the  legislatures  of  Hol- 
land and  West  Friesland,  the  term  ''  Remonstrants"  came 
into  common  use.  Their  Remonstrance  contained  the 
Five  Articles  which,  afterwards  controverted,  offset,  and 
condemned  at  the  National  Synod  in  Dordrecht  by  five 
responsive  canons — stated  in  a  form  so  extreme  that  it  is 
not  at  all  certain  that  Calvin  himself  would  have  approved 
of  them — became  the  celebrated  "  Five  Points  of  Calvin- 
ism." When  the  Gomarists  presented  their  Contra-Re- 
monstrance,  in  which  the  expressions  were  very  much 
less  moderate,  the  controversy  already  began  to  disclose 
elements  of  bitterness.  The  new  party -name,  *' Con- 
tra-Remonstrants,"  was  soon  current.  When,  as  was  soon 
noticed  and  as  was  almost  inevitable  in  the  hastily  forced 
and  not  yet  matured  constitution  of  the  Republic,  these 
two  sets  of  theological  disputants  were  also  becoming  two 
political  parties,  and  were  looking  in  final  appeal  to  the 
might  of  the  law,  or  even  perchance  to  the  sword,  the 
enemies  of  republican  government  all  over  Europe  ex- 
ulted. Those  who  had  long  hoped  for  the  triumph  of  self- 
government  grieved. 

As  the  controversy  deepened  and  began  to  take  on  pro- 
portions that  showed  that  not  only  the  province  of  Hol- 
land but  the  whole  Republic  would  be  involved,  it  was 
evident  that  the  question  which  touched  man  on  all  sides 
of  his  nature  was  not  only  a  theological  and  political  one, 
but  was  also  a  social  one  as  well.  The  burghers,  the  rich 
merchants,  the  magistrates,  and  the  noble  families  forming 
the  aristocratic  republican  party  were  for  the  most  part 
Arminians.     They  formed  the   majority  of  the   middle 


1610]  THE   CONTRA-REMONSTRANTS  775 

class,  and  had  almost  wholly  the  monopoly  of  wealth  and 
civil  office.  For  the  most  part  they  were  men  of  com- 
merce and  of  affairs,  having  knowledge  of  the  world  in 
general.  They  did  not  want  a  king  who  might  be  a  des- 
pot ;  neither  did  they  want  the  people  to  rule.  They 
loved  power,  wealth,  and  splendor,  and  what  seemed  to 
them  liberality  of  thought  and  freedom  of  opinion.  They 
believed  in  government  by  aristocracy — that  is,  by  the 
best — and  they  wanted  an  aristocratic  republic  in  which 
the  people  should  be  ruled  by  the  best  families,  and  where 
questions  of  Church  should  be  settled  by  the  State  and 
by  the  magistrates. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  soldiers  and  sailors,  the  peas- 
antry and  people  of  handicraft  and  small  trade,  and  the 
clergy  of  the  Reformed  church  forming  the  stadholderal 
and  democratic  party,  were  almost  wholly  Contra-Remon- 
strants  or  Calvinists.  Theologically,  they  were  intensely 
in  earnest,  believing  that  the  Institutes  of  Calvin  were 
the  best  expression  of  Divine  truth.  Their  dogmatics 
were  a  composite  of  Greek  philosophy,  Roman  logic  and 
forms  of  order,  cemented  by  scripture  phraseology,  with 
great  emphasis  laid  on  the  Old  Testament  as  a  rule  of 
conduct — all  infused  with  not  a  little  of  the  general  spirit 
of  the  old  church  out  of  which  they  had  come.  Their 
belief  in  the  divine  sovereignty  and  in  unconditional  pre- 
destination was  quick  and  powerful.  Religion  and  poli- 
tics in  their  eyes  were  one  and  indistinguishable.  They^ 
believed  that  as  Christian  men  were  elect  of  God  from 
all  eternity,  being  kings  and  priests  unto  Him,  and  there- 
fore all  alike  in  His  sight,  the  government  should  be  that 
of  the  people — a  majority  of  the  nation.  They  argued  that 
the  Dutch  people  were  not  merely  certain  groups  of  po- 
litical units,  but  that  their  calling  of  God  and  their  ex- 
perience had  made  them  a  nation,  who  should  have  but 
one  religion,  and  that  religion  founded,  as  they  believed, 
on  the  word  of  God — the  Bible ;  and  that  the  visible  ex- 
pression of  this  religion  should  be  in  the  form  of  a  church 
which,  while  allowing  toleration  to  other  Christians  and 
forms  of  belief,  should  give  or  permit  no  state  aid  to  any 
other  church  or  denomination.     These  Contra -Remon. 


776  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1610 

strants  believed  that  their  country  was  the  child  of  the 
Reformation  and  their  government  the  product  of  the 
Reformed  church,  and,  therefore,  that  politics  should  be 
subordinate  to  religion,  the  State  to  the  Church.  To  the 
Calvinists,  the  idea  of  matters  of  faith  being  ordered  by 
the  State  instead  of  by  the  Church  seemed  to  be  but 
the  restoration  of  Cassarism  or  the  papacy  in  the  Father- 
land, which,  by  God's  help,  and  through  faitli,  courage, 
and  their  own  good  swords,  they  had  won  from  the 
Spaniards. 


CHAPTER  VII 
MAURICE   AND   BARNEVELDT 

In  the  great  conflict  of  opinion  during  the  Great  Truce, 
each  of  the  opposing  parties  was  led  by  a  man  who  was 
the  very  incarnation  of  those  tendencies  of  the  age  which 
he  represented. 

On  the  one  hand  was  Joan  van  Olden  Barneveldt,  who 
was  born  at  Amersfoort,  September  14,  1547,  and  had 
been  educated  in  the  best  schools  of  the  Southern  Nether- 
lands as  well  as  in  those  of  Germany  and  Italy.  His  train- 
ing in  political  life  had  been  obtained  in  the  various  offices 
of  municipal  magistrate,  pensionary  of  Rotterdam,  advo- 
cate of  Holland,  and  member  of  the  states  of  Holland,  of 
the  States-General,  and  of  the  Union  AVar  Committee.  He 
was  a  life-long  opponent  of  Spain,  and  as  an  envoy  had 
been  repeatedly  sent  to  foreign  lands  in  behalf  of  the  Re- 
public. He  was  indeed  a  true  patriot,  and  as  a  states- 
man he  had  no  peer  among  his  contemporaries  in  Europe. 
He  understood  manifold  human  nature,  whether  it  were 
of  the  variety  found  on  thrones  and  inside  of  lace  and 
velvet,  or  of  the  kind  that  toils  in  the  bogs,  the  furrows, 
and  the  workshops.  He  had  no  particular  love  or  regard 
for  the  common  people,  but  rather  held  in  contempt  the 
plain  folks  who  constituted  the  majority  of  the  nation, 
yet  he  never  fawned  on  royalty,  and  he  made  use  of  mon- 
archs  only  to  advance  the  interests  of  his  state  and  coun- 
try. He  was  a  man  of  amazing  industry,  penetration,  and 
power.  He  concerned  himself  with  every  kind  of  public 
business.  He  was  the  embodiment  of  the  traditions  and 
ideas  of  the  burgher.  He  believed  in  an  aristocratic  re- 
public made  great  and  strong  by  industry  and  commerce. 


778  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1610 

with  a  rich  and  varied  life  made  beautiful  by  mutual  tol- 
eration. He  was  already  alarmed  at  tendencies  which 
seemed  likely  to  result  in  monarchy.  Despite  the  charges 
of  his  enemies,  Barneveldt^s  political  life,  like  his  private 
career,  appears  to  have  been  spotless. 

Barneveldt  probably  held  no  religious  opinions  that 
could  be  formulated  into  a  system.  His  creed  was  but 
another  form  of  agnosticism.  His  motto,  which  can  as 
surely  be  and  has  been  made  the  engine  of  despotism  and 
oppression  as  the  stiffest  dogmatism  can  become,  was  Nil 
scire  tutissima  fides  (Not  to  know  anything  is  the  safest 
faith).  Like  the  great  William  and  his  son  Maurice,  he 
counselled  and  demanded  toleration  even  for  the  Anabap- 
tists. Up  to  a  certain  point,  also,  he  seems  not  to  have 
been  willing  to  give  his  personal  religious  opinions,  or 
rather  lack  of  them,  a  political  form.  On  the  contrary, 
perhaps,  we  may  say,  his  long  experience  as  a  statesman 
trained  him  to  look  at  the  political  side  of  a  question  as 
being  the  supreme  one,  and  this  prevented  him  from  see- 
ing in  the  disputes  then  raging  among  the  Gomarists  and 
Arminians  any  other  than  political  issues.  It  seems  cer- 
tain that  he  did  not  at  first  encourage  the  Arminians  or 
take  any  side  with  them  ;  but  when  the  disputants  came 
before  the  states  of  Holland  he  counselled  peace  and 
patience,  and  then  secured  an  order  forbidding  all  discus- 
sions. \Yhen,  however,  the  Gomarists  in  Holland  seemed 
to  set  themselves  in  opposition  to  the  government,  Bar- 
neveldt began  steadily  to  exert  his  influence,  which  was 
tremendous,  in  favor  of  the  Remonstrant  party,  who  there- 
upon were  delighted  because  they  were  so  powerfully  rein- 
forced. 

On  the  other  hand  was  Maurice,  the  stadholder,  who 
incarnated  the  idea  of  union  and  nationality.  A  consum- 
mate soldier,  he  was  no  theologian,  nor  was  he  versed  in 
the  mysteries  of  statecraft.  His  admirers  believe  that  he 
was  devout,  and  that  his  faith  was  real.  His  patriotism 
was  beyond  cavil.  He  inherited  from  his  mother,  Anna 
of  Saxony,  certain  sinister  physical  propensities  which  he 
indulged  freely.  He  was  not  a  man  of  shining  morals, 
and  his  example  of  impurity  outraged  the  laws  of  God 


1615]  MAURICE  A   NATIONALIST  779 

and  man.  His  mental  organization  was  sluggish  in  its 
movement  and  he  made  np  his  mind  to  action  very  slowly. 
Outside  of  the  theatre  of  war,  it  was  only  after  having 
carefully  weighed  the  reasons  for  and  against,  and  having 
surveyed  the  whole  situation,  that  he  could  be  induced 
to  advance.  In  the  earlier  part  of  his  career,  when  the 
friendship  between  the  statesman  and  the  warrior  was 
close  and  warm,  he  was  almost  wholly  dependent  upon 
Barneveldt  for  political  advice  and  direction.  From  the 
time,  however,  when  Barneveldt,  influencing  the  States 
of  Holland  and  the  national  War  Committee,  had  ordered 
Maurice,  against  his  judgment  as  a  soldier,  to  advance 
into  Flanders,  there  had  begun  to  grow  up  an  alienation 
between  the  two,  which  had  greatly  increased  by  the  time 
the  negotiations  looking  to  the  Great  Truce  had  begun. 
When  the  theological  controversy  broke  out,  the  ques- 
tions involved  were  too  subtle  to  be  mastered  by  this 
young  soldier,  who  was  more  at  home  on  horseback  and  in 
the  trenches  than  among  texts  and  manuscripts.  His 
friend  and  pastor,  Domine  Uytenbogaert,  was  an  Arminian 
scholar  and  preacher. 

As  soon  as  the  controversy  assumed  a  political  phase, 
Maurice  saw  the  real  issues  at  stake  more  clearly.  His 
sympathies,  however,  were  not  with  states  or  sections, 
but  with  the  people  at  large.  He  was  a  nationalist  of  the 
first  order.  He  believed  that  the  Dutch  had  become  a 
nation,  and  that  they  wanted  the  question  of  indepen- 
dence settled  once  and  forever  by  again  fighting  Spain  at 
home  and  by  assaulting  her  power  on  the  sea,  by  plant- 
ing colonies  in  America  and  elsewhere,  and  by  doing 
whatever  else  would  humble  their  giant  enemy  and  make 
the  nation  glorious.  When  he  found  that  he  must,  prob- 
ably against  his  will  or  desire,  take  action  even  to  the 
drawing  of  his  sword,  his  closest  political  adviser  was  his 
cousin,  William  Louis,  the  stadholder  of  Friesland,  of 
whom  he  took  frequent  counsel. 

The  union  of  interests  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
Republic  being  so  close,  and  the  question  disturbing  the 
Dutch  being  precisely  one  that  appealed  to  the  conceited 
and  pedantic  nature  of  the  Scottish  King  in  London,  this 


780  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1616 

royal  intermeddler  now  began  to  make  his  power  felt. 
He  did  this  in  such  a  way  that,  while  it  disgusted  the 
Hollanders,  it  gave  Barneveldt  the  opportunity  which  he 
coveted  and  of  which  he  was  not  slow  as  a  patriot  to  make 
use.  The  Holland  burgher  soon  had  King  James  made 
the  laughing-stock  of  Europe,  first,  by  drawing  forth  from 
him  those  famous  letters  which  seemed  to  give  the  royal 
approval  of  the  Kemonstrant  dogma  and  policy,  and,  sec- 
condly,  by  outwitting  him  in  a  sharp  bargain.  Sharing 
the  fear  of  his  countrymen  that  the  English  King  would 
sell  out  to  Spain,  and  deliver  up  the  three  cautionary 
towns.  Flushing,  Brill,  and  Kammekens,  held  as  security 
for  loans  made  by  Queen  Elizabeth  —  since  James  was 
trying  to  arrange  a  marriage  between  his  oldest  son  and 
the  Infanta — Barneveldt  determined  to  take  advantage 
of  the  situation.  Now  that  Cecil  was  dead,  and  James 
Stuart  was  trying  to  get  along  without  the  nation's  par- 
liament, and  therefore  wanted  money,  Barneveldt  cajoled 
him  into  a  bargain,  over  which  all  Europe  laughed. 

By  this  treaty  of  1615  the  Dutch  regained,  June  11, 
1616,  their  three  towns  held  in  pawn,  got  the  King's  am- 
bassador put  out  of  their  Council  of  State,  greatly  cur- 
tailed British  influence,  consolidated  the  power  of  the 
Republic,  and  cancelled  the  whole  debt  of  nearly  four 
millions  of  dollars,  or  ten  million  gilders,  by  paying  only 
one-third  of  this  sum.  Nevertheless,  this  act  of  a  great 
patriot,  as  viewed  by  his  enemies  at  the  time,  seemed  to 
be  a  proof  that  Barneveldt  was  being  bribed  by  Spain,  or 
at  least  made  a  tool  of ;  while  at  the  same  time  against 
himself  and  the  Eepublic  King  James  became  angry  and 
bitter,  especially  as  he  had  ceased  to  be  of  prime  impor- 
tance to  the  Dutchmen,  who,  as  they  now  had  little  need 
of  him,  feared  him  less  and  less.  The  angry  monarch 
recalled  Winwood,  his  ambassador,  and  in  1616  appointed 
in  his  place  Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  who,  like  Winwood,  by 
his  master's  orders,  at  once  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
Contra  -  Remonstrants  and  became  a  bitter  opponent  of 
Barneveldt.  Further,  the  royal  intermeddler  had  Pro- 
fessor Conrad  Vorstius,  who  in  1611  had  been  appointed 
the  successor  of  Arminius  in  the  University  of  Leyden, 


BAUNKVELDT 


1617]  THE  CALVINISTS  DEMAND   CHURCHES  781 

condemned  as  a  heretic  and  expelled.  Professors  Simon 
Bischop  (or  Episcopius)  and  John  Polyander  succeeded 
to  the  chairs  of  Arminius  and  Gomarus. 

Meanwhile  the  excitement  over  the  questions  at  issue 
continued  to  increase.  Maurice,  under  the  exhortations 
of  his  cousin,  William  Louis,  the  stadholder  of  Friesland, 
of  his  brother-in-law,  the  Duke  of  Bouillon,  and  of  Fran- 
cis Aerssens,  became  openly  the  head  of  the  Contra-Re- 
monstrants.  The  popular  cry,  "  Spanje — Oranje  "  (Orange 
or  Spain),  was  being  everywhere  raised.  Daily  the  cur- 
rents of  politics  and  theology  flowed  more  closely  and 
indistinguishably  together.  The  popular  party  had  the 
tremendous  advantage  of  a  great  battle-cry.  Soon  Mau- 
rice gave  indications  of  his  future  course  by  writing, 
'^  There  are  two  factions  in  the  land,  that  of  Orange  and 
that  of  Spain,  and  the  two  chiefs  of  the  Spanish  faction 
are  those  political  and  priestly  Arminians,  Uytenbogaert 
and  Oldenbarneveldt.^^  The  Contra  -  Remonstrants  had 
been  treated  roughly  by  the  Remonstrants,  and  in  some 
of  the  towns  were  obliged  to  hold  services  outside  of  the 
churches  controlled  by  them.  Now,  instead  of  meeting 
in  barns  and  private  houses,  the  Calvinists  clamored  for 
their  rights  and  demanded  churches.  At  the  capital,  the 
Contra-Remonstrants  worshipped  in  the  house  of  Enoch 
Much,  and  afterwards  in  tlie  Gasthuis  church.  The  young 
and  strong  among  the  Hague  people,  in  order  to  hear 
sound  doctrine  preached,  had  to  walk  out  to  Rijswijk,  and 
so  they  were  called  ^'Mud  Beggars." 

Maurice  determined  that  they  should  have  a  church 
edifice.  The  stadholder  had  all  along  worshipped  at  the 
Great  Church,  which  had  now  become  too  small  to  con- 
tain the  collegiate  pastors,  Rosaeus  and  Uytenbogaert,  of 
whom  the  first,  being  a  Calvinist,  advocated  a  national 
synod,  and  the  other,  being  an  Arminian,  opposed  it,  to 
the  offence  of  Maurice.  The  Cloister  Church,  which  had 
formerly  been  an  ancient  convent,  and,  later,  a  cannon 
foundry,  was,  with  the  approval  of  Maurice,  requested  for 
worship  in  March,  1617.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  magis- 
trates to  put  in  order  and  furnish  the  interior,  for  at 
this  time  a  building  or  room  fitted  up  and  free  of  rent 


782  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1617 

was  everywhere  in  the  Republic  allowed  to  any  congrega- 
tion of  the  Reformed  religion  requesting  one  for  such  a 
purpose.  Everywhere  the  privilege  was  availed  of  except 
in  Leyden,  where  the  English  Separatists  would  accept 
no  political  favors  nor  favor  any  union  of  religion  with 
the  state. 

Delays,  which  the  Contra-Remonstrants  believed  were 
intentional,  hindered  the  fitting-up  of  the  Cloister  Church, 
and  it  was  well  into  July  before  any  real  work  had  been 
done  towards  getting  it  in  order.  Tired  of  what  they 
believed  to  be  a  course  of  insult  and  provocation,  the 
Calvinists  suddenly  gathered  together  and  took  posses- 
sion of  the  building  on  the  evening  of  Sunday,  July  9, 
1617.  Hastily  putting  up  a  pulpit,  the  zealous  preacher 
Rosaeus  delivered  a  sermon  that  was  received  with  tre- 
mendous enthusiasm,  and  three  children  baptized  received 
the  names  of  Princes  of  Orange,  William,  Maurice,  and 
Henry.  The  next  day  a  great  crowd  assisted  skilled 
artisans  in  emptying  out  the  debris  of  the  cannon  foun- 
dry and  turning  it  into  a  house  of  worship.  Two  Sun- 
days later,  on  July  23d,  Maurice,  accompanied  by  his 
cousin  and  adviser,  the  stadholder  of  Friesland,  and  all 
his  household  officers  and  military  staff,  rode  out  from 
the  Binnenhof,  under  the  trees  of  the  great  avenue,  fol- 
lowed by  an  immense  crowd  of  people.  Instead  of  going 
to  worship,  as  formerly,  in  the  Great  Church,  the  parade 
moved  past  Barneveldt's  house  to  the  Cloister  Church, 
which  held  four  thousand  people,  and  a  vastly  larger 
number  were  unable  to  gain  admittance.  This  manner 
of  attending  public  worship  was  as  truly  a  political  demon- 
stration as  would  be  the  massing  of  an  army  on  the  fron- 
tier of  a  jealous  state  or  the  evolutions  of  a  fleet  before 
a  strategic  seaport.  Henceforward  this  church  was  called 
the  Prince's  Church.  This  demonstration  of  July  23d 
foreshadowed  the  national  synod  with  the  double  con- 
demnation, immediately  of  Arminianism  and  mediately 
of  state  sovereignty.  In  a  word,  there  was  evidently  vast- 
ly more  of  politics  than  of  religion  in  the  display  and 
course  of  Prince  Maurice  on  the  critical  day  of  July  23, 
1617.     By  the  Remonstrants  this  demonstration  was  stig- 


16171  BARNEVELDT   AROUSED  783 

matized  as  a  mutiny  against  the  authority  of  the  state 
of  Holland. 

The  action  of  Maurice  in  thus  proceeding  to  the  Clois- 
ter Church,  as  if  he  were  leading  an  army,  must  be  fur- 
ther interpreted  in  the  light  of  an  event  which  had 
happened  in  the  early  part  of  the  same  year.  When,  in 
presence  of  the  leading  men  of  Holland,  who  were  dis- 
cussing the  crisis,  Maurice  was  called  upon  to  give  his 
opinion,  he  asked  to  have  read  the  oath  which  he  had 
taken  as  stadholder,  and  which  he  had  exchanged  with  the 
States.  This  bound  them  mutually  to  defend  the  Reformed 
religion  even  to  the  last  drop  of  their  blood.  After  a  mo- 
ment of  intense  waiting  and  of  painful  silence,  Maurice 
slowly  answered  :  "  That  oath  I  mean  to  keep  as  long  as 
I  live."  Again  he  said,  knowing  that  the  Calvinists  had 
raised  his  father  to  power  :  "  For  this  religion  my  father 
lost  his  life,  and  this  religion  will  I  defend." 

Barneveldt  picked  up  the  gauntlet  thus  thrown  at  his 
door  and  accepted  the  gage  of  battle.  First  of  all,  as 
four  Dutch  historians  say  (though  Mr.  Motley  denies  it, 
and  calls  the  report  '^gibberish"),  he  determined  to  have 
the  four  ringleaders  of  the  ^^  mutiny,"  Enoch  Much  and 
three  other  Remonstrants,  seized,  beheaded,  and  their 
corpses  exposed,  as  an  example  of  danger  to  those  who 
could  revolt  against  civil  authority.  By  a  majority  of 
one  his  attempt  was  defeated  at  the  vote  taken  in  the 
chief  court.  Nevertheless,  he  determined  on  instant  re- 
taliation. He  believed  he  had  the  constitutional  argument 
entirely  on  his  side.  The  civilian  expected  that  the  sol- 
dier would  use  force,  and  he  determined  not  only  to  be 
ready  for  this,  but  to  forearm  and  meet  it  both  by  law 
and  force.  Barneveldt  evidently  believed  that  the  sov- 
ereign rights  of  the  one  state  of  Holland  were  legally 
equal  to  the  collective  sovereign  rights  of  all  the  other 
states  of  the  Union.  It  is  more  than  probable,  also,  that 
he  believed  that  materially,  intellectually,  and  morally 
Holland  was  superior  to  any  or  to  all  of  the  other  prov- 
inces. Being  himself  the  soul  of  the  States  of  Holland, 
he  proposed  to  them  and  procured  the  passage  of  the 
famous  Sharp  Resolve,  on  the  4th  of  August,  1617,  which 


784  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1617 

was  nothing  else  than  the  baldest  assertion  of  state  sov- 
ereignty as  against  the  Union.  It  was  the  poising  of  the 
lance  in  rest  before  a  charge  against  the  knight  who  had 
sent  forth  a  challenge  by  the  blast  of  the  trumpet  and 
the  casting  down  of  the  glove. 

At  this  time  the  majority  in  Utrecht  and  Holland  were 
in  favor  of  the  Remonstrants  or  Arminians,  who  now  rep- 
resented not  merely  a  religious  tenet,  but  had  become  a 
political  party  ;  and,  as  events  showed,  they  were  even 
ready  to  arm  and  fight.  In  Holland,  however,  the  cities 
of  Amsterdam,  Dordrecht,  Enkhuizen,  Edam,  and  Pur- 
merend  were  opposed  to  Barneveldt  and  the  Arminians, 
and  held  with  the  Prince. 

This  Sharp  Resolve  declared  that  after  what  had  hap- 
pened in  the  Hague,  the  legislature  had  at  last  resolved 
to  refuse  the  national  synod,  because  it  would  conflict 
with  the  sovereignty  and  laws  of  Holland ;  and  in  order 
to  carry  out  and  enforce  Holland's  sovereignty  the  re- 
gents of  the  cities  were  authorized  to  enroll  soldiers  for 
their  security  and  to  prevent  violence.  If  any  one  had 
complaints  tp  make  of  this  enrolment  of  militia  or  con- 
cerning the  acts  done  by  local  authorities,  they  were  to 
appeal  only  to  the  local  states  of  Holland,  for  anything 
attempted  or  done  by  other  tribunals  would  be  null  and 
void. 

It  seemed  more  like  a  grim  joke  than  serious  statesman- 
ship to  add  a  further  resolve  to  send  a  deputation  to  the 
stadholder,  Maurice,  and  to  the  widow  and  youngest  son 
of  William  the  Silent,  asking  their  aid  in  carrying  out 
this  resolution,  which  was  aimed  directly  at  them. 

Forthwith  began  the  open  struggle  between  the  ten- 
dencies towards  union  and  towards  secession,  tendencies 
which  soon  hardened  into  a  cause.  Each  cause  had  its 
armed  men  to  back  it.  On  the  one  side  was  the  national 
army  that  had  fought  against  Spain,  not  for  the  liberties 
of  one  province,  but  of  all.  In  that  national  army  were 
men  from  all  parts  of  the  common  country,  who  formed 
one  host  with  one  heart,  and  who  were  led  by  Maurice, 
the  first  soldier  of  Europe  and  the  son  of  the  Father  of 
his  Country.     Besides  patriotism,  the  followers  of  Man- 


1617]  THE   WAARTGELDERS  785 

rice  were  animated  by  stern  convictions  and  religious 
zeal. 

On  the  other  side  were  the  waartgelders  or  state  militia, 
mercenary  or  burgher  guards,  raised  and  maintained  for 
the  purpose  of  defending  the  cities  against  violence  from 
within  and  invasion  from  without.  As  a  home  guard, 
there  was  nothing  new  about  the  men  or  their  organiza- 
tion. Some  years  before,  when  Maurice,  reluctantly  obey- 
ing the  orders  of  civilians  led  by  Barneveldt,  had  invaded 
the  Spanish  Netherlands,  waartgelders  had  been  raised 
to  the  number  of  six  thousand  or  more.  Even  before  the 
Sharp  Resolve  of  August  4, 1617,  Haarlem,  Rotterdam,  and 
Schoonhoven  had  raised  local  militia,  or  waartgelders, 
to  maintain  order  ;  but  now,  for  the  first  time,  state  and 
municipal  troops  in  the  Republic  were  arrayed  against  the 
national  army.  In  vain  Amsterdam  and  four  other  cities 
of  Holland  protested  against  this  suicidal  measure  of  the 
States  of  Holland. 

The  waartgelders  were  enrolled  and  occupied  the  chief 
inland  towns  of  Holland.  Maurice,  with  the  better  in- 
stinct of  a  soldier,  quartered  the  national  troops  at  the 
seaports.  When  the  States  of  Holland  sent  to  the  Brill 
magistrates  proposing  a  new  oath  of  allegiance,  Maurice, 
before  the  States-General,  or  Congress  of  the  Union,  called 
for  the  repeal  of  the  Sharp  Resolve  and  asked  that  no  new 
oaths  be  required  of  the  national  soldiers.  When  Barne- 
veldt replied  that  the  States  of  Holland  were  independent 
of  the  States-General  or  the  National  Congress,  Maurice 
insisted  that  the  Reformed  religion  which  he  had  taken 
oath  to  maintain  was  represented  by  the  Calvinists  or 
Contra-Remonstrants.  While  the  Arminians  were  occu- 
pying Leyden,  Gouda,  Rotterdam,  Schoonhoven,  Hoorn, 
and  other  cities,  especially  in  Utrecht  and  Holland,  Mau- 
rice, on  the  night  of  the  29th  of  September,  went  quietly 
down  the  Maas  and  introduced  two  companies  of  national 
troops  into  Brill.  Barneveldt,  not  yet  ready  to  act,  went 
to  Utrecht.  The  troubles  which  he  felt  so  deeply  at 
threescore  and  ten  years  of  age  were  preying  upon  his 
health.  Deputies  of  the  States  -  General  went  also  to 
Utrecht.     The  High  Council  decided  by  a  majority  vote 

50 


786  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1617 

that  the  Sharp  Resolve  was  unconstitutional,  ought  to 
be  rescinded,  and  was  of  no  avail ;  whereupon  Hooger- 
beets,  of  the  High  Council,  resigned  his  seat  on  the  bench, 
declining  to  sit  with  men  who  disputed  the  sovereignty 
of  the  States  of  Holland.  He  then  resumed  his  post  as 
chief  magistrate  of  Leyden.  The  five  Holland  cities,  led 
by  Amsterdam,  seconded  the  vote  of  the  High  Council  by 
remaining  inactive  and  enrolling  no  militia. 

The  whole  number  of  waartgelders  raised  in  the  prov- 
inces, before  the  supremacy  of  the  Union  was  demon- 
strated, was  probably  less  than  three  thousand,  of  which 
eighteen  hundred  were  in  Holland  and  six  hundred  in 
Utrecht.  Leyden,  Oudewater,  Heusden,  and  Hoorn  had 
each  a  garrison  of  two  or  three  hundred.  Maurice,  know- 
ing that  he  had  a  majority  of  the  nation  at  his  back,  even 
though  the  argument  from  precedent  and  vested  right, 
according  to  such  great  constitutional  lawyers  as  Barne- 
veldt,  Hoogerbeets,  and  Grotius,  was  against  him,  and 
believing  in  the  sovereignty  of  the  nation  over  a  single 
state,  and  being,  moreover,  slow  in  action,  made  no  haste 
to  quell  what  he  considered  to  be  the  rebellion  of  a  few 
politicians  against  the  national  will  and  power.  Of  Bar- 
neveldt's  movements.  Sir  Dudley  Carleton  wrote  that  ^'^the 
head  was  at  Leyden  and  the  chief  streams  at  Utrecht." 

Certainly  any  one  at  that  time  visiting  Leyden,  where 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  founders  of  Massachusetts,  were 
then  dwelling,  would  have  seen,  as  they  saw,  sufficient 
proof  that  Carleton  was  correct.  The  '^  Royal  Pope  of 
Great  Britain  "  had  harried  out  of  his  realm  this  company 
of  English  Calvinists.  Gathering  their  wives  and  their 
little  ones,  with  their  portable  household  effects  and  other 
personal  property,  this  band  of  a  hundred  or  two  had  fled 
towards  the  land  where  they  knew  that  there  was  freedom 
of  conscience  for  all  men.  After  undergoing  seizure, 
search,  robbery,  imprisonment,  and  fines  in  their  native 
land,  they  took  ship  to  cross  the  sea.  Half  starved,  with 
hardly  more  than  the  clothes  on  their  backs,  after  storm 
at  sea,  stranding  and  penury  at  Kampen  and  Naarden, 
arrest  on  malicious  and  false  information  at  Middelburg, 
the  various  squads  reached  Amsterdam.     There  they  re- 


1617J  THE  PILGRIMS    IN   LEYDEN  787 

formed  their  congregation.  When  controversies  broke 
ont  among  their  fellow-believers  in  the  English  churches 
of  that  great  city  over  questions  of  women^s  dress,  sleeves, 
and  shoes,. over  whalebones  and  starch,  then  their  high- 
souled  leader  made  application  for  residence  in  Leyden, 
which  was  cheerfully  granted.  He  believed  that  soul- 
liberty  was  too  precious  to  be  lost  in  a  mass  of  impertinent 
details  and  in  questions  that  had  nothing  to  do  with  pure 
religion.  No  diamond  of  imperial  proportions  that  ever 
came  for  polishing  to  the  lapidaries  on  the  Amstel  was 
purer  than  the  Pilgrim's  ideal.  Crystallizing  out  of  a 
mother-liquid  of  persecution,  exile,  poverty,  controversy, 
and  homesickness,  the  gem  expelled  all  base  elements  to 
become  the  first  brilliant  in  freedom's  diadem. 

Coming  by  canal  from  Amsterdam  and  settling  for  the 
most  part  in  the  newer  quarter  of  the  fifth  section  of  the 
city,  as  enlarged  after  the  siege,  these  English  folks  in  a 
few  years  had  amassed  enough  money  to  buy  an  ample 
lot  in  the  very  heart  of  Leyden.  It  lay  directly  across 
from  St.  Peter's  Church,  in  Bell  Alley,  adjoining  the  edi- 
fice wherein  worshipped  the  other  English,  or  rather  the 
Scotch  Presbyterian,  church,  which  was  composed  of  the 
families  of  British  folk  then  numerous  in  Leyden.  Be- 
sides English-speaking  mechanics,  laborers,  and  military 
men  speaking  English,  there  were  scores  of  students,  the 
advance-guard  of  that  army  of  five  thousand  who,  within 
three  centuries,  were  to  call  Leyden  University  their  alma 
mater.*  The  vital  difference,  however,  between  the  two 
churches  was  that  one  received  state  aid  and  got  its  meet- 
ing-house rent  free,  being  thus  an  almoner  upon  political 
bounty ;  while  the  future  founders  of  distinctive  Amer- 
ica would  accept  no  favors  from  the  state  or  municipality, 
and  paid  their  own  rent.  On  the  lot  which  they  bought 
they  erected  twenty-three  little  dwellings  for  their  fam- 
ilies. The  house  of  their  pastor,  John  Robinson,  had  a 
large  room  in  which  they  were  enabled  to  worship.  At 
the  nearest  end  of  the  alley,  across  the  canal  from  the 

*  Index  to  English-speaking  Sttidenfs  who  have  Graduated  at  Leyden 
University y  by  Edward  Peacock.     London,  1883. 


788  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1611 

university,  and  a  few  feet  from  Robinson^s  house,  were 
the  military  headquarters,  the  commandery  of  Leyden,  to 
which,  no  doubt.  Miles  Standish  often  came  on  business. 
These  Englishmen  were  Calvinists  of  the  str.ongest  and 
also  the  sweetest  sort.  Believing  that  light,  truth,  and 
progress  were  on  the  side  of  the  Contra -Remonstrants, 
and  that  Arminianism  was  the  expression  of  aristocracy 
and  the  easiest  way  back  to  Rome  and  that  thraldom  from 
which  they  had  escaped,  their  sympathies  were  with  the 
Calvinistic  Nationalists.  They  had  come  to  the  Republic 
in  the  first  year  of  the  Great  Truce,  having  arrived  but 
a  few  days  after  it  had  been  signed.  By  1618  many  of  the 
adults  had  learned  the  Dutch  language,  while  all  their 
children — the  older,  who  had  come  from  England  and 
were  now  in  their  teens,  as  well  as  those  born  in  the 
Netherlands — were  able  to  speak  it.  The  whole  company 
had  become  thoroughly  familiar  with  at  least  the  popu- 
lar phases  of  the  great  controversy  between  union  and 
disunion,  between  state  and  national  sovereignty,  be- 
tween the  claims  of  Calvinism  and  Arminianism.  At  least 
three  men  in  the  company  —  Bradford,  Allerton,  and 
Priest — had,  by  payment  of  extra  taxes,  become  citizens 
of  Leyden,  thereby  enjoying  certain  municipal  privileges, 
while  three  or  four  of  the  educated  men  —  Robinson, 
Brewster,  Brewer,  and  Bastwick — were  already  members 
of  the  university,  and  several  more  were  property-owners. 
Among  them  were  several  printers,  of  whom  Brewer  and 
Brewster  were  busily  engaged  in  publishing  not  only 
works  acceptable  to  all  lovers  of  learning  and  literature, 
but  in  issuing  controversial  pamphlets  in  the  interest  of 
soul-freedom,  as  they  saw  it.  The  publications  of  this 
Pilgrim  Press  in  Choir  Alley,  Leyden,  between  October, 
1616,  and  June,  1619,  were  as  red-pepper  in  the  eyes  of 
King  James,  whose  wrath  was  so  roused  by  two  anonymous 
pamphlets  that  he  would  have  had  the  whole  nest  of  Sep- 
aratists exterminated  had  it  been  possible.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  he  did  try  to  lay  his  hands  upon  Elder  Brewster, 
to  seize  whom  Sir  Dudley  Carleton  set  in  motion  the 
whole  force  and  machinery  of  English  influence  in  the 
Netherlands,  though  he  succeeded  only  in  getting  the 


16 1*7]  KING  JAMES'S   UNHAPPY   STATE  789 

Puritan  elder's  types.  Carleton,  after  much  trouble,  was 
able  to  send  to  England  Brewer,  the  wrong  man,  but 
over  him,  however,  the  aegis  of  the  Leyden  University 
law  was  thrown,  so  that  he  came  back  in  triumph  ;  while, 
to  the  disgust  of  the  King,  the  hunted  Brewster  reached 
America,  where  he  lived  long  and  honorably. 

King  James  bore  a  double  grudge  against  Barneveldt, 
who,  with  statesman's  cunning,  and  well  knowing  the 
pride  and  pedantry  of  this  the  wisest  fool  in  Christen- 
dom, had,  as  we  have  seen,  made  use  of  his  rival's  con- 
ceit to  humble  him.  The  Dutch  Calvinists,  whose  doc- 
trines King  James  so  heartily  indorsed,  were  Puritans  of 
the  Puritans.  Nevertheless,  they  did  not  talk  through 
their  noses,  wear  a  sectarian  form  of  dress,  eschew  luxury, 
or  observe  any  ancient  Jewish  sort  of  Sabbath.  Hence 
it  was  necessary  in  Sir  Dudley  Carleton  to  show  that, 
though  in  England  under  King  James's  rule  Puritans 
might  be  hanged,  imprisoned,  or  hunted  down  like  wolves, 
yet  in  Holland,  where  they  had  authority,  wealth,  culture, 
and  power,  the  case  was  entirely  different.  Though 
Carleton  succeeded  with  King  James,  his  arguments  with 
Barneveldt  were  considered  by  that  statesman  to  be  very 
vapory.  Indeed,  while  James  was  killing  off  the  Puri- 
tans in  his  own  country,  he  was  approving  them  in  Hol- 
land, and  was  even  endeavoring  to  have  Vorstius  removed 
from  his  professorship  in  Leyden  as  a  heretic,  because 
he  was  an  Arminian.  So  King  James  was  not  happy  over 
Holland  and  these  Dutchmen,  who  had  made  him  ridicu- 
lous in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  Yet,  unable  to  vent  his  wrath 
against  the  powerful  Republic,  he  showed  his  spite  against 
the  little  English  colony  of  Separatists  in  Leyden.  Bar- 
neveldt and  the  States  of  Holland,  not  daring  to  utter- 
ly alienate  their  only  friend  and  the  sole  Protestant  power 
in  Europe  which  was  able  or  willing  to  help  them,  hu- 
mored James  by  restraining  somewhat  their  own  tolera- 
tion and  freedom  of  printing — things  in  which  Holland 
was  generations  ahead  of  England.  Carleton  was  allowed 
to  swoop  upon  the  Pilgrim  Press,  and  to  begin  what 
proved  a  very  humiliating  and  unsuccessful  hunt  after 
William  Brewster,  who  was  keeping  quiet,  probably  in 


790  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [leiY 

England.  The  "  liberty  of  unlicensed  printing/^  for  which 
Milton  was  soon  to  plead,  and  in  defence  of  which  he  was 
to  pen  one  of  the  noblest  discourses  in  English  literature, 
had  long  existed  in  the  Kepublic.  Manuscripts  written 
in  the  Clink  and  other  English  prisons  by  martyrs  for 
conscience'  sake  during  the  previous  century  —  possibly 
even  the  Martin  Mar-prelate  tracts — had  been  carried  to 
Middelburg.  There,  with  other  "  Brownist "  tracts,  they 
were  printed,  and  then  reimported  to  England.  The  Pil- 
grim Press  in  Choir  Alley,  Leyden,  was  the  successor  of 
that  in  the  Fish  Market  of  Middelburg. 

Meanwhile,  in  Leyden,  the  future  founders  of  New  Eng- 
land had  an  object-lesson  before  their  eyes.  On  the  Breede 
Straat,  or  Broadway,  the  ancient  Koman  road  leading 
down  to  the  sea,  stood  the  beautiful  Town-hall,  up  the 
steps  of  which  so  many  English  couples,  ancestors  of 
Americans,  had  climbed  with  beating  hearts  and  blushing 
faces  to  declare  their  intentions  of  matrimony,  and  after- 
wards, according  to  '^the  laudable  custom  of  the  Low 
Countries"  —  as  William  Bradford,  founder  of  American 
historical  literature,  wrote — to  be  married  by  civic  author- 
ity. In  1618  they  saw  erected  in  front  of  and  encircling 
this  Stad  Huis  a  wooden  fort,  occupying  the  whole  width 
of  the  street  front.  It  was  made  by  driving  into  the 
ground  solid  oak  planks,  which  were  bolted  together  and 
strengthened  by  bars  of  iron,  with  barbed  prongs — popu- 
larly called  "  Barneveldt's  teeth."  Besides  port-holes  for 
the  gunners  there  were  mounted  cannon.  Within  it  and 
inside  the  Town-hall,  on  guard  and  ready  to  march  forth, 
stood  the  waartgelders  in  armor  and  having  snaphances, 
or  snap-cock  guns,  to  uphold  states'  right  against  national 
supremacy.  This  fort  was  Barneveldt's  challenge  to  Mau- 
rice. Nor  was  the  powder  left  entirely  unburned,  for,  be- 
sides blood  drawn  and  blows  exchanged,  lives  both  of  citi- 
zens and  soldiers  were  lost. 

Leyden,  like  the  other  Dutch  cities,  was  flooded  with 
caricatures  and  pictures,  setting  forth  the  chief  men,  the 
varying  phases,  and  the  moving  incidents  in  the  great 
struggle  which  seemed  likely  to  break  into  a  storm  of 
civil  war  and  plunge  the  nation  into  the  great  "  blood 


1617]    STATES-GENERAL  VOTES  FOR  A  NATIONAL  SYNOD      791 

bath  "  about  which  so  many  talked.  There  were  no  news- 
papers in  those  days,  but  printing  in  Holland  was  cheap 
and  free.  Over  ten  thousand  pamphlets,  and  probably  as 
many  prints,  from  the  sixteenth  century  alone,  survive  in 
Dutch  libraries.  Placards  and  caricatures  were  abundant, 
and  were  plastered  or  fastened  on  walls,  posts,  curbs,  and 
bridges.  The  future  Americans,  many  of  whose  sons  and 
brothers  were  in  the  national  Dutch  army,  fighting  for 
freedom  and  union  under  the  orange,  white,  and  blue  flag, 
took  their  first  lessons  in  the  municipal,  state,  and  national 
politics  of  the  federal  republic  while  in  Leyden.  It  is 
more  than  probable  that  some  of  these  saw  what  took 
place  but  a  few  yards  from  their  own  headquarters  —  the 
military  occupation  of  Leyden  by  the  stadholder's  body- 
guard and  picked  troops  on  October  22,  1618,  the  dis- 
mission the  next  day  of  the  forty  officers  in  the  city  mag- 
istracy, and  the  reorganization  of  a  new  board  favorable 
to  Maurice  and  the  Union.  Most  of  the  Leydeners  were 
Calvinists,  and  the  people  made  merry  with  many  a  boister- 
ous jest  over  the  victory  of  arms  over  arms.  They  first, 
in  derision,  hung  wreaths  of  straw  over  the  timbers  of  the 
empty  fort  and  then  broke  it  up.  They  dragged  the  tim- 
bers and  iron  into  the  public  square,  and  sold  "  Barne- 
veldt's  teeth"  at  auction.  They  finished  their  fun  by 
plucking  the  feathers  off  some  fowls,  and  then  chased  the 
naked  creatures  around  the  town,  yelling  "arme  haenen" 
(poor  hens)  —  a  pun  on  the  word  Arminians  and  the 
favorite  joke  of  this  period. 

When  the  States-General  assembled  on  the  11th  of  No- 
vember, 1617,  there  were  no  absent  members.  The  mat- 
ter between  the  Ilemonstrants  and  Contra-Eemonstrants 
had  been  for  years  in  suspense.  Now  the  sword  of  Mau- 
rice, having  been  thrown  in  the  scale,  had  already  prac- 
tically decided  the  questions,  which  were,  whether  a  na- 
tional synod  could  be  held,  and  whether  one  state  or  the 
confederacy  should  rule.  The  pretext,  however,  was  that 
of  theology.  It  was  voted  in  full  assembly  that  the  Na- 
tional Synod  should  be  convened  next  year.  In  the  Dutch 
Congress  each  state  had  one  vote,  and  there  were  four  in 
favor  and  three  against  the   measure.     The  four  states 


792  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1618 

were  Zeeland,  Friesland,  Groningen,  and  Gelderland^  while 
Holland,  IJtrecht,  and  Overyssel  protested  against  the 
vote  as  an  invasion  of  the  states'  rights  and  an  act  of  tyr- 
anny and  usurpation.  Nevertheless,  though  Holland  voted 
against  the  synod,  the  cities  of  Amsterdam,  Dordrecht, 
Enkhuizen,  Edam,  and  Purmerend  approved  this  expression 
of  the  national  will,  and  made  protest  against  the  three 
provinces  who  seemed  to  resist  it.  This  was  one  of  many 
votes  in  the  Dutch  National  Congress  which  illustrated  the 
defects  of  the  constitution.  Uytenbogaert  urged  Barne- 
veldt  to  accept  the  result.  Barneveldt's  answer  was  that 
he  was  not  willing  to  give  away  the  rights  of  the  land. 
Oarleton  now  came  before  the  States-General,  not  for  the 
first  time,  to  lecture  the  members  upon  the  necessity  of 
the  National  Synod  and  upon  the  theological  points  in 
dispute. 

About  this  time  the  Dutch  wits  sent  out  an  anonymous 
pamphlet  entitled  *'The  Balance,"  in  which  both  the 
English  King  and  his  minister  were  held  up  to  ridicule. 
King  James,  on  seeing  the  satire,  was  goaded  almost  to 
frenzy.  With  his  own  hand  he  wrote  in  complaint  to  the 
States-General,  which,  urged  by  Carleton,  voted  a  reward 
of  a  thousand  florins  for  the  discovery  of  the  author  of 
the  pamphlet  and  six  hundred  for  that  of  its  printer. 
Carleton  suspected  Grotius,  whom  he  called  ''  a  young 
petulant  brain";  but  Dutch  historians  believe  that  Gillis 
van  Ledenberg  produced  this  clever  screed. 

The  epoch  of  the  Great  Truce,  including  more  espe- 
cially the  years  1618  and  1619,  was  prolific  above  all  others 
in  the  multiplication  of  pamphlets,  placards,  caricatures, 
and  other  matters  of  print  and  illustration.  In  these  the 
Arminians  were  loaded  with  execration  and  Barneveldt 
was  made  the  butt  of  scorn  and  outrageous  calumny. 
Late  in  November  Maurice  made  a  tour  through  the  prov- 
inces, and  succeeded  in  winning  over  many  who  had  been 
leaning  towards  the  other  side.  To  the  outrageous  at- 
tacks upon  his  motives  and  character  Barneveldt  an- 
swered with  dignity  and  frankness,  making  denial  of  the 
suspicions  and  charges  against  him,  and  setting  forth  his 
course  of  life  as  a  patriot.     While  the  war  of  the  pam- 


1618]  STATES- GENERAL   CONVENES   AT   UTRECHT  793 

phlets  and  printers  went  on,  the  vilest  epithets  were  freely 
bandied  to  and  fro,  Barneveldt  figuring  in  the  popular 
mind  as  the  great  traitor,  partisan  of  Spain,  and  enemy 
of  God  and  the  church  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  Maurice 
was  held  up  as  an  aspirer  to  sovereignty  who  would  soon 
overturn  the  freedom  of  the  States  and  make  himself 
king. 

Events  now  moved  rapidly,  and  the  question  between 
national  and  stat§  sovereignty  became  more  clearly  defined. 
The  States  -  General  had  sent  commissioners  to  Utrecht 
demanding  the  disbanding  of  the  waartgelders,  but  the 
Hollanders  persuaded  the  city  magistrates  to  maintain 
them.  The  States  of  Holland  passed  resolutions  explain- 
ing their  course  in  raising  local  militia  to  maintain  the 
laws  against  turbulence.  They  offered  to  disband  the 
waartgelders  if  the  stadholder  would  remove  the  garrisons 
of  foreign  mercenaries  and  supply  native  troops  in  their 
place.  The  civilian  statesman  and  the  field-marshal  had 
another  interview.  On  the  25th  of  July  Grotius,  Hooger- 
beets,  and  two  colleagues  from  the  States  of  Holland  ar- 
rived in  Utrecht.  A  few  days  later  came  the  deputies 
of  the  States-General  to  this  city  of  the  compact  of  Union 
in  1579,  which  was  called  by  the  Dutch  "the  old  cradle 
of  liberty."  It  being  the  time  of  the  Kermiss,  or  annual 
fair,  Utrecht  was  crowded  with  visitors  from  outside, 
who,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  attractions  of  the  old 
games  and  sports,  confections  and  refreshments,  dances, 
songs,  and  night  revels,  had  a  novel  entertainment.  They 
amused  themselves  in  looking  at  the  shop-windows  filled 
with  pictures,  caricatures,  and  lampoons,  all  showing  the 
approaching  collapse  of  the  Arminian  party,  and  the  tri- 
umph of  the  stadholder.  The  placards  of  the  national 
congress,  or  States -General,  were  also  numerously  posted 
up,  while  alongside  of  these  were  often  the  counter- 
placards  of  the  States  of  Utrecht.  Most  of  these  pas- 
quinades intimated  that  Barneveldt  was  being  bribed  by 
Spanish  and  papal  gold,  while  the  Arminians  were  hasten- 
ing to  enter  the  old  church  so  long  associated  in  the  minds 
of  those  who  had  left  it  with  slavery,  torture,  foreign 
oppression,  and  the  inquisition.     In  a  word,  the  common 


794  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1618 

people  believed  that  the  whole  Arminian  movement,  in- 
stead of  being  what  most  of  the  modern  encyclopaedias 
and  books  of  reference  make  it — a  movement  in  the  inter- 
est of  charity,  humanity,  and  a  more  spiritual  interpreta- 
tion of  Christianity — was,  in  reality,  one  in  the  interests  of 
tyrants  for  mental  and  political  degradation,  a  reaction 
in  the  wrong  direction. 

Barneveldt  had  the  year  before  suggested  that  double 
guards  should  be  set  at  the  gates  of  Utijecht,  both  above 
and  below  the  city,  to  prevent  the  national  troops  from 
being  introduced  secretly  into  the  city ;  but  Sir  John 
Ogle,  recognizing  the  stadholder  and  States-General  as  his 
superiors,  refused  to  take  any  measures  of  the  sort.  Man- 
rice,  ordering  up  a  thousand  men  of  the  Union  army  from 
Arnhem  and  Vianen,  with  detachments  from  the  regular 
Utrecht  garrison,  had  bade  them  assemble  noiselessly  at 
3.30  A.M.  in  the  market-place,  and  plant  their  cannon  so 
as  to  command  the  thoroughfares  leading  into  the  great 
open  square.  Without  blast  of  trumpet  or  beat  of  drum 
the  order  was  executed.  At  daylight  the  stadholder  rode 
into  the  square  on  horseback,  surrounded  by  his  staff. 
Then,  advancing  towards  a  company  of  the  waartgelders 
stationed  near  by,  he  ordered  them  to  lay  down  their  arms. 
They  obeyed  at  once.  Before  the  majority  of  the  Utrecht 
people  were  out  of  their  beds  the  waartgelders  had  been 
disbanded  and  the  supremacy  of  the  nation  maintained. 
The  ^'  blood  bath,"  so  long  talked  of,  failed  to  appear. 
The  deputies  from  Holland  and  those  of  Utrecht  made 
themselves  invisible,  except  six  of  the  latter  who  thanked 
the  prince  for  his  action.  Maurice  changed  the  city  mag- 
istracy so  as  to  secure  power  to  the  Unionists,  and  the 
Calvinists  were  once  more  given  possession  of  the  Great 
Church. 

Barneveldt,  though  warned  of  his  danger,  maintained 
his  post,  and  with  dignity  awaited  the  issue.  On  the 
29th  of  August  the  lieutenant  of  the  stadholder's  body- 
guard made  the  old  pensionary  prisoner,  and  soon  after- 
wards Grotius  and  Hoogerbeets  were  also  arrested,  accord- 
ing to  an  order  of  the  States-General  denouncing  these 
three   men  as  being  responsible  for  the  troubles  which 


1618]  THE   QUESTION   OF  BARNEVELDT'S  TRIAL  795 

afflicted  tlie  church,  and  which  had  nearly  plunged  the 
country  into  civil  war. 

When  it  came  to  the  question  of  trial,  the  States  of 
Holland  insisted  that  Barneveldt  should  be  tried  before 
all  the  provinces  and  the  ambassadors  of  France  and 
England ;  but  the  States-General  insisted  that  full  au- 
thority to  try  Barneveldt  was  vested  in  them,  and  that 
foreigners  should  have  no  seat  upon  the  tribunal.  In 
order  to  overcome  the  opposition  of  the  protesting  city 
magistrates,  Maurice,  although  only  after  extreme  press- 
ure put  upon  him  by  the  Calvinist  clergy  and  magistrates, 
purged  the  city  councils  in  Holland,  as  he  already  had 
done  in  other  provinces.  This  was  done  in  the  same  gen- 
eral manner  as  we  have  noted  in  Leyden.  This  he  was 
able  to  accomplish  with  comparative  ease.  Under  the 
plea  of  necessity,  he  made  the  triumph  of  the  Union  com- 
plete. When  the  new  members  from  the  town  govern- 
ments which  he  had  reconstructed  had'  given  the  Union 
cause  a  majority,  even  in  the  States  of  Holland,  Maurice 
declared  he  had  done  everything  for  the  public  good,  and 
asked  that  his  declaration  be  recorded. 

The  public  worship  of  the  Remonstrants  was  now  pro- 
hibited, and  the  state  churches  occupied,  by  them  were 
vacated,  though  inside  their  own  private  houses  they 
could,  like  the  Catholics,  hold  their  meetings.  No  one 
now  opposed  the  National  Synod  except  certain  nobles ; 
and  the  power  of  these  was  relatively  reduced  by  the  ad- 
dition to  their  body  of  two  new  members.  These  were 
Francis  Aerssens,  the  discredited  envoy  of  the  Republic 
to  France  and  the  bitter  enemy  of  Barneveldt,  and  Daniel 
de  Hartaing,  neither  of  whom  were  natives  of  Holland. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

STATE   RIGHT   AND   NATIONAL   SOVEREIGNTY 

The  great  synod  opened  at  Dordrecht  on  the  13th  of 
November,  1618.  It  stands  in  history  as  the  only  Protes- 
tant ecumenical  council  ever  held.  It  was  composed  of 
thirty-nine  ministers,  eighteen  ruling  elders,  five  profess- 
ors, and  commissioners  from  all  the  states  of  the  Republic, 
besides  several  from  the  Southern  Netherlands,  together 
with  twenty-four  -foreign  deputies,  representing  the  Re- 
formed churches  of  England,  Germany,  France,  and  Switz- 
erland. It  was  one  of  the  most  dignified  bodies  of  men 
that  ever  assembled  on  the  European  continent.  The 
place  of  meeting  was  in  the  two-storied  edifice  of  the  Klo- 
veniers  Doelen,  the  armory  of  the  artillerists  or  burgher 
guards.  At  the  end  of  the  great  hall  was  a  stately  orna- 
mental fireplace  of  generous  proportions,  occupying  nearly 
one- third  of  the  space  and  projecting  several  feet  into  the 
room.  At  the  other  end,  the  whole  breadth  for  several 
feet  was  given  up  to  the  numerous  auditors  and  spectators 
who  attended  continuously,  among  whom,  probably,  was 
John  Robinson,  the  Pilgrim  pastor  of  Leyden,  who  after- 
wards eloquently  defended  the  verdict  of  the  synod  against 
Episcopius,  of  Leyden  University.  The  president,  assess- 
ors, and  scribes  sat  at  the  table  some  distance  in  front  of 
the  fireplace  ;  beyond  which,  in  the  centre  of  the  hall,  was 
a  long  table  and  chairs  provided  for  the  Remonstrant  pro- 
fessors and  ministers  who  had  been  cited  to  appear  before 
the  synod.  The  political  deputies  and  their  secretary  oc- 
cupied another  table  nearer  the  door.  At  long  tables 
ranged  along  the  walls,  which  were  pierced  on  either  side 
with  three  high  and  wide  windows,  sat  the  German,  Swiss, 


1618]        OPENING   OF   GREAT  SYNOD  AT  DORDRECHT  797 

and  Walloon  representatives,  and  the  various  delegations 
from  each  of  the  seven  states  of  the  Eepublic.  France 
was  not  represented,  although  the  French  National  Synod 
had  elected  four  delegates,  Louis  the  Thirteenth  having 
forbidden  any  of  his  subjects  to  attend.  The  English 
deputies,  among  the  first  to  arrive,  sat  at  three  small  ta- 
bles to  the  left  of  the  fireplace.  Under  the  centre  of  the 
high  ceiling  hung  a  huge  pear-shaped  cluster  of  lamps. 
Each  member  was  provided  with  writing  materials.* 

In  all  there  were  eighty-four  members  and  eighteen 
secular  commissioners,  of  whom  fifty-eight  were  Dutch,  all 
*' orthodox."  Three  Remonstrant  delegates  from  Utrecht 
were  not  allowed  seats,  their  places  being  taken  by  Contra- 
Remonstrants.  Thus  the  conclusions  of  the  synod  were  al- 
ready foregone  before  it  opened.  Thus  was  given  an  ob- 
ject-lesson in  predestination  and  election,  of  the  common 
human  sort,  of  power  without  justice. 

Prayer  and  worship  were  first  enjoyed  in  the  Great 
Church.  Then  the  Dutch  delegates  proceeded  to  the 
lodgings  of  the  foreign  deputies  to  conduct  them  in  pro- 
cession to  the  Doelen  Hall,  where,  after  addresses  of  wel- 
come in  the  name  of  the  States-General  and  by  the  mayor  of 
Dordrecht,  they  were  ushered  to  their  assigned  places  on 
the  second  floor.  After  greetings  on  behalf  of  the  sepa- 
rate states,  the  synod  was  organized.  The  scholarly  John 
Bogerman,  minister  at  Leeuwarden,  a  man  of  command- 
ing personal  presence  and  having  a  full,  rich  voice,  was 
chosen  president,  probably  through  the  influence  of 
Count  William  Louis  of  Nassau,  stadholder  of  Friesland, 
who  had  all  along  been  the  political  adviser  of  Maurice. 
Bogerman  was  a  supra-lapsarian  in  theology.  There  was 
general  unanimity  in  doctrinal  views,  with  abundant  free- 
dom of  discussion,  which  continued  through  many  months. 
The  Remonstrants,  in  the  persons  of  Episcopius  and  thir- 
teen others,  were  present  during  the  first  fifty-seven  ses- 

*  The  best  account  in  English  of  the  origin  and  work  of  this  synod  is 
contained  in  Rev.  Dr.  M.  G.  Hansen's  scholarly  volume,  T7ie  Reformed 
Church  in  the  Netherlands,  from  a.d.  1340  to  a.d.  1840.  See  also  Schaff's 
Creeds  of  Christendom,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  608-524. 


798  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1619 

sions.  Then,  after  offering  a  written  statement  subscribed 
by  each  of  them,  to  the  effect  that  their  consciences  would 
not  permit  them  to  yield  their  position,  they  were  angrily 
dismissed,  and  thereafter  attended  no  more  sessions,  but 
were  judged  by  their  written  and  printed  publications. 
The  States-General  reproved  the  Remonstrants,  and  a  sol- 
emn sentence  of  condemnation  was  uttered  by  the  Na- 
tional Synod  against  the  Arminian  tenets.  On  the  6th 
of  May  the  judgment  of  the  synod  was  published  in  the 
Great  Church  at  Dordrecht,  before  an  expectant  multitude 
which  overflowed  the  edifice.  The  canons  of  the  Synod 
of  Dort,  under  five  heads  of  doctrine  in  answer  to  the  five 
contentions  of  the  Arminians,  were  read,  and  also  the 
sentence  passed  against  the  Remonstrants.  Though  long 
ago  nullified  in  the  National  Church  of  the  Fatherland, 
these  canons  are  still  the  doctrinal  basis  of  the  Christian 
Reformed  Church  in  the  Netherlands  and  of  the  Re- 
formed Church  in  America  and  in  South  Africa.  Two 
months  later,  the  finding  of  the  synod  was  confirmed  by 
the  States-General.  By  its  enforcement  two  hundred  Ar- 
minian ministers  were  deposed,  but  their  salaries  were 
paid,  and  the  Republic  undertook  to  provide  for  their  sup- 
port whether  at  home  or  abroad.  Seventy  of  them  signed 
the  act  of  deposition,  and  eighty,  who  declined  to  do  so, 
were  escorted  beyond  the  frontier.  Meetings  of  the  Re- 
monstrants in  any  but  private  houses  were  forbidden. 

Having  concluded  the  chief  task  assigned  them,  the 
members  of  the  synod  sat  down  to  a  splendid  banquet 
given  by  the  city  of  Dordrecht  in  honor  of  the  foreign 
deputies,  each  of  whom  received  from  the  National  Con- 
gress a  gold  medal  and  a  gold  chain  worth  two  hundred 
florins.  On  the  medal  were  the  figure  of  Mount  Zion, 
with  a  temple  on  its  summit  assailed  by  the  four  winds  of 
heaven,  and  a  Latin  legend  reading  "  Erunt  sicut  mons 
Zion."  They  were  then  dismissed  with  thanks.  Before 
leaving  the  country,  the  foreign  delegates  were  invited  to 
visit  the  Hague,  where  some  of  them  beheld  the  awful 
tragedy,  soon  to  be  described,  which  shows  the  logical  re- 
sults of  the  intermeddling  of  ecclesiasticism  with  politics. 

This  national  and  international  Synod  of  Dort  is  world- 


1619]  WHAT   THE   SYNOD   OF  DORT   EXPRESSED  799 

famous  in  the  annals  of  ecclesiology  for  its  contribution 
to  theological  science,  and  to  that  kind  of  government 
which,  in  an  imperfect  stage  of  evolution,  conjoins  the 
pastor's  staff  with  the  magistrate's  axe  and  staves.  The 
synod  and  its  work  are  variously  judged  according  to 
men's  inherited  opinions,  prejudices,  and  traditions,  being 
caricatured  by  the  followers  of  Arminius  and  glorified  by 
those  of  Calvin.  Its  decisions,  though  at  first  accepted  in 
England  and  Germany,  were  afterwards  rejected  or  an- 
nulled throughout  all  Europe,  where  they  are  to-day  but 
relics  of  the  past  and  the  synod  is  a  vanished  landmark  of 
history.  The  canons  of  th'e  Synod  of  Dort  are  still  held 
with  tenacity  in  South  Africa  and  in  the  United  States  of 
America,  and  are  made  the  test  of  orthodoxy. 

More  interesting  to  the  student  and  more  permanently 
potent  in  the  Republic  were  the  post-acta,  or  after -acts, 
of  the  synod,  looking  to  the  improvement  of  religion,  the 
order  and  peace  of  the  church,  the  increase  of  education 
and  intelligence,  and  to  the  general  moral  prosperity  of 
the  nation.  Among  other  things  ordered  was  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible,  in  which  Bogerman  took  an  honorable 
part.  This  "  States-General  version,"  in  accuracy,  scholar- 
ship, and  intellectual  honesty,  is  the  peer  of  any  in  Eu- 
rope, while  in  literal  rendering  of  the  original  Hebrew 
text  and  Greek  it  probably  excels  all. 

To  those  who  can  view  the  whole  twenty  years'  intel- 
lectual movement  from  all  sides,  without  being  prejudiced 
by  their  religious  feelings  or  opinions,  the  Synod  of  Dort 
was  not  merely  an  expression  of  the  faith  and  feelings  of 
the  overwhelming  majority  of  the  Dutch  people,  but  it 
also  voiced  their  intense,  deep-seated,  and  passionate  de- 
termination to  oppose  themselves  as  a  nation  against  the 
inquisition  and  against  any  tendency,  whether  political  or 
ecclesiastical,  calculated  to  rend  asunder  their  unity  of 
purpose,  their  resolve  to  be  a  nation. 

Seen  through  colorless  lenses,  this  synod  was  in  its  crea- 
tion a  political  affair — the  work  of  the  States-General.  By 
it — not  by  the  Church — the  calls  to  the  great  council  were 
issued  and  the  business  to  be  transacted  regulated.  To  it — 
not  to  the  church — the  credentials  of  the  foreign  delegates 


800  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1619 

were  directed.  The  government  ordered  that  the  sessions 
should  be  held  at  Dordrecht,  at  the  Artillery  Armory,  and 
at  the  government  expense,  by  which  also  the  hall  was  fitted 
up  and  all  expenses  of  the  delegates  paid;  and  this  hall 
remained  the  property  of  the  government,  and  not  of  the 
Church.  When  the  members  of  the  synod  arrived  in  the 
Doelen,  they  were  received  in  a  room  up-stairs  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  States-General — not  of  the  Church — two 
ministers  introducing  them  by  name  to  this  purely  politi- 
cal committee.  This  ceremony  over,  the  members  were 
conducted  into  the  hall  of  meeting,  where  in  the  name  of 
their  High  Mightinesses — not  of  the  Church — they  were 
welcomed  by  Martinus  Gregorius  and  Hugo  Muis.  In  a 
word,  this  synod  was  the  work  of  the  government.  The 
building  was  afterwards  used  as  a  dance-hall  and  prison. 

Meanwhile  the  three  prisoners — who  because  Grotius 
was  incarcerated  in  the  fortress  of  Loevenstein  gave  rise 
to  the  name  '^^the  Loevenstein  party,"  ever  afterwards 
so  common  in  heated  politics — were  first  subjected  to  a 
preliminary  examination  by  thirteen  commissioners  ap- 
pointed by  the  National  Congress.  Then  an  extraordi- 
nary tribunal  of  twenty-four  judges  from  the  other  states 
of  the  Kepublic  and  twelve  from  Holland  was  created  for 
the  trial.  The  wife  of  Barneveldt  complained  that  three 
of  the  judges  were  the  advocate's  bitter  personal  enemies. 
Certainly  the  court  was  not  one  that  would  be  reckoned 
legal  in  the  nineteenth  century;  but  then  this  was  the 
seventeenth  century,  when  law  itself  was  struggling  for 
existence.  The  tribunal  was  composed  of  worthy  men, 
several  of  whom  were  of  noble  birth,  others  of  eminent 
respectability  and  talents,  and  most  of  whom  were  mem- 
bers of  the  States-General. 

Many  of  the  papers  which  have  come  to  light  since  the 
decease  of  Mr.  Motley — from  whom  and  the  Dutch  and 
foreign  sympathizers  with  Barneveldt  the  popular  en- 
cyclopaedias and  books  of  reference  have  copied — put  an 
entirely  different  face  upon  the  affair,  and  show  that  this 
trial  was  something  totally  different  from  that  indicated 
by  the  caricatures  of  the  ultra- Arminians  and  of  Dutch 
pamphleteers,  artists,  and   lampoonists   opposed  to  the 


i619]  BARNEVELDT   IRRITATES   THE   PEOPLE  801 

House  of  Orange.  It  was  a  time  of  intensest  excitement, 
of  heated  feeling,  of  religious  fanaticism,  and,  above  all,  of 
awful  danger  to  the  people  of  a  little  republic,  with  less 
than  one  million  people  living  on  a  bank  of  sand  and  clay 
not  one-half  as  large  as  South  Carolina.  With  the  Span- 
ish sword  and  the  curse  of  the  Pope  over  their  heads,  the 
Dutch  were  awaiting  the  shock  of  the  reinforced  Spanish 
legions  that  in  a  few  months  were  to  charge  upon  them. 
At  such  a  time  an  extraordinary  tribunal  like  this  would 
naturally  have  more  regard  to  the  tendencies  and  conse- 
quences of  the  acts  of  Barneveldt  and  his  politico-relig- 
ious adherents  than  to  the  question  of  their  lawfulness. 
In  the  eyes  of  a  majority  of  the  Dutch  republicans  it 
was  not  only  their  church  that  was  in  danger,  but  their 
very  existence  as  a  nation.  Unity  in  state  and  church 
was  the  absolute  requirement.  Probably  Maurice  saw 
much  the  same  problem  in  1617  which  Abraham  Lincoln 
saw  in  1861 — the  necessity  of  preserving  the  Union  at  all 
hazards. 

Barneveldt's  answers  irritated  the  people  even  more 
than  they  did  the  judges  who  tried  him.  In  their  eyes 
this  aristocratic  statesman  did  not  seem  to  know  that 
there  was  a  Dutch  people.  He  appeared  only  to  under- 
stand that  there  were  kings  and  nobles,  stadholders  and 
states,  magistrates  and  burghers,  with  parchments,  char- 
ters, seals,  and  various  legal  merchandise,  but  not  any  peo- 
ple. His  courage  seemed  impudence  and  his  boldness  trea- 
son. He  appeared  throughout  to  be  making  indictment  of 
the  common  people  who  controlled  the  state,  and  who  were 
made  to  appear  as  if  they  were  enemies  of  law  and  order. 
Throughout  his  trial,  with  immovable  honesty,  he  made 
no  denial  of  his  acts,  his  purpose,  or  his  politics.  These, 
summed  up  in  a  few  words,  were  unshaken,  almost  holy 
faith  in  federal  government  and  also  in  state  sovereignty, 
in  religion  and  also  in  agnosticism,  in  state -churchism, 
and  the  right  of  the  State  to  control  the  Church  and  of 
the  politician  to  regulate  religion. 

The  Intendit,*  or  summary  of  charges,  against  Barne- 

*  Intendit  tegen  Mr.  Johan  van  Oldenbarneveldt.     Hague,  1875. 
51 


S;02  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1619 

veldt,  contained  two  hundred  and  fifteen  counts.  The 
sessions  of  the  court  lasted  several  months.  On  most  of 
the  charges  the  accused  was  found  guilty,  though  that  of 
treason  with  Spain  was  dropped.  He  was  charged  with 
having  made  King  James  father  Arminian  opinions  upon 
the  States-General,  with  influencing  the  King  of  France 
against  the  National  Synod,  with  rejecting  the  offer  of  an 
important  alliance  without  knowledge  of  the  National 
Congress,  and  of  being  bribed  by  foreign  potentates.  In 
the  delivery  of  this  judgment,  one  can  detect  the  malice 
of  Aerssens,  the  personal  enemy  of  Barneveldt ;  the  im- 
placable hostility  of  the  West  India  Company  against 
their  powerful  and  unsleeping  opponent ;  and  the  bitter 
hatred  of  the  English  politicians,  urged  on  by  King 
James  of  England.  There  are  those  who  still  believe, 
and  on  good  grounds,  that  Barneveldt  was  the  victim  of 
a  judicial  murder ;  that  he  was  condemned  to  death  by 
an- illegal  tribunal,  the  members  of  which  were  forced  to 
serve  and  were  bound  to  bring  in  a  verdict  of  guilty,  and 
that  on  flimsy  and  false  charges  ;  and  that  the  great  states- 
man, who,  like  the  immortal  William  the  Silent,  stands 
unique  in  Dutch  history,  died  a  martyr  and  not  a  traitor. 
The  question  of  punishment  now  came  before  the  gov- 
ernment. Maurice  was  inclined  to  mercy,  and  even  the 
stadholder  of  Friesland  made  appeal  that  the  old  and 
faithful  servant  of  the  nation  should  be  left  with  his  life. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  popular  clamor  was  for  the  head 
of  Barneveldt,  and  that  his  blood  should  be  poured  out  as 
that  of  a  traitor.  While  the  matter  was  in  dispute,  a 
trifling  incident  occurred  which,  we  may  almost  say, 
turned  the  scale  against  Barneveldt.  The  advocate's 
family  had  set  up,  in  front  of  his  house  on  the  Voorhout 
in  the  Hague,  according  to  ancient  usage,  the  Meiboom 
or  maypole  on  the  first  day  of  the  flowery  month,  and 
had  adorned  the  house  and  walls  with  blossoms.  They 
were  celebrating  the  day,  in  the  expectation  that  the 
father  and  husband  would  be  pardoned,  or  at  least 
have  his  life.  This  act  of  premature  joy  seemed  to  the. 
stadholder  highly  improper,  considering  the  gravity  of 
the  charges  against  him.     Nevertheless^  if  Barneveldt's 


1619]  EXECUTION  OF  BARNE VELDT  803 

family  had  asked  pardon  for  him,  his  life  would  doubtless 
have  been  spared ;  but  this  they  would  not  do,  because 
such  a  request  would  appear  to  be  an  admission  of  the 
advocate's  guilt,  since  already  Barneveldt^s  defence  was 
popularly  regarded  as  a  confession  of  crime.  Even  when 
the  Princess  Ooligny,  widow  of  the  Silent,  urged  Barne- 
veldt's  wife  to  make  the  appeal,  she  would  not  consent. 
In  vain  also  did  the  French  ambassador,  Du  Maurier,  make 
request  to  the  States-General  for  the  prisoner's  life.  Sir 
Dudley  Carleton,  the  English  ambassador,  showed  the 
temper  of  his  master  by  refusing  to  join  in  the  French 
envoy's  request.  Meanwhile,  insurrections  of  the  Armin- 
ians  at  Hoorn,  Alkmaar,  and  Ley  den,  and  suspicions  of  a 
plot  against  Maurice's  life,  completely  turned  the  scale. 
Believing  that  an  example  was  needed,  the  judges  became 
unanimous  in  their  vote  to  inflict  the  death  penalty,  which 
was  read  to  the  prisoner  when  he  was  brought  before  the 
tribunal  on  the  morning  of  May  13,  1619. 

On  that  same  day,  in  the  great  court  of  Binnenhof, 
thousands  of  Dutch  people  gathered  to  witness  the  execu- 
tion of  one  whom  many  believed  to  be  the  second  founder 
of  the  Republic.  A  platform  was  built  in  front  of  the  old 
Hall  of  the  Knights,  in  which  the  National  Congress  of 
the  little  republic  met,  and  whose  embowed  roof-timbers 
were  hung  with  the  captured  battle-flags  of  the  Spaniards, 
of  Alva,  of  Requesens,  and  of  Parma.  Fronting  the 
death-stage  were  the  body-guard  of  the  stadholder  of  the 
republic  and  two  English  companies  of  auxiliaries,  mak- 
ing a  military  force  of  twelve  hundred  men.  The  aged 
statesman,  with  uncovered  head  and  wearing  that  long 
robe  of  yellowish  brown  damask  fringed  at  the  edges 
which  had  figured  so  prominently  in  the  caricatures  of 
his  zealous  enemies,  walked  with  dignity  to  the  scaffold 
to  die  amid  the  scenes  of  his  former  almost  sovereign 
power.  He  who  had  in  reality  for  years  ruled  the  repub- 
lic knelt  on  the  hard  plank,  while  the  chaplain  prayed 
long.  Then  rising  and  facing  those  within  hearing,  he 
said,  "Men,  do  not  believe  that  I  am  a  traitor  to  the 
country.  I  have  ever  acted  uprightly  and  loyally  as  a 
good  patriot,  and  as  such  I  shall  die.''    Taking  a  cap 


804  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1619 

from  his  body-servant,  John  Franken,  he  drew  it  over  his 
eyes  and  knelt  with  his  face  towards  his  own  house.  Then, 
with  a  prayer  to  God,  he  bade  the  executioner  be  quick. 

In  all  Dutch  history  and  tradition  there  has  been  an 
instinctive  horror  of  scaffold-shed  or  judicially  poured- 
out  blood  falling  upon  dry  earth  or  timber.  In  the  cases 
of  pagans  caught  ravishing  the  shrines,  of  Norsemen, 
pirates,  or  criminals,  the  custom  had  been  to  go  to  the 
seashore  or  put  wet  sand  where  the  blood  was  to  fall. 
Barneveldt  knelt  upon  the  bed  of  sand  laid  upon  the 
scaifold.  The  swordsman's  stroke,  heavy  and  clever,  took 
off  the  head  at  one  blow,  and  the  spent  blade  cut  even  the 
fingers  clasped  in  prayer.  *  The  scaffold  was  left"  stand- 
ing, and  other  effective  means  were  taken  to  prevent  the 
execution  from  seeming  to  be  that  of  a  martyr  rather  than 
of  a  traitor. 

So  perished,  with  invincible  spirit,  in  the  fulness  of  his 
mental  abilities,  and  but  a  short  time  after  the  culmi- 
nation of  his  power  in  the  history  of  the  Eepublic,  the 
greatest  statesman  in  all  the  history  of  the  Netherlands,  a 
man  of  marvellous  and  varied  gifts,  of  amazing  industry, 
and  of  unsullied  private  character,  who  was  the  victim  of 
a  false  political  theory  and  the  fanaticism  of  an  excited 
people.  In  his  knowledge  of  men  and  of  affairs,  Barne- 
veldt had  no  superior  in  any  of  the  countries  of  Europe. 
His  unwearied  exertions  were  undoubtedly  in  the  inter- 
ests of  pure  patriotism.  He  loved  his  country  and  labored 
for  her  welfare,  but  his  adherence  to  theories  which,  both 
in  politics  and  religion,  were  essentially  false  and  danger- 
ous showed  that  he  is  not  to  be  held  up  as  a  model  either 
for  the  believer  in  pure  Christianity  or  the  patriot  who 

*  Among  the  voluminous  Barneveldia  brought  to  light  by  the  tremendous 
stimulus  to  research,  compelled  by  Mr.  Motley's  John  of  Barneveld^  is  The 
Tragedy  of  Sir  John  Van  Olden- Barneveldt,  printed  (500  copies)  at  the 
Hague  in  1884,  with  an  introduction  by  Prof.  R.  Fruin.  This  English 
play,  probably  by  Massinger  and  his  associates,  or  by  one  or  more  of  them, 
was  at  first  prohibited  by  King  James,  but  later  played  in  London,  where 
it  had  many  spectators  and  received  applause.  In  the  finale  of  his  play, 
the  inspector-lord  on  the  scaffold  answers  the  executioner's  question,  "  Is 
it  well  done,  mine  Heeres  "  ?  with  the  words,  "  Somewhat  too  much  ;  you 
have  strooke  his  fingers,  too." 


1619]  VICTIM   OF   CIRCUMSTANCES  805 

can  trust  the  people  to  govern  themselves.  Between  the 
agnosticism  of  those  who  think  that  ''  to  know  nothing  is 
the  safest  faith"  and  the  fanaticism  of  state-churchmen, 
whether  Calvinists,  Arminians,  Anglicans,  Turks,  Teu- 
tons, Chinese,  or  Koreans,  there  is  sure  ground.  The  man 
who  seeks  an  open  vision  of  God  will  continue  to  believe 
in  that  religion  and  in  that  kingdom  not  of  this  world, 
■'vhich  neither  seeks  nor  will  permit  the  intermeddling  of 
politicians.  Between  the  admirers  of  despotism,  whether 
of  the  monarchical,  aristocratic,  commercial,  or  democratic 
type,  the  believer  in  the  harmony  of  state  and  national 
rights,  as  shown  in  the  American  republic,  will  walk  the 
even  tenor  of  his  way. 

Barneveldt,  as  an  individual,  doubtless  believed  in  free- 
dom of  conscience,  and  would  have  no  oppression  in  re- 
ligion, and,  like  William  the  Silent,  he  demanded  mut- 
ual toleration  and  respect.  But  it  is  evident  that,  as  a 
politician,  he  did  not  consistently  carry  out  this  noble 
view,  and  in  the  popular  mind  his  theories  meant  Oaesar- 
ism  and  papacy. 

It  seems  certain  that  the  condemnation  to  death  of  so 
noble  a  statesman,  so  sincere  a  patriot,  and  so  faithful  a 
servant  was  an  outrageous  error,  a  cruel  mistake,  and 
that  one  of  the  best  things  the  Dutch  people  could  do 
would  be  to  erect  a  commanding  and  impressive  monu- 
ment to  the  second  founder  of  their  Eepublic.  The  ad- 
vocate of  Holland  needs  neither  the  transfiguration  of 
Motley  nor  does  he  deserve  the  shameful  defamation 
of  the  heated  partisans  of  John  Calvin  and  of  the  House 
of  Orange.  To  the  one  set  of  the  unjust  he  is  a  martyr ; 
to  the  other,  a  traitor.  Historical  science  gives  its  calm 
verdict  that  Barneveldt  was  a  victim  to  the  faults  and 
circumstances  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived.  There  yet 
remains  to  be  written  the  biography  of  Barneveldt  which 
shall  do  justice  to  himself  as  well  as  to  his  judges.  It 
behooves  critical  scholarship  to  utilize  aright  the  historic 
material  brought  to  light  since  the  pen  of  Motley  was  laid 
aside. 

The  caricatures,  prints,  and  records  of  the  time  show 
how  intensely  venomous  was  the  spirit  which  raged  against 


806  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1619 

the  associates  of  Barneveldt.  Even  to-day^  since  all  lead- 
ers of  forces  in  Dutch  politics  and  religion  look  back  to 
the  days  of  Maurice  and  Barneveldt  as  their  time  of  for- 
mation and  also  of  divergence,  it  is  amazing  to  the  un- 
prejudiced critic  to  note  what  fierce  and  bitter  feelings 
continue  even  after  nearly  three  centuries. 

To  this  day,  Barneveldt  has  no  monument  of  honor  in 
all  the  realm,  excepting  on  a  little  inconspicuous  blue 
marble  tablet  on  the  north  wall  of  the  Binnenhof.  The 
question,  ^'  Martyr  or  traitor  ?"  is  still  fiercely  discussed. 
As  if  in  counterbalance,  no  grand  memorial  has  yet  been 
reared  to  Maurice,  who,  though  illustrious  as  a  soldier, 
is  not  honored  as  a  man. 

Secretary  Gilles  van  Ledenberg  committed  suicide,  but 
the  coffin  containing  his  remains  was  hung  in  chains  on 
a  gibbet.  After  a  year's  imprisonment  in  the  castle  of 
Loevenstein,  Grotius,  the  future  father  of  international 
law,  made  his  escape  through  a  clever  stratagem  of  his 
wife,  who  put  him  in  a  chest  used  to  convey  Arminian 
books  for  his  reading.  He  reached  Antwerp  safely,  and 
then  went  to  Paris,  where  his  wife  was  allowed  to  join 
him.  He  spent  nine  years  in  France  writing  that  book 
concerning  the  laws  of  war  and  peace  which  has  had 
such  a  world-wide  influence  in  softening  the  rigors  of  war, 
in  promoting  harmony  among  the  nations,  and  in  intro- 
ducing Christianity  into  international  law.  He  also  wrote 
a  defence  of  the  Christian  religion,  which  has  been  many 
times  translated  and  reprinted  in  various  countries.  He 
is  the  author  of  the  governmental  theory  of  the  atone- 
ment, which  lies  at  the  basis  of  that  ^ew  England  theol- 
ogy which  has  sustained  so  noble  a  part  in  the  ameliora- 
tion of  dogmatism  and  in  introducing  those  new  forms  of 
truth  which  destroy  not,  but  fulfil  the  old  spirit.  Gro- 
tius visited  his  native  country  without  harm,  but  was  not 
allowed  to  reside  in  it.  He  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-two, 
at  Kostock,  Germany,  August  28,  1645.  A  simple  mon- 
ument was  erected  to  his  memory  in  the  Kew  Church  in 
his  native  city  of  Delft.  On  the  three  hundredth  anni- 
versary of  his  birth,  the  Dutch  honored  themselves  and 
their  greatest  political  philosopher  by  holding  a  celebra- 


GROTIUS 


1619]  HUDSON  RIVER   DISCOVERED  807 

tion  April  10,  1883,  which,  three  years  later,  resulted  in 
the  erection  of  the  bronze  statue  by  Strackee,  before 
which,  in  letters  of  enduring  stone,  set  in  the  pavement, 
one  reads,  "Elck  wandel  in  Godts"  (Let  each  walk  in  God's 
ways).  Hoogerbeets  remained  in  the  Loevenstein  prison 
until  1625,  when  he  was  released  by  the  stadholder,  Fred- 
erick Henry,  only  to  die  five  weeks  afterwards,  on  the  7th 
of  September. 

During  the  time  of  the  Great  Truce,  which  was  to  ex- 
pire in  1621,  the  mercantile  part  of  the  Dutch  commu- 
nity had  been  agitating  the  subject  of  colonization.  They 
had  attempted,  as  early  as  1594,  in  the  Arctic  seas  to  find 
a  northern  and  shorter  road  to  Japan  and  the  Indies. 
Turned  back  by  ice,  the  Dutch  navigators  tried  success- 
fully the  southern  and  longer  path.  Still,  the  nation  and 
government  longed  to  open  the  northeastern  and  shorter 
route.  The  States  -  General  made  a  standing  offer  of 
twenty  -  five  thousand  guilders  to  the  discoverer  who 
should  go  through  the  northern  seas  to  the  spice-lands 
and  return  to  give  an  account  of  his  voyage.  Henry 
Hudson,  an  Englishman  in  Dutch  employ,  attempted,  in 
1609,  to  win  this  prize.  On  the  little  ship  Half-Moon, 
having  reached  Spitsbergen  and  been  forced  back  by  ice, 
he  turned  his  prow  westward  and  discovered  the  Hudson 
River.  Although  he  failed  to  reach  China  by  this  water- 
way, as  he  had  hoped,  he  continued  until  he  got  in  sight 
of  the  Mohawk  River  and  the  Adirondacks,  and  then 
returned  to  Europe,  stopping  at  Plymouth ;  he  was  de- 
tained by  the  British  government,  but  his  ship  and  men 
proceeded  to  Amsterdam.  The  new  country  was  called 
New  Netherland  almost  on  the  same  day  that  New  Eng- 
land received  its  name. 

Forthwith  schemes  of  trade  were  planned.  The  red 
men  of  New  Netherland,  instead  of  wanting  gold  and  sil- 
ver in  exchange  for  their  rich  furs,  were  content  with 
beads,  toys,  hardware,  and  fire-water.  While  the  Dutch 
merchants  thought  of  comme^:ce,  the  French  Protestants 
or  Walloon  refugees,  who  had  found  a  home  in  the  repub- 
lic, where  religion  was  free,  began  to  dream  of  coloniza- 
tion.    Already,  in  1615,  Jesse  DeForest,  of  Leyden,  talked 


808  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1621 

of  planting  a  colony  on  Manhattan  Island  where  Dutch 
traders  had  already  built  huts;  but  during  the  time  of  the 
Great  Truce,  when  it  would  have  been  a  violation  of  faith 
with  Spain  to  send  emigrants  to  occupy  part  of  a  continent 
which  that  Power  still  claimed,  nothing  could  be  done  by 
the  Dutch  government ;  nor  was  there  any  great  trading 
corporation  yet  organized.  Nevertheless  the  matter  was 
already  entering  into  politics. 

Barneveldt,  believing  that  the  project  of  a  West  India 
Company  meant  more  naval  and  military  expansion,  and 
was  but  another  method  of  war  against  Spain,  which  would 
tend  to  divide  the  forces  of  the  republic,  implacably  op- 
posed the  formation  of  the  corporation,  even  as  he  and 
his  partisans  opposed  colonization.  On  the  contrary, 
Maurice  and  his  adherents,  believing  that  a  West  India 
Company  would  be  a  powerful  weapon  with  which  to  in- 
jure the  King  of  Spain  and  increase  the  resources  of  the 
republic,  warmly  favored  the  ideas  of  the  colonizers.  And 
so  it  came  to  pass  that  the  Arminians  would  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  settlement  of  America,  which  was  an  en- 
terprise strenuously  urged  and  ultimately  carried  out  en- 
tirely by  Calvinists  or  Unionists.  Not  until  June,  1621, 
when  Barne veldt  was  out  of  the  way,  was  the  West  India 
Company  formed,  but  even  then  there  was  no  absolute 
pledge  required  of  this  corporation  to  colonize  any  foreign 
lands.* 

The  English  Separatist  Church  at  Leyden  numbered 
about  three  hundred  persons.  Seeing  that  war  was  soon 
to  break  out  again,  the  leaders  looked  to  this  New  Neth- 
erland  as  a  possible  new  home.  Longing  for  opportunity 
to  propagate  their  ideas  of  church  government  and  of 
Christianity,  knowing  also  that  they  were  likely  to  lose 
their  English  speech  and  name,  since  the  local  schools 
were  Dutch  and  their  children  quite  numerously  inter- 
married with  the  natives  and  their  sons  enlisted  in  the 
Union  army  and  navy,  desiring  withal  to  keep  the  Sabbath 
with  more  strictness  than  those  around  them,  they  began 

*  See  William  Usuelinz^  Founder  of  the  Dutch  and  Swedish  West  India 
Companies,  by  J.  Franklin  Jamieson.     New  York,  1887. 


1621]  THE  EARLY  SETTLERS  809 

as  early  as  1617  to  agitate  the  question  of  crossing  the  sea. 
They  considered  Venezuela,  Virginia,  and  New  Nether- 
land.  Eobinson  and  his  company  made  application  to  the 
directors  of  the  New  Netherland  Company  at  Amsterdam 
for  permission  to  settle  in  the  region  of  the  Hudson  river. 
The  company  was  pleased  at  the  idea,  and  offered  them 
free  passage  and  the  gift  of  cattle.  On  the  20th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1620,  the  directors  petitioned  the  stadholder  Mau- 
rice, and  through  him  the  States-General,  for  two  men-of 
war  to  convoy  the  colony  and  guard  it  against  danger  from 
the  Spaniards. 

From  the  purely  mercantile  or  philanthropic  point  of 
view  in  Amsterdam,  this  seemed  all  right  and  perfectly 
reasonable.  When,  however,  the  matter  came  up  before 
the  States-General  it  had  to  be  looked  at  by  diplomatists 
and  statesmen.  Then,  what  had  seemed  so  feasible  in 
Amsterdam  was  seen  to  be  impossible  in  the  legislative 
chambers  at  the  Hague.  With  the  truce  soon  to  expire 
and  war  to  be  renewed,  every  ship  and  cannon,  pike  and 
gun,  man  and  guilder,  would  be  required,  and  no  armed 
ships  could  be  spared.  Still  more  serious  was  the  danger 
of  irritating  King  James,  and  appearing  to  insult  him  di- 
rectly and  purposely.  The  little  radical  Protestant  Re- 
public had  but  one  friend  in  Europe,  and  that  was  Gceat 
Britain,  the  only  first-class  Protestant  power.  To  patronize 
a  nest  of  English  heretics,  who  were  printing  books  that 
angered  King  James  beyond  all  measure,  and  whom  he 
would  gladly  have  exterminated  root  and  branch  ;  to  trans- 
port such  a  company,  convoyed  by  Dutch  war-vessels  into 
a  territory  beyond  sea  which  England  herself  claimed  as 
part  of  Virginia,  would  have  looked  like  a  slap  in  the  royal 
face,  a  studied  insult  to  the  British  government.  Of  ne- 
cessity the  petition  was  rejected. 

The  English  Separatists,  however,  had,  even  before  offi- 
cial rejection  of  the  petition,  and  while  their  Elder  Brew- 
ster was  hiding  in  England  from  the  wrath  of  the  King 
and  the  search  of  Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  arranged  with  Eng- 
lish merchant  adventurers,  though  on  very  hard  terms. 
Having  chartered  the  Speedwell,  which  was  anchored  in 
the  Maas  river,  just  below  Rotterdam,  the  company,  con- 


810  HISTORY  OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1621 

sisting  of  the  young  and  strong  in  the  church  who  had 
come  by  canal  from  Leyden,  bade  farewell  to  their  friends 
at  Delfshaven.  The  scene  of  their  embarkation  has  been 
glorified  in  later  art,  and  a  contemporaneous  Dutch  artist, 
in  all  probability  an  eye-witness  and  one  of  the  Cuyps, 
father  or  son,  has  painted  in  realistic  simplicity  the  pict- 
ure of  their  departure.*  Contemporary  auditors  and  wit- 
nesses have  left  their  record  of  Robinson's  parting  words, 
which  stand  as  a  beacon-light  of  pure  faith  and  sound  prog- 
ress in  religion.  Both  Bradford  and  Winslow  have  given 
us  the  written  narratives. 

That  company  of  English  fathers,  mothers,  and  children 
left  with  regret  the  brave  little  republic  which  had  given 
them  an  asylum  for  eleven  years,  and  which,  though  young, 
had  already  experienced  its  trials  of  union  and  secession, 
of  social  and  religious  conflicts,  but  without  civil  war  and 
with  very  little  bloodshed. 

Other  portions  of  this  Congregational  Church,  which 
had  its  abiding  place  in  three  countries  and  on  the  ocean, 
followed  in  later  ships ;  but  by  1655  all  trace  of  the  Sep- 
aratists in  Leyden  had  faded  out.  Theirs  was  but  one  of 
the  twenty -six  churches  of  English-speaking  people, 
organized  in  the  Netherlands,  many  of  whose  people  re- 
mained among  the  natives,  and,  intermarrying  and  speak- 
ing the  vernacular,  were  finally  merged  into  the  Dutch 
nation.  Typical  of  the  Dutch  republic,  of  the  composite 
English  people,  and  of  the  American  nation,  each  made 
up  of  many  nationalities,  the  Pilgrim  Company  had  in  it- 
self the  blood  of  the  four  nations  in  the  British  isles  as 
well  as  of  France  and  the  Netherlands. 

The  West  India  Company,  to  which  was  given  a  mo- 
nopoly of  trade  for  twenty-four  years,  was  organized  and 
began  its  long  and  honorable  career  June  3,  16:^1.  It  had 
five  chambers  and  twenty-four  directors.  Amsterdam 
had  four -ninths,  Zeeland  two-ninths,  and  Eotterdam, 
North  Holland,  Friesland,  and  Groningen,  each  one-ninth 

*  See  The  Earliest  Puritan  Voyage,  by  George  H,  Boughton,  discoverer 
of  the  painting,  in  Harper^  Weekly  of  March  9,  1895,  with  reproduction 
of  this  illustrative  document. 


1621]  THE   WEST  INDIA  COMPANY  811 

share  in  the  capital  and  profits.  It  sent  a  great  fleet  to 
Brazil  in  1624,  and  took  Bahia  and  then  Pernambuco.  It 
founded  and  cared  for  New  Amsterdam  and  the  settle- 
ments on  the  Hudson,  Mohawk,  and  Delaware  rivers.  It 
secured  a  foothold  in  Guiana  and  the  West  Indies.  For 
half  a  century  its  fleets  ravaged  the  shores  of  Portuguese 
and  Spanish  America,  winning  vast  treasures  and  spoils. 
In  1674  the  company  was  dissolved,  but  it  was  reformed 
in  1675  and  was  finally  dissolved  in  1791.  Only  a  few 
fragments  of  its  many  conquests  now  remain  under  the 
Dutch  flag. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  BLOOM  OF  THE  EEPUBLIC 

When"  war  broke  out  in  1621  there  was  a  new  king  on 
the  throne  of  Spain,  for  Philip  the  Third  was  dead.  Phil- 
ip the  Fourth,  aged  seventeen,  inherited  the  abominable 
policy  of  his  father  and  grandfather.  The  Archduke  Al- 
bert, who  had  ruled  the  obedient  provinces  for  twenty-five 
years  and  who  had,  in  March,  1621,  vainly  sent  the  chan- 
cellor of  Brabant  to  urge  the  submission  of  the  Dutch 
provinces,  died  July  13,  of  the  same  year.  Since  the  year 
1600  the  States-General  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands  had 
not  assembled.  The  governors  of  the  country  and  the 
advisers  of  the  Archduke  were  monks  and  priests,  who 
busied  themselves  with  rooting  out  religion  founded  on 
the  private  interpretation  of  the  Bible,  while  the  Arch- 
duke generously  tried,  by  developing  the  resources  of  the 
country,  to  do  his  duty.  Under  such  a  vicious  system  of 
government,  however,  no  matter  how  pure  the  motives  or 
character  of  the  governor,  neither  substantial  progress  nor 
national  happiness  was  possible.  Besides  the  loss  of  their 
local  liberties  and  of  their  representation  in  the  States- 
General,  the  Southern  Netherlands  saw  Brussels  occupied 
by  a  Spanish  army  under  Spinola  in  1619.  On  the  death 
of  the  Archduke  Albert,  in  July,  1621,  the  provinces  came 
under  the  direct  rule  of  the  King  of  Spain.  In  the  history 
of  the  Spanish  Netherlands  Albert  holds  an  honored  place. 
The  widow  of  the  Archduke,  Isabella,  became  simply  the 
royal  deputy,  controlled  in  all  her  acts  by  her  female  favor- 
ites. She  died  November  30,  1633,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
two. 

This  period;  from  1596  to  1621^  was  that  of  the  splendid 


1622]  HOSTILITIES  RESUMED  813 

Flemish  school  of  art  and  learning.  The  University  of 
Louvain,  re-endowed  and  enriched,  was  adorned  with  such 
eminent  names  in  the  world  of  letters  as  Justus,  Valerius, 
Andreas,  and  Vernuloeus  in  its  faculties.  In  painting, 
there  were  Kubens,  Teniers,  Grayer,  Vandyke,  Jordaens, 
and  a  galaxy  of  intellect  and  skill,  whose  works  are  as 
unfading  stars  in  the  heaven  of  art. 

The  Truce  over,  the  Republic  drew  sword  and  stood 
unaided,  for  the  long  struggle  in  diplomacy  and  war  of 
England  with  Spain  was  ended,  and  an  alliance  had  been 
made  between  these  nations.  James  had  beheaded  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh  to  please  his  Spanish  friends,  and  France 
was  angered  by  the  execution  of  Barneveldt.  In  Germany 
the  devastating  Thirty  Years'  war — not  on  account  of  real 
religion,  but  because  of  political  theories  associated  with 
religion  —  had  broken  out.  The  Republic  had  aided 
Frederick,  the  elector -palatine,  with  money,  but  he  was 
defeated  by  Spinola  at  Gulick  in  1622,  and  took  refuge  in 
Holland.  He  had  married  the  daughter  of  King  James, 
and  both  the  Dutch  and  English  had  fought  in  his  aid. 

In  the  Republic,  death  also  was  changing  the  leaders 
and  bringing  new  men  to  the  front.  The  political  adviser 
of  Maurice,  his  cousin  Count  William  Louis,  stadholder 
of  Friesland,  died,  and  Ernest  Casimir  succeeded  him. 
Adrian  Duyck,  a  man  of  only  ordinary  abilities,  took  the 
place  of  Barneveldt  as  Advocate  of  Holland.  Maurice, 
instead  of  winning  new  laurels,  as  he  had  expected  at  the 
opening  of  the  war,  failed  in  his  attempt  to  seize  Antwerp. 
He  won  a  slight  victory,  however,  in  raising  the  siege  of 
Bergen-op-Zoom,  from  which  he  compelled  Spinola  to  re- 
treat.    He  then  entered  the  city  in  triumph. 

The  stadholder  who  had  overcome  the  civilian  now  fell 
on  evil  days,  and  the  sons  of  Barneveldt  plotted  against 
his  life.  The  States  of  Holland,  yielding  to  popular  press- 
ure, had  not  only  confiscated  the  estate  of  the  Advocate 
of  Holland,  but  had  also  deprived  the  oldest  son,  Reinier, 
Lord  of  Groeneveld,  of  his  office  of  Forester  and  Dike- 
inspector,  and  the  second  son,  Stoutenberg,  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  Bergen-op-Zoom.  Maurice,  who  doubtless 
would  have  been  glad  to  protect  the  sons  of  the  man  who 


814  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1622 

had  always  provided  men  and  money  with  which  to  fight 
the  hattles  of  the  Republic,  yielded  to  popular  clamor. 
In  revenge,  the  younger  son  determined  to  have  Maurice 
put  to  death,  and  for  this  purpose  hired  two  Catholics 
and  several  Arminians  under  the  lead  of  a  deposed  Ar- 
minian  preacher,  Henry  Slatius.  To  secure  the  necessary 
funds,  the  dissipated  and  impecunious  younger  brother 
applied  to  the  older,  who,  under  threat,  furnished  it; 
but  some  of  the  sailors  in  the  pay  of  Slatius  showed  their 
gold  to  the  stadholder,  and  Maurice  had  the  meeting- 
place  of  the  conspirators  searched.  Though  Stoutenberg 
escaped,  Slatius  and  three  others  principally  concerned 
in  the  plot  were  imprisoned.  Slatius  broke  jail  and  en- 
tered the  service  of  Spain.  Groeneveld  was  seized  on  the 
seashore  while  preparing  to  leave  the  country.  Then  the 
widow  and  mother,  who  had  refused  to  ask  for  her  hus- 
band^s  life  and  thus  incriminate  him,  now  pleaded  for  her 
offspring.  She  answered  the  inquiry  of  the  stadholder 
by  saying,  *^  because  my  son  is  guilty  and  my  husband 
was  not."  Groeneveldt  and  certain  other  conspirators, 
fifteen  in  all,  were  decapitated  May  29th. 

The  discovery  and  exposure  of  this  plot  tremendously 
increased  the  prestige  of  the  victorious  Calvinists  and 
shed  fresh  odium  upon  the  Arminians.  The  most  awful 
and  bitter  caricatures  flooded  the  land.  Thousands  of  the 
Remonstrant  party  joined  the  Contra-Remonstrants ;  and 
from  this  time  forth,  Arminianism  ceased  to  be  a  political 
factor,  and  became,  as  it  had  been  at  first  before  Barne- 
veldt  gave  it  his  powerful  support,  only  a  tendency  in 
theology,  a  philosophy,  a  noble  attempt  to  solve  a  great 
mystery.  In  England,  Arminianism  rose  to  be  the  dom- 
inant school  of  thought  in  the  state  church  and  a  power 
in  ecclesiastical  intrigues.  Revolutionized  in  its  form 
and  with  the  emphasis  laid  upon  divine  grace,  the  system 
of  Arminianism  thus  transformed  became,  outside  of  the 
Establishment,  a  mighty  power  in  the  hands  of  the  Wes- 
leys  and  their  successors  in  Methodism  for  the  building 
up  of  that  popular  form  of  Christianity  which  has  done 
so  much  in  the  moulding  of  modern  society  and  of  the 
nineteenth  century  world  of  thought.  * 


1625]  DEATH  OF   MAURICE   OF  NASSAU  815 

During  the  first  years  after  the  expiration  of  the  Truce, 
the  military  operations  were  neither  very  brilliant  nor 
satisfactory  on  either  side.  The  Republic  won  more  glory 
at  sea  through  her  navy  and  the  Dutch  adventurers  and 
discoverers  than  by  means  of  her  army.  In  August, 
1G24,  Spinola  invested  Breda  which  was  part  of  the  estate 
of  the  princes  of  Orange,  and  Maurice  was  unable  to  re- 
lieve the  city.  In  foreign  politics  the  Dutch  made  some 
progress  by  obtaining  a  loan  of  French  money,  the  idea 
of  Cardinal  Eichelieu,  then  virtual  ruler  of  France,  in  ap- 
proving of  this  being  to  checkmate  the  power  of  Austria; 
but  when  the  Republic  sent  its  fleet  to  be  used  against  the 
Huguenots  of  Rochelle,  the  act  was  so  severely  condemned 
by  the  Calvinistic  clergy  that  the  fleet  was  recalled.  This 
angered  Richelieu,  and  he  was  somewhat  slow  to  fulfil 
his  promises  of  aid  to  the  Republic.  King  James,  who 
had  lowered  his  own  dignity  and  that  of  the  nation  by 
seeking  a  marriage  between  his  son  and  the  daughter  of 
the  King  of  Spain,  offered  to  supply  six  thousand  men 
to  aid  the  Dutch,  but  they  had  no  means  of  guaranteeing 
payment  of  the  expense,  for  Barneveldt,  the  master-mind 
of  the  Republic,  was  no  more.  He  had  been  for  thirty 
years  the  wise  provider  of  the  sinews  of  war,  and  his  loss 
was  now  keenly  felt,  while  Maurice's  popularity  waned. 

In  the  midst  of  these  uncertainties  concerning  the  na- 
tion's future,  the  great  general  fell  ill.  Worn  out  by 
anxiety  and  disappointment  he  saw  that  his  end  was  at 
hand.  Having  never  married,  Maurice  left  his  property 
and  paternal  inheritance  to  his  brother  Frederick  Henry, 
who,  early  in  April,  1625,  wedded  the  beautiful  and  ac- 
complished Amalia  van  Solms,  who  was  destined  to  exert 
a  powerful  and  beneficent  influence  upon  her  husband  for 
the  good  of  the  Republic.  Between  the  brothers  there 
had  been  some  coldness,  for  Frederick  Henry  had  not  ap- 
proved of  the  severe  measures  against  the  Arminians,  but 
had  inclined  more  to  his  great  father's  toleration  and  co- 
operation with  all  devout  men. 

Maurice  of  Nassau  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-eight  on  the 
23d  of  April,  1625.  He  was  undoubtedly  the  greatest 
soldier  of  the  age.     Though  he  always  had  only  a  small 


816  HISTORY  OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1625 

army,  he  invariably  handled  it  with  consummate  skill. 
One  serious  mistake  might  have  resulted  in  the  loss  of 
his  force  and  perhaps  in  the  destruction  of  his  country. 
Maurice  was  not  only  a  great  fighter  in  the  field,  but  also  an 
engineer  without  an  equal.  Most  of  his  triumphs  were 
due  to  his  original  and  daring  use  of  the  spade,  the  gabion, 
and  the  heavy  siege  gun ;  but,  when  it  seemed  necessary, 
he  hesitated  not  to  dash  out  boldly  and  take  risks.  In 
his  personal  character  Maurice  had  not  his  father's  power 
to  make  up  his  mind  quickly,  but  was  very  slow  in  com- 
ing to  a  decision.  In  civic  matters  he  was  extremely  de- 
liberate in  determining  upon  his  course.  He  depended, 
perhaps  too  much,  upon  statesmen  like  Count  Louis  of 
Friesland  and  for  many  years  upon  Barneveldt,  until  he 
became  suspicious  of  and  alienated  from  that  great  states- 
man by  his  course  in  dictating  military  as  well  as  civil 
affairs.  The  historical  evidence  does  not  demonstrate 
that  Maurice  had  any  ambition  to  grasp  sovereignty  and 
make  himself  a  king,  though  his  desire  for  military  activ- 
ity and  glory  was  almost  overpowering.  As  far  as  he  had 
any  religious  convictions,  he  was  a  determined  Calvinist. 
His  ruling  motive,  as  an  intense  patriot  and  a  theoretical 
Christian  according  to  his  light,  was  a  desire  to  serve  his 
country,  to  make  her  entirely  independent  of  Spain,  and 
to  battle  for  the  truth  as  God  gave  him  to  see  the  truth. 
In  private  morals  there  is  little  to  imitate  in  this  man, 
who  lived  mostly  in  camps,  had  no  wife  or  home,  and  who 
inherited  tendencies,  though  not  from  his  father,  which 
promised  little  and  wrought  less  for  purity  of  life.  There 
is,  however,  much  to  admire  in  his  devotion  to  duty.  If 
he  made  mistakes,  it  is  probably  because  he  mistrusted 
himself,  and  believed  that  the  truest  expression  of  the 
will  of  the  nation  came  from  those  who  desired  the  per- 
petuity of  the  Union  instead  of  state-sovereignty,  and  who 
saw  in  Calvinism  the  entire  substance  of  the  Reformed  re- 
ligion. 

In  the  same  year  that  the  nation  lost  Maurice,  Paul 
Potter,  the  painter  of  one  of  the  four  great  world's  pict- 
ures, was  born  at  Enkhuizen  and  Cornelius  DeWitt  at 
Dordrecht. 


1627]  THE   NEW   COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF  817 

Frederick  Henry,  the  youngest  and  last  son  of  William 
of  Orange,  was  at  once  made  commander-in-chief  of  the 
land  and  naval  forces  of  the  Republic  and  elected  stad- 
holder  of  five  provinces,  Friesland  and  Groningen  being 
under  the  government  of  Ernest  Casimir.  The  new  ruler 
of  the  Dutch  had  at  Nieuport  refused  to  board  ship,  but 
had  donned  his  armor  and  had  fought  in  the  battle.  He 
had  been  to  England  as  envoy  of  the  Republic.  He  had 
nearly  lost  his  life  when  alone  on  the  field  of  Roer,  in 
Limburg,  having  been  deserted  by  the  panic-struck  cavalr}^ 
He  had  also  remained  under  Uytenbogaert's  Arminian 
preaching,  when  Maurice  left  for  the  Cloister  Church  in 
the  Hague.  Now  in  his  forty-second  year,  brave,  pacific, 
and  resourceful,  he  had  both  the  will  and  the  abilities  for 
civil  and  military  leadership  which  the  country  needed. 
He  united  all  parties  in  resistance  to  Spain,  and  calmed 
those  rancors  which  had  risen  less  from  religion  than  the 
lack  of  it.  Under  him  the  golden  age  of  Dutch  literature 
and  art  was  ushered  in. 

He  at  once  attempted  the  relief  of  Breda,  to  accomplish 
which  Maurice  had  collected  an  army  of  forty  thousand 
men,  but  he  was  unsuccessful ;  and  the  enemy  occupied 
this  important  city  after  a  ten-months''  siege,  though  soon 
afterwards  the  Spanish  cabinet  neutralized  the  effects  of 
the  victory  when  they  recalled  Spinola  in  disgrace.  This 
general's  fault  was  that  he  had  exposed  the  weaknesses 
of  the  politicians  at  Madrid.  The  Spanish  troops  were 
put  under  control  of  that  traitor.  Count  Henry  van  den 
Berg.  Frederick  Henry  captured  Groenlo  in  1627,  by 
which  time  he  had  persuaded  Charles  the  First,  the  new 
King  of  England,  to  furnish  aid  and  comfort  to  his  coun- 
try, notwithstanding  that  at  Amboyna  Island,  in  the  Ma- 
luccas,  the  Dutch  and  English  had  come  to  blows,  which 
resulted  in  bloodshed. 

To  add  to  the  rising  hopes  of  the  Dutch,  their  treasury 
was  now  handsomely  filled  by  a  gallant  exploit  at  sea. 
Every  Dutch  boy  sings  the  praise  of  Piet  Heyn  :  '^^^Zijn 
naam  is  klein";  for,  though  little  of  name,  this  gallant 
commander  has  made  a  long,  bright  mark  in  Dutch  history. 
Born  in  1578  at  Delfshaveu,  he  began  his  career  as  a  cabin- 
52 


818  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1627 

boy  and  rose  to  be  a  merchant  navigator.  He  crossed 
the  ocean  and  captured  several  Spanish  vessels,  and  on 
account  of  his  victories  in  South-American  waters  was 
made  an  admiral.  Put  in  command  of  twenty-four  ships, 
he  sailed  out  on  the  Atlantic  to  capture  the  Spanish  plate 
fleet.  Every  year  this  long  line  of  treasure  galleons,  load- 
ed with  ingots  of  refined  silver  dug  by  Indian  slaves  out 
of  the  mines  of  Peru  and  Mexico,  crossed  the  Atlantic. 
This  wealth,  obtained  through  the  blood  and  misery  of 
thousands  of  natives  of  America,  was  to  be  used  in  the 
interests  of  bigotry  to  crush  the  little  Protestant  Kepub- 
lic.  Piet  Heyn  chased  the  fleet  into  Matanzas  harbor, 
fifty  -  two  miles  east  of  Havana,  where  the  Spaniards 
thought  they  would  be  safe  under  the  guns  of  the  forts, 
but  they  got  aground,  and  the  Dutchmen  saw  their  plight. 
Piet  Heyn,  having  ordered  the  boats  to  be  manned,  at- 
tacked the  Spaniards,  captured  the  ships,  and  secured  the 
treasure.  He  brought  the  whole  fleet,  excepting  two  ships, 
safely  home.  The  cargo  of  138,600  pounds  weight  of 
pure  silver,  with  gold  and  pearls  and  other  booty,  was 
worth  twelve  millions  of  florins,  or,  in  the  value  of  to-day, 
near  five  millons  of  dollars.  Publicly  thanked  in  the 
States-General,  he  was  made  lieutenant-admiral,  in  place 
of  William  of  Nassau,  who  had  been  killed  at  Groenlo, 
and  was  awarded  a  many-linked  gold  chain,  with  a  medal. 
He  bought  a  house  in  Delft,  where  he  expected  to  spend 
his  last  years  quietly,  but,  while  the  Dunkirk  pirates  kept 
defying  the  civilized  world,  Piet  Heyn  showed  that  his 
love  of  country  was  greater  than  his  love  of  ease,  and  he 
resolved  to  attempt  that  in  which  no  one  as  yet  had  suc- 
ceeded. 

Dunkirk,  or  the  church  in  the  dunes,  so  named  because 
Saint  Eloi,  in  the  seventh  century,  had  built  a  church 
amid  the  sandy  wastes  of  Flanders,  had  become,  under 
Parma's  invitation,  a  sea-robbers'  cave,  whence  fast-sail- 
ing vessels  daily  issued,  making  the  commerce  of  all  na- 
tions their  prey.  The  desperadoes  nailed  the  captured 
sailors  to  the  decks  or  spars,  chained  them  to  the  rigging, 
or  tossed  them  overboard,  as  suited  their  whim,  but  they 
held  the  officers  for  ransom.    To  escape  the  gallows,  when 


1680]  BOIS-LE  DUG   AND   WESEL   CAPTURED  819 

likely  to  be  captured,  the  Dunkirkers  habitually  blew  up 
their  ships.  For  sixty  years  these  men  were  the  terror 
of  the  seas.  In  1625  they  appeared  off  the  island  of  Texel 
and  destroyed  over  one  hundred  herring  smacks  belong- 
ing to  Enkhuizen.  This  was  too  much  for  Piet  Heyn. 
He  sailed  in  May  with  a  squadron  to  clean  out  the  foul 
nest.  Finding  the  port  empty  of  the  corsairs,  he  left  a 
blockading  force,  and  in  person  went  in  chase  of  three 
privateers.  Running  between  two  of  them,  he  opened  the 
battle.  Struck  by  a  ball  in  the  shoulder,  he  died  the 
hero's  death,  June  20,  1629.  His  men,  in  their  fury, 
gladly  obeyed  the  standing  orders  of  the  Congress  and 
left  none  of  the  enemy  alive.  Piet  Heyn's  monument  at 
Delfshaven  and  a  tomb  near  that  of  Den  Zwijger  (the 
Silent),  in  the  church  at  Delft,  keep  fresh  in  glorious 
memory  this  typical  Dutch  sailor,  who  was  honest,  sim- 
ple, and  brave. 

With  the  war  chest  refilled,  the  stadholder  Frederick 
Henry  began  the  siege  of  Ilertogenbosch,  or  Bois-le-Duc, 
which,  after  four  months,  surrendered  despite  all  attempts 
of  Van  den  Berg  to  relieve  the  city.  When  Wesel  in 
Cleves,  the  main  depot  of  Spanish  supplies,  had  been  also 
captured,  there  was  intense  alarm  throughout  the  Spanish 
Netherlands,  lest  the  army  of  the  Republic  should  again 
invade  them.  By  the  opening  of  the  sluices  at  Muyden, 
which  laid  the  country  from  the  Zuyder  Zee  to  Utrecht 
under  water,  Van  den  Berg  was  driven  out  of  Utrecht, 
which  he  had  invaded. 

When  the  obedient  provinces,  stung  to  nobler  effort  by 
the  example  of  the  triumphant  Republic,  appealed  to  the 
King  of  Spain  for  the  assembling  together  of  their  States- 
General  and  for  their  ancient  rights  and  local  freedom, 
Philip  the  Fourth  permitted  them  also  to  send  commis- 
sioners to  the  Hague  to  propose  a  truce  of  twenty-four 
years.  The  Dutch  were  in  no  mood  for  such  a  motion, 
and,  making  a  convention  with  France  in  1630,  they  re- 
jected the  proposals  for  a  truce,  and  agreed  to  make  no 
peace  with  Spain  without  the  advice  of  the  King  of 
France.  The  painter,  Rubens,  who  always  ''had  one  foot 
in  the  stirrup/^  was  sent  by  the  Spanish  cabinet  to  Eng- 


820  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1631 

land,  and  persuaded  Charles  the  First  to  give  a  secret 
promise  of  alliance  with  Spain  against  the  Dutch.  In 
this  same  year  the  Eemonstrants  built  a  church  in  Am- 
sterdam and  began  a  divinity  school,  in  which  Episcopius, 
formerly  of  Leyden,  became  the  chief  professor. 

The  War  of  Independence,  which  continued  until  1646, 
has  henceforth  little  interest  for  the  general  reader.  The 
stadholder  Frederick  Henry  proved  himself  an  able  gen- 
eral. By  direction  of  the  War  Committee,  he  marched, 
in  1631,  into  Flanders  to  besiege  Dunkirk  and  to  finish 
what  was  left  of  the  pirates  ;  but  when  Spinola's  successor 
approached  with  a  small  but  choice  army  of  twelve  thou- 
sand men,  the  wet-houders  or  law-holders  in  the  camp 
ordered  a  retreat.  The  stadholder  returned  with  his 
pride  humbled,  as  Maurice's  had  formerly  been  by  the 
interference  of  civilians  with  military  plans.  Stouten- 
berg,  the  son  of  Barneveldt,  having  given  valuable  infor- 
mation to  the  Spaniards,  the  latter  sent  a  fleet  to  cut  off 
communication  between  Holland  and  Zeeland,  but  near 
Tholen  it  was  captured,  and  five  thousand  men  were  made 
prisoners. 

Thereupon,  the  States-General  went  so  far  in  their  ex- 
pression of  gratitude  to  the  stadholder,  then  in  the  height 
of  his  popularity,  as  to  settle  the  right  of  succession  upon 
his  infant  son  William,  who  was  born  in  1626.  Frederick 
Henry  marched  into  Gelderland,  at  the  invitation  of  Bel- 
gian nobles,  with  the  idea  of  exciting  the  obedient  prov- 
inces to  revolt.  He  laid  siege  to  Maastricht,  which,  after 
three  desperate  attemjjts  of  the  enemy  to  relieve  it,  was 
captured.  One  of  these  attempts  to  relieve  Maastricht 
was  made  by  imperial  troops  under  Count  Papenheim, 
and  in  the  defence  of  the  city  Aubrey  De  Vere,  the  Earl 
of  Oxford,  and  his  brother  Colonel  Vere  were  killed,  while 
of  the  Nassau  family.  Count  Ernest  Casimir,  stadholder 
of  Friesland,  was  slain  before  Roermond. 

These  successes  of  the  republican  army  compelled  Isa- 
bella to  convoke  the  States-General  of  the  Belgian  prov- 
inces. When,  however,  negotiations  of  peace  were  opened 
with  the  Republic,  the  deputies  of  Brussels  could  not  rise 
k)  the  idea  of  tolerating  their  fellow  -  Christians  or  of 


1633]  INTERNAL  DISSENSIONS  821 

wholly  renouncing  Spanish  authority.  Furthermore,  Am- 
sterdam, having  grown  mightily  at  the  expense  of  Ant- 
werp and  the  Dutch  having  by  this  time  won  the  carrying 
trade  on  the  seas  of  nearly  all  Europe,  demanded  the 
closing  of  the  Scheldt.  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that, 
through  the  liberal  use  of  Spanish  gold  and  promises  on 
the  one  hand,  and  because  of  jealousy  and  fear  of  the 
Dutch  on  the  other,  this  last  attempt  to  unite  the  seven- 
teen provinces  in  either  alliance  or  union  failed.  When, 
furthermore,  the  Archduchess  Elizabeth  died  in  Novem- 
ber, 1G33,  even  the  hope  of  peace  passed.  While  the  Re- 
public was  left  to  enter  upon  a  brilliant  and  triumphant 
career  in  the  arts  of  war  and  peace,  in  literature,  fine  arts, 
discovery,  exploration,  and  colonization,  the  Belgic  prov- 
inces sunk  to  be  a  mere  annex  and  house  of  slavery  of 
Spain,  governed  entirely  by  two  juntas  composed  of  Span- 
iards or  wholly  directed  by  them,  and  finally  became  the 
battle-ground  of  many  nations — the  cock-pit  of  Europe. 
Already  the  country  was  so  poor  that  the  Court  of  Brus- 
sels dared  not  vote  to  pay  for  those  funeral  honors  which 
the  Duchess  had  requested  before  her  death. 

In  the  Republic  there  was  no  perfect  unanimity  in  car- 
rying on  the  war.  The  stadholder  besieged  Rheinberg, 
which  surrendered  in  June,  1633.  In  addition  to  having 
the  provincial  jealousy  of  Holland  to  contend  against,  he 
also  had  a  determined  antagonist  in  Adrian  Pauw,  the 
grand  pensionary  of  Holland,  who  believed  in  making 
peace  with  the  obedient  provinces.  The  West  India  Com- 
pany, now  invincible  on  the  seas  and  in  home  politics,  had 
eight  hundred  ships  afloat,  manned  by  a  force  of  sixty- 
seven  thousand  men,  and  were  powerful  in  the  West  Indies 
and  in  Brazil,  of  which  John  Maurice  was  governor  from 
1636  to  1640.  In  order  to  neutralize  the  influence  of 
Pauw,  he  was  practically  kept  out  of  the  country  by  be- 
ing sent  on  various  foreign  missions,  while  his  post  was 
filled  by  Jacob  Cats,  whose  poems,  proverbs,  and  stories 
are  known  by  heart  by  thousands  of  the  Dutch  people. 
From  1634,  a  new  treaty  of  mutual  hostility  to  Spain  hav- 
ing been  made  between  the  Republic  and  France,  the 
Dutch  were  left  once  more  without  restriction,  though 


822  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1635 

they  no  longer  received  the  two  or  three  million  guilders 
a  year  for  not  making  peace  or  a  truce  without  consulta- 
tion with  their  ally.  The  treaty  was  designed  to  weaken 
the  truce  party  in  Holland,  and  it  was  the  work  of  the 
stadholder  and  of  Aerssens,  that  old  enemy  of  Barneveldt. 
When  the  Spanish  government  heard  of  this  alliance,  it  at 
once  dissolved  the  States-General  of  the  Spanish  Nether- 
lands. ThQ  next  move  was  the  treaty  of  Paris,  signed 
February  5,  1635,  which  provided  for  the  invasion  of  the 
obedient  provinces  by  an  allied  French  and  Dutch  army 
of  forty  thousand  men.  The  new  governor  sent  by  Philip 
the  Fourth  had  arrived  at  Brussels  November  4,  1634, 
fresh  from  his  victory  over  the  Swedes  at  Nordlingen,  but 
on  the  20th  of  May  next  year  his  army  was  defeated  at 
Areine  by  the  French,  who  were  supported  by  the  Dutch 
fleet. 

The  campaign  which  thus  opened  favorably  for  the  al- 
lies ended  disastrously  for  them.  Again  the  Southern 
Netherlands  were  horribly  devastated,  the  allies  behaving 
almost  as  barbarously  as  the  Spaniards  had  done.  Tirla- 
mont  was  stormed,  but  Louvain  was  bravely  defended. 
While  the  allies  suffered  from  divided  counsels,  the  Span- 
iards were  united  and  superb  in  discipline,  and  won  con- 
tinuous victory,  invading  both  the  Republic  and  France. 
Disease  made  the  allied  camp  seem  like  a  pest-house. 
One-half  of  the  French  troops  never  lived  to  see  their 
homes.  In  addition  to  the  humiliation  of  returning  with- 
out having  accomplished  anything,  the  stadholder  was 
obliged  to  use  the  power  of  the  central  government  in  or- 
der to  compel  the  state  of  Friesland  to  pay  its  war  taxes, 
so  that  the  general  government  might  be  carried  on. 

The  feeling  in  the  Republic  in  regard  to  resuming  hostil- 
ities against  the  Spanish  Netherlands  was  now  so  languid 
that  Cardinal  Richelieu,  besides  other  stimulating  argu- 
ments, addressed  the  stadholder,  Frederick  Henry,  with 
the  title  of  Highness,  instead  of  Excellency,  an  innova- 
tion from  republican  simplicity  which  the  States-General 
followed,  but  this  only  caused  the  Dutch  people  to  regard 
France  with  increased  distrust.  However,  the  stadholder 
persevered  in  military  operations,  and  after  a  four  months' 


US1]  THE   "  TULIPOMANIA  "  823 

siege  retook  Breda,  October  7,  1637.  He  now  thought 
himself  strong  enough  to  attempt  the  recapture  of  Ant- 
werp, not  merely  to  increase  the  prestige  of  the  nation, 
but  so  that  this  city  might  be  used  to  decrease  the  influ- 
ence of  Amsterdam,  which  was  the  centre  of  the  provin- 
cial and  municipal  jealousy  which  continually  hampered 
the  operations  of  the  central  government.  Such  jealousy 
and  opposition  were  but  a  natural  and  justifiable  counter- 
poise to  the  steadily  growing  power  of  the  stadholder, 
whose  patronage  of  office  enabled  him  to  control  the  depu- 
ties in  the  States -General.  In  modern  language,  Fred- 
erick Henry  was  a  powerful  boss,  who  presided  over  a  per- 
manent caucus  and  literally  distributed  spoils  in  order  to 
forward  his  policy.  His  attempt  on  Antwerp,  however, 
failed  ignominiously. 

As  if  to  drown  their  cares  of  war  and  diplomacy,  the 
Dutch  rushed  into  the  frenzy  of  flowers  and  financial 
speculation,  intoxicating  themselves  with  tulips.  In  1559 
Conrad  Gesner  had  brought  this  oriental  flower  from  Tur- 
key to  Augsburg.  Within  a  few  years  the  congenial  soil 
of  Haarlem  was  ablaze  with  the  colors  of  this  transplanted 
exotic.  In  1637  the  desire  of  Dutch  people  to  possess 
tulips  suddenly  became  a  mania.  At  Alkmaar,  six  score 
tulips  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  orphan  asylum  brought 
ninety  thousand  guilders.  At  Enkhuizen,  one  bulb  was 
sold  for  over  four  and  another  for  over  five  thousand  guild- 
ers. Like  stocks  and  bonds,  the  tulip  bulbs  were  negotia- 
ted at  the  Exchange  in  hopes  of  a  rise  in  prices,  and  in 
Amsterdam  the  actual  transactions  of  the  purchase  and 
sale  of  bulbs  during  the  craze  amounted  to  over  ten  mill- 
ions of  guilders.  By  the  time  this  mild  attack  of  insan- 
ity was  over  many  families  were  financially  ruined.  The 
"  Tulipomania  "  has  left  its  mark  in  Dutch  history.  In 
fiction  Dumas  has  pictured  the  scenes  of  the  epoch  in 
'^  The  Black  Tulip." 

At  sea  the  Spaniards,  who  had  been  for  years  trying  to 
regain  their  power,  had  built  a  new  armada  of  sixty-seven 
ships,  and  putting  it  under  command  of  Admiral  Don 
Antonio  d'Oquendo,  sent  it  into  the  English  channel  with 
seventeen  hundred    cannon  and   twenty -four  thousand 


824  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS  [1639 

men.  Of  these  ships,  thirty -seven  were  three  -  decked 
galleons  having  bulwarks  four  feet  thick,  and  carrying 
heavy  guns.  They  were  strong  but  clumsy,  and  were  no 
match  for  the  quickly  moving  Dutch  ships.  Reinforce- 
ments of  men  and  provisions  were  obtained  at  Dunkirk. 
The  Dutch  Admiral,  Marten  Tromp — to  whose  name  Eng- 
lish writers  unwarrantably  add  the  prefix  '^Van^' — with 
thirteen  ships  met  a  portion  of  the  armada  in  the  Straits 
of  Dover,  consisting  of  twenty-four  of  the  Spanish  vessels, 
capturing  two  of  them  September  18,  1639.  After  sev- 
eral damaging  blows,  he  drove  the  Spanish  ships  to  the 
English  coast,  where  eighteen  British  vessels  were  wait- 
ing to  receive  and  help  them.  Tromp,  with  thirty  ves- 
sels, kept  the  whole  armada  blockaded.  Meanwhile,  all 
Holland  was  roused.  Within  a  fortnight,  reinforcements 
increasing  Tromp^s  force  to  ninety-five  war  vessels  and 
eleven  ^^branders,''  or  fire-ships,  arrived  off  the  Downs. 
Oquendo  tried  to  avoid  a  fight,  claiming  that  he  lacked 
masts,  spars,  and  powder,  whereupon  Tromp  sent  him 
masts  and  spars  from  Dover,  and  put  many  thousands  of 
pounds  of  powder  at  his  disposal.  The  great  naval  battle 
of  the  Downs  was  fought  October  21,  1G39,  the  English 
not  interfering  except  to  effect  the  escape  of  the  Spanish 
soldiers.  Thirteen  war -ships  of  the  armada  were  capt- 
ured by  Tromp,  and  of  the  remainder,  most  were  sunk, 
or  driven  off  the  coasts  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  and 
only  eighteen  in  all  returned  to  Spain.* 

This  affair  created  much  irritation  at  the  British  court, 
of  which  Charles  Stuart  was  now  at  the  head,  and  matters 
between  England  and  the  Republic  became  very  much 
mixed  and  their  relations  strained.  Disputes  about  the 
fisheries  and  possessions  in  the  Far  East,  commercial 
jealousies,  and  Dutch  assistance  secretly  rendered  the 
Scottish  rebels  promised  a  host  of  future  troubles.  Nev- 
ertheless, the  Dutch  government  sent  over  an  embassy 
headed  by  Aerssens  to  ask  for  the  hand  of  the  Princess 
Mary,  of  England,  for  the  stadholder's  son.  Prince  Will- 

*  A  handsome  monument  with  statue  was  erected  to  the  memory  of  Don 
Oquendo,  at  San  Sebastian,  in  1895. 


TROMP 


1642]  PEACE  NEGOTIATIONS  ASSUME  STRENGTH  825 

iam.  While  there  were  growing  differences  in  England 
between  the  sovereign  and  parliament,  in  the  Republic  the 
alienation  between  the  stadholder  and  the  party  opposed 
to  him  was  increasing.  The  proposed  alliance  with  the 
royal  house  was  very  displeasing  to  the  patriot  or  munici- 
pal party,  and  when  Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  who  came 
to  Holland  as  the  chaperon  of  the  young  Princess  Mary, 
began  to  make  her  Romanism  ostentatious — even  to  the 
extent  of  trying  to  raise  money  in  Holland  to  buy  muni- 
tions of  war  for  the  King  against  the  parliamentarians — 
the  popular  feeling  rose  to  hatred.  The  stadholder,  after 
trying  to  reconcile  the  English  parties,  agreed  to  help  the 
Stuarts,  but  the  legislature  of  Holland  would  allow  no 
warlike  supplies  to  leave  the  country,  and  King  Charles 
in  vain  attempted  to  get  another  of  his  daughters  mar- 
ried into  the  house  of  Orange. 

Spain  was  by  this  time  greatly  enfeebled  by  the  loss  of 
her  fleets,  by  the  new  victories  of  the  French  in  the  Neth- 
erlands, especially  at  Rocroi,  May  19,  1643,  and  by  the 
conquests  of  the  Dutch  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 
Richelieu,  after  governing  France  for  eighteen  years  with 
absolute  power,  died  December  4,  1G42,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Jules  Mazarin,  regent  of  the  kingdom  during 
the  minority  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  whose  hitrigues 
increased  the  Dutch  suspicion  of  his  good  faith  and  led 
them  to  favor  peace  with  Spain,  and  so  negotiations 
looking  towards  the  peace  of  1648  were  begun. 

There  were  those  who  foresaw  the  troubles  which, 
having  already  for  a  generation  or  more  disturbed  the 
Republic,  were  to  afflict  it  for  a  century  and  a  half.  These 
arose  out  of  the  intense  jealousy  of  the  cities  against  the 
national  government  and  the  provincial  polity  of  Hol- 
land, which  was  the  one  rich  and  disproportionately  great 
province  in  the  confederacy.  The  negotiations  of  peace 
assumed  proportions  of  unexpected  strength  when  the 
ablest  woman  in  the  Netherlands,  Amalia  Van  Solms, 
moved  by  her  husband's  ill-health  and  not  uninfluenced 
by  Spanish  promises,  lent  her  aid  to  the  counsels  of  peace, 
which  were  again  reinforced  when,  on  the  14th  of  March, 
1647,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three,  Frederick  Henry,  the  last 


826  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1645 

son  of  William  of  Orange,  died.  A  man  of  wise  modera- 
tion like  his  father,  he  not  only  mollified  the  rigors  of 
sectarian  rancor,  but  also  maintained  the  Union  when 
unity  was  vital  to  the  nation.  He  succeeded,  also,  in 
identifying  the  interests  of  the  nation  with  the  fortunes 
of  the  house  of  Orange,  so  that  henceforth  they  seemed 
inseparable.  While  his  intrigues  with  foreign  royal  houses 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  matrimonial  alliances,  which 
he  hoped  would  benefit  the  nation  as  well  as  his  family, 
are  open  to  censure,  yet  in  the  main  Frederick  Henry 
may  be  called  the  blameless  Prince.  He  increased  his 
powers  as  stadholder,  doubtless  with  the  good  motive  of 
overcoming  that  municipal  jealousy  which  was  the  bane 
of  the  republic,  although  perhaps  a  necessary  evil. 

The  burgher  aristocracy  of  the  nation,  especially  of 
Holland,  has  ever  seemed  determined  to  allow  authority 
to  reside  neither  in  the  people  nor  in  the  chief  executive 
of  the  Republic,  and  the  final  solution  of  the  long  contest 
between  stadholder  and  burgher  seemed  logically  to  be 
only  found  in  a  monarchy.  The  States-General,  by  a  vote 
of  five  out  of  the  seven  states,  conferred  upon  the  young 
Prince  of  Orange  the  offices  of  his  father  and  grandfather, 
though  Holland  and  Zeeland  delayed  choosing  him  stad- 
holder until  peace  was  made  certain.  Holland,  above  all 
the  states,  was  anxious  for  peace.  Negotiations  were  now 
pressed,  and  the  Congress  of  Munster  opened  in  April, 
1645.  The  issues  were  happily  concluded  on  the  30th  of 
January,  1648.  Spain  yielded  everything  for  which  the 
Dutch  United  States  had  so  long  contended.  The  signa- 
tories of  the  treaties  took  oath  to  keep  tho  compact  invi- 
olable, those  of  the  Roman  cult  kissing  the  crucifix  and 
those  of  the  Reformed  faith  lifting  their  hands  to  Heaven. 

Thus  after  sixty-eight  years  of  war  and  twelve  of  truce, 
the  Eighty  Years'  War  was  ended.  Starting  with  a  popu- 
lation of  seven  or  eight  hundred  thousand  people,  Avith 
but  an  area  of  ten  thousand  miles,  of  which  scarcely  more 
than  a  third  was  fertile  land,  with  but  little  knowledge  of 
the  ocean  or  of  trade  beyond  the  coast-line  of  Western 
Europe,  unused  to  war,  and  having  but  slight  experience 
of  international  negotiations,  the  statesmen  of  the  seven 


1646]  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  DUTCH  827 

Dutch  provinces,  led  by  "William  the  Silent,  had  organized 
resistance  to  the  most  powerful  sovereign  and  empire  in 
the  world,  backed  by  the  wealth  of  America  and  the  pres- 
tige of  the  Pope  of  Rome.  The  Dutch  had  won  victory, 
having  a  central  government,  a  union  of  federated  states, 
a  splendid  army,  and  a  navy  that  had  no  superiors ;  while 
in  art,  literature,  science,  inventions,  finance,  political 
and  social  economy,  and  in  general  popular  comfort,  they 
led  the  world.  Their  merchants,  explorers,  and  advent- 
urers were  to  be  found  everywhere.  With  a  system  of 
sound  finance,  unity  in  religion,  with  toleration  superior 
to  anything  known  in  Christendom  or  paganism,  with  free- 
dom of  the  press,  with  enterprise,  marvels  of  engineering, 
splendid  universities,  a  system  of  national  education,  the 
glories  of  art  and  literature,  and  with  names  that  not  only 
the  Dutch  but  the  whole  world  will  not  willingly  let  die, 
they  had  become  one  of  the  great  Powers. 

The  long  battle  had  been  fought  for  the  rights  of  con- 
science and  the  freedom  of  the  human  spirit,  for  the  priv- 
ilege of  men  to  tax  themselves  and  to  depose  a  prince 
when  he  should  cease  to  be  a  servant  of  the  people.  The 
victory  was  first  of  all  a  victory  of  faith.  It  was  won 
through  those  moral  qualities  of  the  Dutch,  honesty, 
faithfulness,  firmness,  the  absence  of  selfishness  and  per- 
sonal vanity,  and  the  presence  of  a  high  civic  spirit  that 
led  them  not  only  to  gain  but  to  hold  and  to  safeguard 
liberty.  It  was  these  qualities  that  brought  to  the  Dutch 
republicans  maritime  power  and  a  rapid  increase  of  popu- 
lation by  the  influx  of  intelligent  foreigners  from  many 
nations.  Diverse  in  manners,  customs,  opinions,  geograph- 
ical situations,  and  employments,  the  people  of  the  Dutch 
states  were  indissolubly  united  in  a  bond  of  mutual  fidel- 
ity which  defied  the  assaults  of  the  enemy  from  without 
and  the  traitor  within. 

To  the  probity,  firmness,  courage,  and  wisdom  of  the 
Dutch  must  be  added  an  intelligence  second  to  none  in 
Europe.  Out  of  this  garden  bloomed  their  literature, 
jurisprudence,  art,  and  those  other  products  of  thought 
which  have  surprised  and  delighted  succeeding  genera- 
tions.    **  The  Golden  Age  of  Frederick  Henry,"  or  that  of 


828  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1645 

the  "Hollandish  Renaissance,"  was  the  time  of  the  bloom 
of  the  EepubHc.  Despite  the  waste  of  war,  the  drainage 
of  water-covered  land  went  on.  The  great  polders,  Zype, 
Beemster,  Purmer,  and  Wermer,  in  North  Holland,  were 
won  to  pasture  and  grain,  and,  having  been  made  the  home 
of  men  and  cattle,  became  dotted  with  towns  and  villages. 
The  Water-State — that  is,  the  nation  organized  to  keep 
itself  from  being  drowned — was  brought  to  the  highest 
state  of  efficiency.  The  University  of  Utrecht  was  found- 
ed in  1636,  and  having  quickly  won  a  renowned  name  in 
theology,  letters,  and  the  physical  sciences,  educated,  be- 
sides the  sons  of  Dutchmen,  hundreds  of  English-speak- 
ing ministers  of  the  free  churches  of  Great  Britain  and 
America.  Architecture  flourished,  and  among  the  nota- 
ble structures  were  the  City  Halls  of  Amsterdam,  Bols- 
ward,  Haarlem,  Nymegen.  In  literature,  art,  and  other 
lines  of  intellectual  achievement,  we  mention  but  a  few 
of  the  shining  names.  In  poetry,  Vischer,  Bredero,  Hooft, 
Vondel,  Oats,  Huygens,  Jan  Starter,  and  Van  der  Goes 
appealed  to  refined  tastes  or  delighted  the  people  with 
their  lyrics,  odes,  dramas,  narrative  poems,  wit,  mirth, 
and  wisdom.  In  history,  Bor,  Eeijd,  Van  Meteren,  P.  0. 
'  Hooft,  and  Hugo  de  Groot  (Grotius)  told  the  political 
/  story  of  the  Fatherland.  Ubbo  Emmius,  with  critical  ac- 
curacy, pictured  local  government  and  the  town  system 
in  democratic  Friesland.  Brandt  narrated  the  sufferings 
and  persecutions,  the  growth  and  organization  of  the 
churches.  In  philology  the  Dutch  led  the  van  in  Europe, 
issuing  critical  editions  of  the  ancient  classics  and  open- 
ing the  wonderful  world  of  Oriental  thought.  Kilian  had 
already  led  the  way  in  the  study  of  the  Teutonic  philol- 
ogy and  the  Dutch  tongue.  Lipsius,  Scaliger,  Heinsius, 
and  Gravius  are  but  a  few  names  of  great  teachers  in  the 
universities.  In  medicine  and  anatomy  we  need  but  men- 
tion Helmont,  Beverwijck,  and  Tulp  —  who,  as  Rem- 
brandt's friend,  has  been  immortalized  in  that  great  ar- 
tistes painting  of  the  dissecting-table.  In  natural  history 
Swammerdam  told  of  the  wonders  of  the  human  body; 
and  Leeuwenhoek,  with  his  glass -beads  set  in  bits  of 
brass,  became  the  father  of  microscopy ;  another  Dutch- 


1645]  THE    ROLL  OF   HONOR  829 

man,  Drebbel,  being  the  inve^itor  of  the  instrument  which 
has  revealed  to  mankind  large  portions  of  the  realm  of 
the  infinitely  little.  In  astronomy,  Stevin  and  Huygens 
explored  the  heavens  and  narrated  their  discoveries.  In 
mechanics  and  inventions  Leeghwater  not  only  wrote  his 
book  on  the  Haarlem  Lake,  showing  how  it  could  be 
pumped  out  and  made  into  gardens,  but  he  made  his 
other  vast  and  daring  schemes  of  drainage  actual  realities 
of  dryness,  fertility,  and  wealth.  Cornelisz  invented  the 
saw-mill ;  Jansen,  the  telescope  ;  Huygens,  the  pendulum, 
and  Van  der  Hey  den  the  fire-hose  branch -pipe,  which 
made  life  and  property  in  the  cities  vastly  safer.  In  man- 
ifold other  inventions  and  applications  of  thought  to 
material — the  breathing  of  a  soul  into  dead  matter — the 
Dutch  genius  and  procreative  power  were  made  known  to 
the  world,  and  the  men  of  other  nations  were  not  slow 
to  avail  themselves  of  it,  and,  in  too  many  instances,  even 
to  take  the  credit  of  invention  as  well.  In  sculpture,  De 
Keyser  and  Quellinus  made  a  name ;  Jacob  van  Campen 
won  fame  as  an  architect. 

Not  the  grandest  of  all  expressions  of  the  Dutch  intel- 
lect and  skill,  but  those  which  have  permanently  received 
widest  recognition  and  have  most  charmed  and  instruct- 
ed the  people  of  all  countries,  were  made  in  a  universal 
language  upon  canvas.  AVhereas  the  English  mind,  at  its 
most  creative  period  and  in  the  epoch  of  heroic  national 
life,  manifested  itself  in  literature  during  the  Elizabethan 
age,  that  of  the  Dutch  in  the  triumph  era  of  the  Repub- 
lic expressed  itself  in  art.  Rembrandt  was  one  of  a  galaxy 
of  artists  who  glorified  the  home  and  the  civic  life  of  the 
Republic,  the  living  creatures,  the  actual  landscapes  and 
marine  views  which  confronted  and  environed  human  life 
in  the  Northern  Netherlands.  Van  der  Heist,  Franz  Hals, 
Bol,  Flinck,  Van  Mieris,  and  Mierevelt  studied  and  re- 
produced the  human  form  and  face.  Bakhuysen  learned 
to  know  the  sea  in  all  its  moods.  Jan  Steen,  Teniers, 
Metsu,  Terburch,  Netscher,  Brouwer,  and  Ostade  delight- 
ed to  study  human  life  in  all  its  phases  and  to  picture 
its  joys  and  sorrows,  its  glory  and  its  shame.  Ruysdael, 
Hobbema;   and   the   Cuyps   painted   landscapes   and   the 


830  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1646 

phenomena  of  the  skies.  Paul  Potter,  Wouwermans,  and 
Hondecoeter  painted  the  friends  of  men — the  ox,  horse, 
and  bird — as  none  others  have  done.  Nor  did  the  masters 
wait  for  the  world^s  recognition.  It  was  a  matter  of  na- 
tional rejoicing  when  Catherine  the  Second,  Empress  of 
Russia,  bought  one  of  Gerard  Don's  masterpieces  for  four- 
teen thousand  guilders.  "While  Rembrandt  and  his  breth- 
ren of  maul  and  palette  laid  their  tints  and  shadows  on  the 
woven  texture,  to  face  the  manifold  risks  to  which  canvas 
is  liable,  the  Crabeth  brothers  wrought  in  stained-glass, 
which  sheathed  light  and  color  in  mineral  hardness,  im- 
perishable, except  by  fire  or  fracture. 

Dutch  art  is  a  mirror  of  the  country,  of  the  people,  and 
of  the  characteristics  of  both.  It  is  intensely  realistic. 
It  shows  things  as  they  are.  The  intellect  is  at  work  for 
itself,  taking  no  authority  or  tradition  as  guide,  but  fol- 
lowing only  reason,  reverence,  and  the  facts.  Rembrandt's 
pictures  of  Biblical  scenes  ignore  the  doctors  and  fathers, 
all  monkish  and  papal  lore,  and  the  traditions  of  courts 
and  councils.  They  show  knowledge  of  originals  and 
reveal  just  how  the  Dutchman  read  his  Bible.  Instead 
of  painting  things  celestial  and  angelic  and  striving  to 
embody  the  mysterious  in  religion,  or  portraying  courts, 
kings,  queens,  and  titled  potentates  in  government,  creat- 
ures famous  in  mythology,  and  scenes  renowned  in  pom- 
pously written  history,  the  Dutch  artists,  without  neglect- 
ing the  nobler  themes  and  persons,  cared  more  for  reality. 
They  brought  theology  and  the  gospel  down  to  earth,  even 
into  the  boer's  hut.  They  painted  the  civilian  diplo- 
matists and  burghers  who  had  beaten  Philip's  veterans. 
They  pictured  the  faces  of  women  able  to  build  and  man- 
age the  best  orphanages  and  hospitals  in  Europe.  They 
transfigured  holy  wedlock  and  honored  the  home,  the 
wife,  the  mother,  and  the  cradle.  They  dignified  labor 
and  industry,  and  displayed  the  happy  life  of  the  vil- 
lagers. They  revealed  the  beauties  of  dumb  animals,  and 
showed  the  flat  fields  and  water-courses  of  the  land  in 
which  safe-guarded  freedom  dwelt.  Proud  of  their  coun- 
try, in  which  conscience  was  free,  which  the  ocean  and 
the  tyrants  obeyed,  their  artists  delighted  in  the  ever- 


1645]  LITERARY  TRAITS  831 

varying  sky  and  air,  with  sun-glow  and  shade  and  splen- 
dor of  cloud  and  rainbow,  which  seemed  to  them  the  con- 
stant messages  of  the  Father  in  Heaven. 

The  national  literature  shows  the  same  traits.  The 
''  accepted  version,"  or  States-General  Bible,  which,  after 
nearly  a  century  of  indirect  and  twenty  years  of  direct 
preparation,  appeared  in  1637,  was  welcomed  with  popu- 
lar and  ecclesiastical  approval.  In  one  generation  it  had 
almost  wholly  displaced  all  previous  versions.  Perhaps 
of  all  European  translations  of  the  Hebrew  scriptures,  the 
Dutch  is  the  most  literally  faithful,  and  in  many  passages 
the  most  exquisitely  felicitious,  while  no  rendering  of  the 
Greek  of  the  New  Testament  is  more  thoroughly  honest. 
There  is  a  faithfulness  to  the  original  text,  a  raciness  of 
expression,  and  a  freedom  from  tradition  that  are  charac- 
teristic of  the  men  to  whom  this  version  was  vernacular. 

When  the  luxury  and  ease  following  the  great  peace  set 
in,  the  brilliant  period  of  Dutch  literature  declined  for 
nearly  a  century,  and  no  revival  of  letters  is  noted  until 
the  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  impor- 
tations from  the  Orient  of  beneficent  and  noxious  seeds, 
of  intoxicating  liquors,  and  of  destructive  vermin  that 
drilled  and  destroyed  the  dikes,  while  doubling  the  de- 
lights also  multiplied  the  plagues  of  the  Dutchmen.  Life 
was  enriched  with  many  comforts,  but,  after  a  long  period 
of  heroic  endeavor,  a  reaction  set  in,  and,  despite  the  mul- 
tiplication of  things  brilliant  and  joy-giving,  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  whole  of  the  un- 
lieroic  eighteenth  century  there  was  decline  in  the  Dutch 
character.  The  national  art  galleries  and  portraitures 
distinctly  show  a  change  in  the  type  of  face  from  that 
of  the  hero  to  that  of  the  bargain  -  maker  and  ordinary 
citizen. 


CHAPTER  X 
KAVAL  WAKS   WITH   EI^GLAJSTD 

The  dawn  of  peace  found  the  prosperous  young  repub- 
lic enjoying  the  benefits  and  imperilled  by  the  dangers  of 
party  government  ;  the  stadholder  and  the  people  at  large 
forming  the  Orange  or  Unionist  party,  and  the  burghers 
and  aristocratic  element  making  up  the  patriot  or  anti- 
Orange  party.  The  relations  between  Holland  and  Eng- 
land became  very  close  through  the  marriage  of  the  stad- 
holder with  the  daughter  of  Charles  Stuart.  The  execu- 
tion of  that  monarch  in  England  had  been  protested 
against  by  the  Dutch  envoy  in  London,  and  when  it  had 
been  consummated,  it  aroused  deep  popular  sympathy 
with  "  King  Charles  the  Martyr  "  —  as  he  is  called  in  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer — and  with  his  two  young  sons 
who  were  refugees  in  the  Netherlands.  The  States-Gen- 
eral refused  a  public  audience  to  Walter  Strickland,  the 
English  ambassador.  An  alliance  between  the  two  repub- 
lics was  now  proposed  by  the  English  Parliament,  which 
sent  over  Isaac  Dorislaus  —  the  advocate-general  of  the 
tribunal  that  had  condemned  Charles  Stuart  to  death. 
Dorislaus,  the  son  of  a  Dutch  domine  in  Enkhuizen,  had 
lectured  on  history  at  Gresham  College  in  the  University 
of  Cambridge,  and  had  there  been  silenced  because  of  his 
free  opinions,  which  were  not  palatable  to  a  Stuart  King. 
To  appoint  such  an  envoy,  for  the  noble  purpose  of  cement- 
ing in  alliance  the  English  Commonwealth  and  the  Dutch 
United  States,  when  the  Hague  swarmed  with  runaway  ad- 
herents to  the  fallen  royal  cause,  seems  now  to  have  been 
a  strangely  unwise  act.  On  the  second  day  after  his 
arrival,  while  Dorislaus  was  at  his  lodging  in  the  H6tel 


1650]  A  COMPLICATED   SITUATION  833 

de  Zwaan^  four  masked  assassins,  followers  of  the  Earl  of 
Montrose,  entered,  and  having  first  mortally  wounded  by 
mistake  a  Dutch  gentleman,  killed  Dorislaus. 

Holland  offered  a  reward  for  the  discovery  of  the  vil- 
lains, put  Strickland  under  its  protection,  and  sent  an 
agent  to  London ;  but  the  national  legislature  was  languid 
about  punishment,  and  still  gave  no  audience  to  Strick- 
land. The  rulers  of  the  English  Commonwealth  were 
greatly  irritated  and  offended  by  this  act,  which  seemed 
an  unfriendly  one.  It  was  wrongly  suspected  in  England 
that  the  murderers  had  escaped  by  connivance  of  the 
Dutch.  The  States-General  refused  to  recognize  the  new 
English  government,  and  thereupon  Albert  Joachim,  the 
Dutch  minister  at  London,  was  ordered  to  leave  the  coun- 
try, and  thus  his  long  and  honorable  career  in  England 
was  terminated.  On  the  Dutch  side,  the  causes  of  this 
lack  of  harmony  between  the  National  Congress  and  the 
legislature  of  the  greatest  of  the  Dutch  states,  and  be- 
tween the  Republic  of  the  United  Netherlands  and  the 
Commonwealth  of  England,  are  easily  discovered.  They 
had  their  roots  in  the  jealousy  of  Friesland  and  Zeeland 
because  of  Holland's  preponderance  in  the  Eepublic,  and 
in  the  fear  of  Holland  lest  these  two  maritime,  national- 
istic and  ultra-Calvinistic,  provinces  should  increase  in 
power.  The  situation  was  complicated  by  the  apparent 
determination  of  the  stadholder,  William  the  Second,  who 
had  succeeded  to  his  father's  office  in  1647,  to  destroy 
the  liberties  of  the  country  and  to  introduce  virtual 
monarchy.  In  many  ways — civil,  military,  and  political — 
the  struggle  between  '^  the  first  servant  of  the  States-Gen- 
eral," now  striving  for  despotic  mastery,  and  Holland, 
the  sturdy  maintainer  of  state-right,  went  on. 

Of  the  various  lands,  colonies,  and  possessions  of  the 
Dutch  nation,  the  seven  states  constituted  the  Union, 
all  outside  being  the  Generality.  The  exact  limitations 
of  authority  in  the  Generality,  whether  in  Europe,  in  the 
countries  touching  the  seven  states,  or  in  America,  Africa, 
or  Asia,  had  not  been  settled,  as  there  had  been  but  few 
occasions  for  conflict  of  jurisdiction,  despite  the  vast 
colonial   expansion  of  the   Dutch.     However,  in  April, 

53 


834  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1650 

1650,  Captain  Witte  C.  de  Witte,  of  the  West  India  Com- 
pany, returned  home  without  consent  of  his  local  superiors 
in  Pernambuco,  and  he  was  arrested  by  the  stadholder  as 
admiral-general  of  the  Union.  This  immediately  precipi- 
tated the  question  whether  he  should  be  tried  before  a 
commission  appointed  by  the  States-G-eneral,  or,  as  Hol- 
land demanded,  by  the  ordinary  courts.  The  matter 
ended  in  the  defeat  of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  Holland 
also  attempted  to  obtain  a  reduction  of  the  national  army, 
and  the  irritated  stadholder  opposed  the  act  as  a  blow 
directed  at  his  authority.  In  the  ensuing  complications, 
William  the  Second,  evidently  aping  the  act  of  Charles 
Stuart  of  England  in  dealing  with  refractory  members  of 
Parliament,  had  six  members  of  the  Holland  legislature  ar- 
rested and  confined  in  the  Castle  of  Loevenstein.  He 
carried  out  his  high-handed  usurpations  of  power  by  con- 
centrating the  army  to  inflict  chastisement  upon  Amster- 
dam, and  actually  commenced  to  besiege  that  city,  thus 
virtually  beginning  civil  war.  The  municipal  magistrates, 
however,  gave  the  stadholder  a  taste  of  their  determined 
spirit  by  cutting  some  of  the  dikes  and  flooding  the 
land.  This  foiled  the  usurper,  who,  to  the  gain  of  con- 
stitutional liberty  and  to  the  loss  of  a  party  rather  than 
the  nation,  fell  a  victifh  to  his  own  intemperance.  He 
died  of  over-eating  after  the  ipeat  and  fatigue  of  hunting, 
on  November  6,  1650.  Eight  days  afterwards,  William 
the  Third,  destined  to  be  of  "ever  blessed  memory,"  was 
born.  For  twenty  years  the  Dutch  United  States  were  to 
exist  and  flourish  without  a  stadholder,  as  a  parliamen- 
tary republic. 

In  foreign  politics,  France  now  seemed  to  be  more  dan- 
gerous than  Spain,  for  the  latter  was  becoming  weak  and 
the  former  was  gaining  strength.  Both  the  plan  of  Car- 
dinal Mazarin  for  peace  and  the  prospective  marriage  be- 
tween Louis  the  Fourteenth,  the  young  king,  and  the 
daughter  of  the  king  of  Spain,  contemplated  granting  the 
Spanish  Netherlands  as  a  dowry,  and  there  were  fears  lest 
in  this  dowry  would  be  included  the  Republic  itself. 

The  great  State  of  Holland  now  took  advantage  of  the 
situation  to  introduce  a  radical  change  in  politics.     It 


1650]  CHANGING  THE  NATIONAL  FLAG  835 

attempted  to  settle  the  troubles  over  the  military  by  pre- 
venting the  election  of  a  captain-general  of  the  Union, 
and  of  a  stadholder  in  most  of  the  provinces.  During 
this  era  of  the  stadholderless  republic,  the  two  political 
forces,  state-sovereignty  and  opposition  to  the  House  of 
Orange,  received  their  strongest  expression. 

A  change  was  made  even  in  the  national  flag,  by  sub- 
stituting red  for  the  orange  in  the  three  horizontal  stripes, 
so  that  it  became  permanently  and  officially  red,  white, 
and  blue.  Hitherto,  the  first  stripe  in  the  flag  had  been 
either  orange  or  red.  Theories  as  to  the  origin  of  the 
Dutch  flag  take  their  form  according  to  the  political 
prepossessions  of  the  writers  or  disputants.  Those  con- 
tending for  its  "princely  origin"  declare  that  orange 
was  the  original  primary  band,  while  those  urging  a  popu- 
lar genesis  say  that  red  was  always  the  flrst  stripe.  One 
theory  states  that  in  the  fifth  century,  at  Paris,  when 
the  emblem  of  revolution  was  raised  against  the  oppres- 
sive Roman  authority,  it  was  of  red,  white,  and  blue,  in 
perpendicular  lines.  In  the  sixteenth  century  these  same 
colors,  set  horizontally,  seem  quite  certainly  to  have  been 
adopted  as  the  symbol  of  union  among  the  various  Dutch 
provinces  revolting  against  Spain,  though  the  color  of 
orange  often  took  the  place  of  the  red  to  show  emphatic 
loyalty  to  the  House  of  Ormge.  The  banners  under  which 
the  first  battles  of  the  Dutch  Revolution  were  fought  were 
various,  with  inscriptions,  such  as  Pro  rege,  pro  lege,  pro 
grege  (for  the  king,  for  the  law,  for  the  commonwealth) ; 
or  with  emblems,  as  of  the  mother -pelican  feeding  its 
young  with  her  bosom -blood.  The  Prinsenvlag,  or  flag 
of  the  Prince  of  Orange — the  English  word  flag  being  de- 
rived directly  from  the  Dutch  vlag — was  that  of  his  house, 
containing  his  arms,  which  show  the  colors  orange  and 
gold,  as  well  as  red,  white,  and  blue.  Often,  indeed,  in 
the  first  years  of  the  Eighty  Years'  War,  the  orange  color 
alone  was  used,  as  a  sufficient  symbol  of  defiance,  but  in 
the  early  pictures  and  relics  we  see  the  tri-color — orange, 
white,  and  blue — in  stripes  parallel  with  the  trumpet  on 
which  the  colors  hang,  or  at  right  angles  with  the  flag- 
staff on  which  they  fly.     From  about  the  time   of  the 


836  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1652 

Declaration  of  Independence,  in  1581,  down  to  the  tri- 
umph of  the  anti-stadholderal  party  in  1650,  the  national 
flag  was  orange,  white,  and  blue  (oranje,  blanche,  bleu). 
Sometimes  the  tri-color  was  repeated  on  the  same  battle 
standard  seven  times,  making  a  flag  of  twenty-one  stripes, 
and  flags  of  various  sets  of  tri-colors,  having  from  four  to 
seventy  stripes,  are  also  known.  So  also,  in  its  tints,  was 
the  flag  of  the  East  India  Company,  or  ''^  Jan  Companie" 
(John  Company),  as  the  great  trading  corporation  was 
popularly  termed.  In  1652  the  flag  of  the  Dutch  United 
States,  of  which  the  colors  were  red,  white,  and  blue,  was 
officially  flown.  This  change  was  significant  of  the  fact 
that  the  House  of  Orange,  while  honored  in  many  ways 
and  bound  to  the  nation  by  a  thousand  ties  of  popular 
gratitude,  was  of  far  less  importance  than  the  nation 
itself.  In  the  Dutch  navy,  the  flag  had  always  been  one 
of  seven  red  and  white  stripes,  one  for  each  state  in  token 
of  the  Union.* 

Unfortunately,  the  two  republics,  Dutch  and  English, 
which  ought  to  have  been  friends  and  mutual  helpers  in 
the  cause  of  freedom,  were  alienated  because  of  commer- 
cial jealousies  of  long  growth.  The  occasion  of  direct 
quarrel  was  the  insult  to  the  English  ambassador  at  the 
Hague  who  was  refused  audience,  as  we  have  seen.  The 
proposal  of  an  alliance  between  the  republics  failed.  The 
English  had  long  desired  to  win  from  the  Dutch  the  car- 
rying-trade of  the  seas.  Furthermore,  "  England,  from  the 
days  of  the  Plantagenets,  had  claimed  the  sovereignty  of 
what  she  was  pleased  to  call  the  British  seas,  and  had 
compelled  the  shipping  of  other  nations  to  acknowledge 
her  supremacy  by  dipping  flag  and  sail  in  the  presence 
of  an  English  man-of-war. "f  After  a  mutual  restrictive 
treaty  between  Denmark  and  the  Kepublic,  the  English 
government  passed  the  Navigation  Act,  which  struck  a 

*  See  the  three  pamphlets,  "  De  Oorsprung  der  Nederlandsche  Vlag," 
door  D.  G.  Muller,  Amsterdam,  1862 ;  same  title,  door  T.  Ter  Gouw,  Am- 
sterdam, 1863;  and  "De  Prinselijke  Afkomst  der  Nederlandsche  Vlag  Ge- 
bandhaafd,"  door  T.  Ter  Gouw,  Amsterdam,  1864  ;  and  Brave  Little  Holland^ 
pp.  216-219. 

f  S.  W.  Gardiner's  CromwelVs  Place  m  History^  p.  '72. 


DE   RUYTER 


1652]  FIERCE   FIGHTING   AT  SEA  837 

direct  blow  at  the  carrying-trade  of  the  Netherlands,  for 
it  prohibited  a  foreign  vessel  from  importing  into  Eng- 
land the  products  of  any  country  but  its  own.  "  The 
Dutch  had  made  themselves  the  champions  of  a  liberal 
amendment  of  the  law  of  the  sea  .  .  .  vindicating  the 
principle  that  the  flag  should  cover  the  goods."*  At 
this  time  probably  nine  out  of  every  ten  foreign  vessels 
entering  English  ports  were  Dutch,  and  floated  the  flag 
of  the  Kepublic.  Insult  and  rapine  were  quickly  added 
to  this  unfriendly  act.  The  Dutch  ships  were  seized,  and 
war  followed.  The  hostile  fleets,  commanded  by  Admirals 
Tromp  and  Blake,  met  in  the  Downs  on  May  29,  1652, 
and  a  terrific  battle  of  five  hours  followed,  in  which  the 
Dutch  were  worsted.  Admiral  Blake  having  destroyed 
the  Dutch  fishing  vessels.  Admiral  Marten  Tromp  was 
again  sent  to  attack  him,  but  he  was  driven  back  by  a 
storm,  and  a  still  greater  tempest  awaited  him  in  the  fury 
of  the  populace  stirred  up  by  the  Orangists.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Admiral  de  Ruyter,  who  met  an  English  fleet 
under  Sir  George  Ayskue  off  Plymouth  in  August,  1652, 
and  won  a  brilliant  victory.  In  the  Mediterranean,  near 
the  island  of  Elba,  the  Dutch  naval  heroes.  Van  Galien 
and  young  Tromp,  again  made  the  flag  of  the  Republic 
triumph.  Blake  was  defeated  by  Admiral  Witte  de  With. 
At  length,  Tromp  was  once  more  restored  to  favor,  and 
with  a  fleet  of  one  hundred  and  six  ships  he  routed 
Blake's  inferior  force  off  Dungeness,  November  29,  1652. 
According  to  tradition,  Tromp  then  fastened  a  broom  to 
his  masthead,  intimating  that  he  had  swept  the  enemy 
from  the  sea. 

This  useless  war  was  mutually  injurious.  Cromwell 
had  consented  to  it  under  the  impression  that  Tromp  had 
deliberately  insulted  the  English  flag.  Holland  suffered 
the  more  by  losing  her  carrying-trade,  in  return  for  which 
the  captures  of  British  ships  by  Dutch  privateers  made  but 
slight  compensation. 

The  Orange  party  wanted  further  war,  but  the  Holland 
party  clamored  for  peace.     There  being  no  stadholder  at 

*  S.  W.  Gardiner's  CromweWs  Place  in  History,  p.  71. 


838  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1653 

this  time,  John  DeWitt,  who,  when  but  twenty-five  years 
of  age,  had  been  made  pensionary  of  Holland,  became  in 
February,  1653,  the  nominal  chief  executive  of  the  Ke- 
public.  Like  Switzerland,  a  republic  which  has  no  per- 
manent executive  head,  the  Eepublic  of  the  United  Neth- 
erlands was  to  be  under  DeWitt's  guidance  for  twenty 
years,  stadholderless  and  governed  by  the  States-G-eneral. 
As  their  servant,  DeWitt  met  the  insulting  demands  of 
England  with  a  firm  hand. 

In  the  naval  war  which  continued,  the  manifest  superi- 
ority of  the  English  ships  was  demonstrated,  the  Dutch 
vessels  being  smaller  and  lighter,  and  not  so  well  equipped. 
As  in  the  naval  campaign  of  1812,  when  the  English  were 
defeated  by  the  Americans  with  their  heavier  ships  and 
guns  and  superior  seamanship,  so,  in  1653,  the  Dutch,  after 
a  long  succession  of  victories  at  sea,  were  very  much  in 
the  same  situation  as  were  the  English  after  Nelson^'s  vic- 
tories. Accustomed  to  success  in  old  grooves  of  routine, 
they  failed  to  keep  up  with  naval  progress  or  with  the 
necessities  of  maritime  war,  and  wherever  valor  on  both 
sides  is  equal,  science  will  win  the  day. 

The  combined  squadrons  of  Tromp,  DeRuyter,  Evert- 
sen,  and  Floriszoon  were  pitted  against  Blake,  Deane,  and 
Monk,  in  the  channel,  between  Portland  and  the  Isle  of 
Wigl)t,  February  28  and  29,  1653,  and  again  in  a  two  days' 
battle  off  Nieuport  and  Dunkirk  on  the  12th  and  13th  of 
the  following  June,  both  of  which  engagements  resulted 
indecisively.  The  Dutch  admirals  gave  notice  that  they 
would  leave  the  service  unless  their  warnings  were  heeded 
by  building  ships  and  casting  guns  that  could  compete 
with  the  English,  who  had  made  great  strides  in  naval 
science.  The  English  now  began  to  blockade  the  Dutch 
coast  at  the  mouths  of  the  Zuyder  Zee,  the  Texel,  and  the 
Vlie,  but  when  Tromp  sallied  out  with  his  fleet  of  over  a 
hundred  ships  the  blockade  was  broken.  A  desperate 
battle  was  fought  on  the  10th  of  August,  1653,  off  the 
coast  of  Holland,  between  Scheveningen  and  the  mouth 
of  the  Maas,  in  which  Admiral  Tromp  was  slain.  Both 
sides  lost  heavily  and  claimed  the  victory.  It  was  now 
the  turn  of  the  British  to  nail  a  broom  at  the  masthead. 


JOHN    DE  WITT 


1654]  THE   PEACE   OF  WESTMINSTER  839 

To  Tromp  was  built  at  public  expense  a  superb  monu- 
ment at  Delft. 

Both  English  and  Dutch,  being  now  heartily  tired  of 
the  war,  sought  mutual  accommodation.  Cromwell  was 
at  the  time  Protector.  He  took  part  in  the  negotiations 
preliminary  to  the  Peace  of  AVestminster,  intimating  that 
no  peace  with  the  Republic  was  possible  while  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  so  closely  allied  to  the  Stuarts,  was  likely  to 
get  into  power  as  stadholder.  The  Dutch  agreed,  April 
23,  1854,  to  pay  a  half-million  dollars  for  having  seized 
English  vessels  in  the  waters  of  Denmark,  and  eighteen 
thousand  dollars  indemnity  for  the  Amboyna  outrages, 
and  to  form  a  defensive  alliance  with  the  English  Com- 
monwealth. They  further  arranged  matters  of  dispute 
in  the  East  Indies.  Their  humiliation  was  shown  by  their 
agreeing  to  strike  the  Dutch  flag  in  presence  of  English 
men-of-war.  Cromwell  was  determined  that  the  House 
of  Orange  should  be  excluded  from  all  power  in  the  Re- 
public. This  outrageous  interference  with  Dutch  politics 
by  a  foreigner  was  only  made  possible  by  the  deceit  of 
DeWitt,  who  concealed  the  matter  from  the  States-Gen- 
eral and  had  the  measure  passed  secretly  in  the  legislature 
of  Holland,  which  state  was  bound  to  prevent  any  member 
of  the  House  of  Orange  from  becoming  stadholder  or  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  Union.  The  measure  was  passed 
May  4,  1G54,  and  was  the  seed  of  many  troubles,  though 
it  gave  DeWitt  and  the  state-rights  party  a  long  lease  of 
power. 

In  the  Northern  War,  or  short  naval  campaign  against 
Sweden,  owing  to  the  blockade  of  the  Sound,  which  in- 
jured both  Dutch  and  Danish  commercial  interests,  Jacob 
van  Wassenaar  Obdam,  lieutenant-admiral  of  Holland,  won 
a  victory,  and  the  famous  Admiral  Witte  de  With  was 
killed.  DeRuyter,  who  succeeded,  negotiated  a  peace  with 
the  Swedes,  and  this  opened  a  new  era  of  commerce  for 
the  Dutch  in  the  Baltic  Sea.  In  the  modern  rebirth  of 
patriotism,  the  streets  and  avenues  of  the  newer  and  fair- 
er portions  of  Dutch  cities  are  named  after  the  heroes, 
artists,  poets,  and  other  eminent  sons  and  daughters  of 
the  Fatherland.     A  typical  instance,  though  but  one  of 


840  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1665 

hundreds,  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  Admiral  Witte  de  With 
is  honored  in  having  his  name  given  to  one  of  the  finest 
avenues  in  the  great  commercial  city  of  Kotterdam,  where 
he  was  buried. 

The  radical  change  which  occurred  in  the  politics  of 
England,  when  Charles  Stuart  came  to  the  throne  in  1660, 
caused  fresh  troubles  for  the  Dutch  United  States.  Al- 
though Holland  had  repealed  the  act  against  the  House 
of  Orange,  which  had  a  direct  and  personal  significance 
against  his  nephew,  the  new  King  had  a^great  hatred  of 
the  repablican  Dutch.  Furthermore,  the  Duke  of  York, 
his  brother,  coveting  distinction  as  a  conqueror,  soon 
found  a  pretext  for  a  quarrel  in  the  squabbles  of  the  rival 
Dutch  and  English  traders  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  There 
the  future  James  the  Second  of  England,  destined  to  be  the 
last  of  the  Stuart  kings,  seized  a  number  of  Dutch  ships. 
In  time  of  peace,  and  with  deliberate  treachery,  a  British 
squadron  entered  the  Hudson  river  and  compelled  Stuy- 
vesant  to  surrender  the  fort  and  city.  New  Amsterdam 
became  New  York.  About  one-half  of  the  Dutch  inhabi- 
tants of  New  Netherland,  not  caring  to  live  under  English 
rule,  crossed  the  sea  to  their  Fatherland.  Charles  Stuart, 
pursuing  his  further  insolence  and  intermeddling  in  Dutch 
politics,  forced  the  question  of  lowering  the  Dutch  flag  to 
his  war  ships,  and  demanded  pledges  that  the  young 
Prince  of  Orange  should  be  installed  in  his  father's  digni- 
ties and  powers  as  stadholder,  captain,  and  admiral-gen- 
eral. 

John  DeWitt,  now  expecting  to  strengthen  the  Eepublic 
by  making  an  alliance  with  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  sent  Ob- 
dam  with  his  fleet  to  meet  that  of  the  Duke  of  York.  AVar 
between  the  Republic  and  England  was  not  declared  until 
March  4,  1665.  In  the  decisive  naval  battle,  which  began 
the  ^'  second  English  sea-war, ''  fought  off  Lowestoft,  the 
most  easterly  town  of  England,  on  June  13,  1665,  the 
Dutch  Vice- Admiral  Kortnaar  was  slain.  Admiral  Van 
Wassenaar  Obdam's  flag-ship,  with  commander  and  crew, 
was  blown  up,  and  the  Dutch  lost  nineteen  ships,  but  the 
Duke  of  York  made  no  pursuit,  and  the  fleet  of  the  Repub- 
lic was  soon  able  to  repair  its  loss. 


1666]  "THE   DUTCH   NELSON"  841 

A  mutiny  broke  out  on  the  Dutch  ships  when  the  par- 
tisans of  Orange  and  the  states  failed  to  co-operate  with  each 
other,  and  DeWitt  was  even  charged  with  continuing  the 
war  for  his  own  selfish  interest.  The  Orange  sailors  called 
for  the  Prince  of  Orange  to  be  made  stadholder.  DeWitt 
was  a  lawyer.  He  lived  in  those  days  when  commanders  of 
fleets  were  often  army  officers.  Leaving  the  land  and  going 
on  deck,  he  not  only  suppressed  the  mutiny  but  became  a 
first-class  pilot,  winning  an  astonishing  success.  The  very 
word  ^'^ pilot'*'  (pijl-lood or  pole-lead)  pictures  in  its  etymol- 
ogy the  leadsman  of  primitive  days  finding  a  path  for  the 
ship  by  means  of  a  pole,  which  afterwards  by  evolution  be- 
came the  leaden  sinker  heaved  or  dropped  by  the  man  in 
the  boat  or  shrouds.  At  one  time  DeWitt  actually  travelled 
to  the  Texel,  went  out  in  a  boat,  and  with  lead  and  line 
found  that  with  the  aid  of  a  southwesterly  wind  the  "  Span- 
iard's gat,'*  or  hole,  which  even  the  pilots  had  believed 
impassable,  could  be  used  as  a  channel.  This  water-way 
has  ever  since  been  called  ''  DeWitt's  Deep."  Through  it 
the  pensionary  took  the  great  fleet,  which  was  soon  to  win 
a  superb  victory  under  '*  The  Dutch  Nelson,"  Michael  De- 
Euyter,  who,  with  his  eighty-five  men-of-war  and  sixteen 
fire-ships,  met  General  Monk's  fleet  of  sixty  large  vessels 
under  the  chalk  cliffs  of  the  North  Foreland,  in  Kent. 
The  battle  lasted  four  days,  from  June  11  to  June  15, 
1606.  The  English  fleet,  when  on  the  point  of  destruc- 
tion, was  reinforced  by  Prince  Kupert,  who  came  up  with 
twenty-five  vessels.  Both  DeRuyter  and  Cornelius  Tromp, 
son  of  the  dead  hero,  fought  with  amazing  courage.  In  this, 
the  heaviest  sea-fight  known  in  British  waters,  chain  shot, 
said  to  have  been  invented  by  John  DeWitt,  was  intro- 
duced into  naval  warfare  and  made  terrible  devastation  in 
the  British  fleet,  which  finally  escaped  in  a  fog.  Again, 
on  the  25th  of  July,  DeRuyter  and  Tromp,  with  eighty- 
eight  ships,  met  Monk  and  Rupert,  who  had  the  same  force 
as  before.  This  time,  however,  bitter  political  quarrels  in 
the  Dutch  fleet,  and  the  recklessness  of  Tromp,  who  quar- 
relled with  DeRuyter,  gave  the  British  such  tremendous 
advantage  that  they  won  the  victory.  Nevertheless,  De- 
Ruyter soon  got  his  fleet  of  seventy  vessels  to  sea  again. 


842  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1666 

and  in  June,  1666,  under  the  orders  of  DeWitt,  who  was 
determined  to  compel  a  peace,  he  went  up  the  Thames 
river  as  far  as  Chatham,  destroying  much  shipping,  spread- 
ing consternation  throughout  London,  and  terrorizing  the 
whole  coast.  This  triumph,  together  with  his  troubles  at 
home,  brought  the  English  King  to  his  senses,  and  the 
corrupt  and  extravagant  monarch,  renouncing  the  ridic- 
ulous claims  which  had  been  the  cause  of  the  war,  in- 
structed his  commissioners  to  sign  the  Peace  of  Brecla, 
July  1,  1666,  and  to  enter  into  a  defensive  alliance  with 
the  Kepublic. 

At  this  time,  just  one  century  after  the  Dutch  had 
raised  the  flag  of  revolt  against  Spain,  and  Alva's  veterans 
had  marched  into  the  Netherlands  to  devastate  them  even 
as  the  Turk  had  devastated  Asia  Minor,  the  triumphant 
Eepublic,  having  a  population  of  between  two  and  three 
millions,  was  one  of  the  great  powers  of  Europe.  Spain, 
however,  had  become  more  like  a  poor  and  miserable 
dotard.  With  its  population  reduced  from  twenty  to  six 
millions,  it  was  unable  any  longer  to  send  out  bands  of 
conquerors  to  America  or  powerful  armies  over  Europe. 
At  this  time  of  Spanish  weakness,  when  France  was  rising 
in  its  golden  age  of  strength,  Louis  the  Fourteenth  invaded 
the  Belgic  Netherlands.  John  DeWitt  and  his  party,  uncer- 
tain of  the  stability  of  either  King  Charles^'s  promises  or  of 
his  hold  upon  his  throne,  proposed  the  famous  Triple  Al- 
liance between  Great  Britain,  the  United  Netherlands,  and 
Sweden,  in  order  to  curb  the  power  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth 
and  compel  him  to  peace.  •  England  was  especially  desir- 
ous of  accomplishing  this  as  soon  as  possible,  and  Sir  Will- 
iam Temple  urged  it  with  his  powerful  abilities.  DeWitt 
violated  the  constitution  b}^  securing  the  signatures  of  the 
States-General  before  the  states  particular  had  been  con- 
sulted, and  thus  committed  the  very  sin  for  which  Mau- 
rice, Frederick  Henry,  and  the  stadholder  William  had 
been  so  violently  condemned.  Again  the  defects  of  the 
Dutch  constitution  became  glaring  alike  to  friend  and  en- 
emy. When  the  question  arose  concerning  the  command 
of  the  Dutch  army  to  be  levied  for  the  proposed  campaign 
in  the  Spanish  Netherlands,  DeWitt  desired  to  have  the 


1672]  ANOTHER  INVASION  843 

offices  of  stadholder  and  Caiotain-General  of  the  Union 
separated,  and  thereupon  Holland  passed  the  Perpetual 
Edict  which  abolished  the  stadholderate  and  disqualified 
all  captains  and  admirals  from  accepting  any  such  office, 
even  if  solicited  to  do  so.  This  action  of  Holland  pro- 
voked intense  indignation  among  the  Orange  party,  and, 
as  the  course  of  events  proved,  accomplished  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  State-Rights  party. 

The  tripartite  treaty,  however,  was  short-lived,  for 
Charles  Stuart  sold  himself  to  the  King  of  France,  and 
Sweden  withdrew  from  the  alliance.  John  DeWitt  now 
prepared  to  meet  the  attack,  which  he  knew  could  not 
be  long  delayed ;  for  the  two  monarchies  were  leagued  to 
crush  the  parliamentary  republic.  Louis  the  Fourteenth 
moved  quickly,  and  with  probably  the  finest  regularly 
equipped  army  which  Europe  had  seen  since  that  of  Alva. 
Directed  by  Oonde  and  Turenne,  he  crossed  the  Rhine 
with  great  spectacular  display.  This  performance,  though 
there  was  none  to  oppose  it,  seemed  so  magnificent  to  the 
numerous  French  orators,  poets,  and  historians  who  ac- 
companied the  host,  that  they  celebrated  it  in  a  bulky  liter- 
ature. 

In  the  distracted  political  situation  of  the  Republic, 
this  army  of  one  hundred  thousand  men  quickly  over- 
ran the  three  states  of  Gelderland,  Utrecht,  and  Over- 
yssel.  When  within  three  leagues  of  Amsterdam  the 
invaders  were  obliged  to  pause,  because  the  Dutch  threat- 
ened once  more  to  open  the  dikes  and  put  their  country 
under  water,  rather  than  be  crushed  by  a  tyrant.  More- 
over, DeRuyter  met  the  combined  fleets  of  the  allies  in 
Solebay,  May  28,  1672,  and  scattered  them,  whereupon 
the  Netherlanders  took  fresh  hope.  The  States-General, 
however,  against  the  appeals  of  Amsterdam,  proposed 
humiliating  terms  of  submission,  which  the  pride-swollen 
French  King  rejected. 

From  the  east,  the  fighting  Bishop  of  Munster,  an  ally 
of  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  invaded  Drenthe,  occupied  Coe- 
vorden  and  besieged  Groningen.  The  people  at  large  now 
rose  in  wrath,  and  determined  to  die  in  the  last  ditch 
rather  than  submit  to  the  dictation  of  the  two  monarchies. 


844  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1672 

Holland  repealed  the  Perpetual  Edict  and,  acting  with 
Zeeland,  elected  William,  the  young  Prince  of  Orange,  to 
be  stadholder  and  military  commander-in-chief  of  the 
Union,  and  Utrecht,  Overyssel,  and  Grelderland  followed 
their  example ;  while  Henry  Casimir,  who  was  destined 
to  become  the  ancestor  of  the  dynasty  now  reigning  in 
the  Netherlands,  became  stadholder  of  Friesland,  Gron- 
ingen,  and  Drenthe. 

In  this  dark  hour  of  invasion,  the  DeWitt  brothers, 
John  and  Cornelius,  were  accused  of  selling  the  country 
to  France,  and  were  murdered,  August  20, 1672,  during 
a  popular  outburst  in  the  interests  of  the  House  of  Orange, 
at  the  Gevangepoort,  in  the  Hague.  The  new  stadholder, 
William  the  Third,  disgracefully  failed  to  have  the  ring- 
leaders of  this  riot  brought  to  justice.  After  twenty 
years  of  parliamentary  rule,  of  federal  government  with- 
out a  president,  and  according  to  the  clumsy  model 
adopted  nearly  a  century  before,  the  State-Rights  party,  in 
presence  of  the  dangers  that  threatened  the  very  life  of 
the  Eepublic,  ceased  to  exist. 

La  Fevre  Pontalis,  who  has  written  the  life  of  Jolm 
DeWitt  and  the  history  of  these  '^  twenty  years  a  parlia- 
mentary republic,"  fitly  says: 

'^  In  making  the  Grand  Pensionary  DeWitt  a  scapegoat 
for  her  disasters,  the  republic  of  the  United  Provinces 
deprived  themselves  of  a  great  minister  who,  instead  of 
making  her  dependent,  only  desired  to  serve  her.  Re- 
duced to  the  last  extremity,  she  found  in  William  the 
Third  a  liberator,  but  also  a  master,  who,  by  imposing  upon 
her  the  authority  of  a  sovereign,  made  her,  in  a  measure, 
pay  a  ransom  for  her  freedom.  Freed  from  foreign  do- 
minion by  William  the  Third,  who  followed  the  glorious 
example  of  his  ancestors,  they  were  preserved  by  John  De- 
Witt  from  internal  subjection.  He  contributed  also  to 
insure  them  the  enjoyment  of  a  free  government,  perpetu- 
ated after  him  in  a  race  of  patriotic  and  popular  princes. 
His  work  did  not,  therefore,  altogether  perish  with  him, 
but,  in  spite  of  all  appearances  to  the  contrary,  has  sur- 
vived him." 

Between  the  spirit  of  William  the  Third  and  that  of  the 


1678]  MORE  NAVAL  ENGAGEMENTS  845 

Dutch  people  there  was  now  perfect  harmony.  Once  more 
letting  in  the  waves  of  the  sea  over  their  homes,  they  gave 
the  French  invader  an  object-lesson  and  proof  that  to 
them  liberty  was  more  than  life.  Like  the  illustrious 
William  of  Orange,  his  grandson  now  began  to  organize 
victory  out  of  defeat,  as  he  opened  his  lifelong  war  for 
representative  government  against  despotism.  AVilliam 
believed  heartily  in  that  ancient  Dutch  freedom  which 
had  had  its  existence  before  the  Kings  of  Spain  emerged 
from  their  obscurity  as  noblemen  in  Castile;  in  that  Eng- 
lish liberty  which  had  existed  under  law  when  the  Stuarts 
were  only  Norman  barons  living  near  Oswestry,  in  Shrop- 
shire, and  before  they  went  to  Scotland  to  seek  their  fort- 
unes ;  and  even  in  the  rights  of  Frenchmen  which  were 
known  when  the  Bourbons  were  only  the  owners  of  a 
castle  in  Bourbonnais. 

Again  the  Dutch  kept  their  red,  white,  and  bine  flag 
floating  on  the  ocean,  despite  the  alliance  of  the  two  great 
monarchies  to  crush  the  Republic.  In  the  summer  of 
1673  DeRuyter  and  Tromp,  having  become  reconciled, 
fought  two  battles  against  the  allies,  one  on  June  7th  and 
another  June  14th,  off  the  coast  of  Zeeland,  the  result  of 
which  was  that  the  coast  of  that  province  was  saved  from 
French  invasion.  A  third  and  last  battle,  which  ended 
the  long  struggle  for  the  supremacy  of  the  English  and 
Dutch  upon  the  seas,  was  fought  off  Kykduin,  near  Den 
Helder  in  North  Holland,  August  21,  1673.  DeRuyter 
had  but  seventy-five  ships,  and  the  allies  twice  that  num- 
ber. The  British,  however,  did  all  the  fighting  while  the 
French  looked  on.  During  this  engagement  the  English 
Admiral  Sprague  left  the  hundred-gun  flag -ship  Royal 
Prmce,  and  in  an  open  boat  attempted  to  reach  another 
vessel ;  but  the  boat  was  demolished  by  a  cannon-ball, 
and  he  was  drowned.  In  the  former  naval  campaign,  the 
Orange  and  DeWitt  partisans  had  divided  the  counsels 
and  weakened  the  power  of  the  Republic,  but  now  the 
tables  were  turned  and  the  Dutch  profited  by  the  divisions 
and  jealousies  which  existed  among  the  allies,  and  even  in 
the  English  fleet  itself.  Indeed,  the  war  was  very  unpop- 
ular with  the  English  sailors,  who  fought  only  half-heart- 


846  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1676 

edly.  A  Dutch  admiral,  Cornelius  Evertsen,  on  August 
9,  1673,  recaptured  'New  Yort  City,  which  was  thereupon 
called  New  Orange.  During  the  war  the  Dutch  privateers 
took  over  twenty-eight  hundred  prizes  from  their  enemies. 

Peace,  however,  stopped  all  further  victories  by  the 
Dutch,  and  both  the  British  and  the  Netherlanders  agreed 
to  restore  the  places  captured  by  them  during  the  war. 
King  Charles  had  been  brought  to  terms  by  the  Parlia- 
ment's refusal  to  vote  supplies  for  the  war.  In  the  Ee- 
public  the  King  of  France  yielded  up  the  three  provinces 
of  Gelderland,  Overyssel,  and  Utrecht,  but  in  a  way  that 
seemed  more  like  the  transference  of  a  personal  estate 
from  one  owner  to  another  rather  than  an  international 
transaction,  while,  in  an  e:Streme  reaction  from  the  poli- 
tics of  DeWitt,  Holland  and  ^eeland  made  the  office  of 
stadholder  and  military-commander  hereditary  in  the  House 
of  William  the  Third.  Gelderland  went  still  further,  and 
offered  to  make  him  a  sovereign  duke.  This  proposal  so 
excited  the  burghers  of  Amsterdam  that  a  financial  panic 
was  produced.  In  spite  of  his  secret  vexation,  William 
was  obliged  to  decline  the  tempting  prize.  That  both  the 
Dutch  Republic  and  William  the  Third  had  profited  by  the 
lessons  taught  by  John  DeWitt  was  now  evident.  "  Po- 
litical freedom  had  taken  such  firm  root  during  the  va- 
cancy of  the  stadholdership  that  it  maintained  its  hold 
even  upon  those  who  would  have  wished  to  put  it  down." 

As  admiral  -  general  of  the  Union,  William  neglected 
the  navy — a  mistaken  policy  which  led  to  the  loss  of  De- 
Ruyter,  that  greatest  of  Dutch  naval  commanders,  in 
whom  the  sea-power  of  the  Republic  seemed  to  have  been 
incarnated.  He  had  protested  against  being  sent  to  the 
Mediterranean  with  a  poorly  equipped  fleet  of  only  eigh- 
teen vessels,  but  was  overruled.  Subsequently,  having 
encountered  a  superior  force  of  twenty  French  men-of- 
war  under  the  shadow  of  Stromboli,  near  Sicily,  April  22, 
1676,  he  gallantly  attacked  them,  and  after  a  three  days' 
fight  the  French  were  driven  off ;  but  De  Ruyter  received 
a  mortal  wound.  He  was  sixty-six  years  of  age  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  Admiral  DuQuesne,  whom  none  but 
the  French  ever  believed  was  victorious  in  this  fight,  be- 


16*78]  THE   WAR  ENDED  847 

came  the  theme  of  extravagant  praise,  and,  after  him  his 
countrymen  in  America  named  a  fort  which  they  had  built 
on  the  present  site  of  Pittsburg.  A  magnificent  marble 
memorial  of  DeRuyter  was  erected  in  the  New  Church  in 
Amsterdam,  and  many  avenues  in  the  modern  enlarge- 
ments and  elegant  new  quarters  of  Dutch  cities  take  their 
names  from  this  hero,  whose  character  was  as  noble  as  his 
deeds  were  illustrious.  He  was  one  of  the  greatest  naval 
heroes  of  all  time.  The  Peace  of  Nymegen,  signed  August 
10,  1678,  ended  the  war. 

While  these  great  movements  in  war  and  politics  were 
going  on,  the  Dutch  were  also  active  in  many  seas  dis- 
covering, trading,  fighting,  and  exploring.  They  ex- 
tended their  East-Indian  Empire  and  commerce,  and  laid 
the  foundations  of  republics  in  South  Africa  upon  which 
the  British  were  afterwards  to  build  a  mighty  superstruc- 
ture. Amsterdam  was  the  chief  commercial  city  of  the 
world,  having  the  first  bank  in  northern  Europe,  and  that 
eighth  wonder  of  the  world,  its  City-hall,  now  the  Palace, 
built  on  13,659  piles.  Flushing,  Middelburg,  Dordrecht, 
Leyden,  Delft,  Vlaardingen,  and  Enkhuizen  were  also 
great  centres  of  trade.  The  village  of  Smeerenburg  was 
built  on  Spitzbergen,  on  account  of  the  whale  fisheries  in 
the  Arctic  seas.  Seventeen  hundred  fishing  smacks  were 
employed  in  the  herring  fisheries.  The  great  ship-yards 
of  Zaandam,  the  vast  bleacheries  of  Haarlem,  the  cloth 
factories  of  Leyden,  the  Delft  blue  earthenware,  the  dia- 
mond cutters  and  polishers  of  Amsterdam,  the  type  foun- 
dries, printing  and  book  -  making  in  many  towns,  the 
Hollandish  and  Frisian  cattle,  butter,  and  cheese,  the  im- 
proved wind-mills,  the  Gouda  pipes,  tiles,  and  bricks,  the 
abundance  of  cheap  books,  the  variety  and  richness  of 
ordinary  food  and  dress,  the  newspapers,  the  good  roads, 
the  swift  water  trafiic — all  these  were  the  wonder  of 
Europe. 


CHAPTER    XI 

MOVEMENTS    OE   THOUGHT 

Meanwhile  the  intellect  of  the  people  was  intensely 
active.  The  Universities  of  Leyden,  Franeker,  Groningen, 
Utrecht,  Amsterdam,  and  of  Harderwijk  (which  was  found- 
ed in  1648  in  celebration  of  the  great  peace),  were  filled  with 
students,  and  their  brilliant  faculties  were  rich  in  names 
which  are  now  known  in  every  land. 
\  The  study  of  theology  was  particularly  active.     The 

\  futility  of  attempting  to  check  the  growth  of  the  human 
mind  by  the  clamps  of  logical  formulae  was  soon  made 
manifest.  The  theology  of  the  Protestant  Netherlands, 
which  has  so  powerfully  influenced  Great  Britain  and 
America,  has  defects  which  are  but  common  to  that  of  a 
political  church,  but  it  was  and  it  is  especially  vitiated  in 
its  divine  quality  when  made  the  engine  of  party  politics. 
Thus  employed,  theology  is  frightfully  productive  of  viru- 
lence, envy,  hatred,  malice,  and  all  uncharitableness.  After 
the  one  signal  interference  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church 
in  governmental  affairs,  through  the  National  Synod  of 
1618,  by  which  Calvinism  became  triumphant  through 
political  craft  and  was  declared  to  be  the  substance  of  the 
Reformed  religion  and  the  creed  of  the  nation.  Nemesis 
came  in  the  form  of  Rene  Descartes. 

This  thinker,  born  in  France,  March  31,  1596,  had, 
when  a  college  student,  resolved  to  efface  from  his  mind 
all  scholastic  dogmas  and  the  prejudices  due  to  his  edu- 
cation, to  reject  the  authority  of  books,  and  to  admit  only 
that  which  was  confirmed  by  reason  and  experience.  He 
went  to  the  Protestant  Netherlands  and  entered  the 
Dutch  army  under  Maurice  in  16^1.      He  was  for  five 


1678]  JOHANNES  KOCH  849 

I 
years  a  soldier  and  for  eight  more  a  traveller,  or  in  retire- 
ment. In  1629  he  made  his  home  in  Holland,  which  had 
the  most  intellectual  atmosphere  then  known  to  Europe. 
His  important  discoveries  in  algebra  and  geometry  length- 
ened the  lives  of  mathematical  inquirers.  By  his  book 
published  in  1641  he  gave  a  wonderful  impulse  to  philo- 
sophical inquiry  and  wrought  changes  in  metaphysical 
thought  greater  than  were  ever  produced  by  any  other 
modern  philosopher.  Through  his  innovations  and  para- 
doxes he  startled  the  theologians  and  the  Aristotelians, 
and  greatly  alarmed  not  only  the  Cardinals  at  Eome  but 
also  the  inheritors  of  scholasticism  in  the  Netherlands. 

The  new  philosophy  of  doubt  refreshed  the  mind  of 
Johannes  Koch,  born  in  Bremen  in  1603,  whose  name  in 
Latin  form  is  Coccejus.  He  studied  Hebrew  with  a  Rabbi, 
and  Greek  with  a  native  Grecian.  He  was  called,  when 
twenty-seven  years  old,  to  a  professorship  at  Franeker.  He 
subsequently  filled  the  chair  of  oriental  languages  in  the 
same  Frisian  University,  and  was  afterwards  appointed  to 
the  chair  of  theology  in  Leyden,  where  he  remained  until 
1669,  dying  in  his  sixty-seventh  year.  After  Erasmus, 
Coccejus  may  be  called  the  father  of  modern  biblical  criti- 
cism. He  believed  in  setting  forth  Christian  theology  with- 
out reference  to  Aristotle,  or  the  pagans,  or  mediaeval  or 
modern  philosophers,  but  based  upon  the  Scriptures  only. 
Almost  as  a  matter  of  course,  he  was  bitterly  denounced 
by  the  scholastic  theologians,  who,  out  of  a  mixture  of 
Greek  philosophy,  Roman  logic  and  polity,  and  with  texts 
taken  largely  from  the  Old  Testament,  had  built  up  sys- 
tems of  what  they  called  ^'Christian"  theology — systems 
which  were  enforced  by  the  military,  by  the  inquisition, 
or  by  what  was  called  church  discipline.  Coccejus  framed 
a  system  of  theology  on  the  idea  of  "covenants"  between 
God  and  man,  of  works,  and  of  grace,  which  are  set  forth 
in  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments.  Though  his  "fed- 
eral system  "  has  many  vagaries  and  fancies,  both  personal 
and  belonging  to  his  age,  Coccejus  gave  a  tremendous  im- 
pulse to  biblical  study  and  to  Christian  theology. 

The  chief  opponents  of  Coccejus  were  those  who  main- 
tained that  theological  type  of  instruction  created  by  the 

54 


850  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1678 

schoolmen  Lombard,  Aquinas,  and  Dun  Scotus,  in  which 
abstruseness,  logic,  and  the  amazing  lengthening  out  of 
conclusions  were  delighted  in.  These  saw  in  the  theories 
of  Descartes,  and  in  what  they  imagined  to  be  their  appli- 
cation by  Coccejus,  great  peril  to  the  Church  and  the  souls 
of  men.  The  stern  maintainer  of  the  traditional  forms  of 
the  faith  was  Gysbart  Voet,  born  at  Heusden  in  1588, 
whose  Latinized  name  was  Voetius.  He  was  made  profess- 
or of  theology  at  Utrecht  in  1634.  He  identified  the 
teachings  of  Calvin  and  Beza  with  the  substance  of  Chris- 
tianity and  the  Bible,  though  he  drew  his  explanations  of 
holy  scriptures  from  the  writings  of  the  schoolmen.  He 
began  his  battle  against  the  Cartesian  system  in  1639. 
With  tremendous  zeal,  and  having  great  practical  power  in 
the  Reformed  Church,  he  fought  a  life-long  battle  not 
only  against  Coccejus  but  also  against  all  whom  he  deemed 
sectarians,  whether  Romanists,  Remonstrants,  Arians,  So- 
cinians.  Baptists,  Lutherans,  Schismatics  or  Freethink- 
ers, and  died  in  1676,  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight. 

From  the  universities  the  controversy  passed  into  poli- 
tics and  into  social  life,  and  assumed  curious  forms  with 
comical  phases,  the  women  becoming  as  much  interested 
as  were  the  men.  The  lines  of  division  showed  them- 
selves even  in  the  fashions  of  clothes  and  caps,  in  the 
matter  of  personal  and  household  adornment,  and  in  a 
grave  or  a  gay  style  of  keeping  Sunday.  The  Coccejans 
were  to  be  found  mostly  among  the  burghers  and  aristo- 
cratic classes,  who  in  politics  were  opposers  of  the  stad- 
holder  and  the  Orangists. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  common  people  considered  Pro- 
fessor Voet  to  be  the  champion  of  orthodoxy.  William 
the  Third  took  the  side  of  the  Voetians,  and  often  made 
magistrates  and  ministers  feel  both  his  lawful  power  and 
his  abuse  of  it  as  well.  All  through  their  history  as  a  re- 
public, and  even  as  a  kingdom,  the  Dutch,  with  the  best 
record  of  all  the  European  nations  for  toleration  and  free- 
dom in  religion,  have  sullied  their  reputation,  again  and 
again,  by  allowing  their  politicians  to  meddle  with  the 
conscience,  and  by  permitting  their  religious  teachers  to 
dishonor  the  Master  who  declared  that  His  kingdom  was 


16Y8]  RELIGIOUS  DISAGREEMENTS  851 

not  of  this  world.  Like  all  disturbances  and  scandals  in 
the  Fatherland,  the  oscillations  of  these  controversies 
were  felt  at  the  ends  of  the  earth,  where  the  Dutch  had  set- 
tled. The  first  ordination  on  American  soil  of  a  clergyman 
occurred  in  1679,  in  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  at  New 
Amstel  on  the  Delaware  river.  The  four  Dutch  pastors  who 
formed  a  classis  for  the  purpose  of  ordination  were  Cocce- 
jans,  while  the  candidate.  Rev.  Petrus  Tassemacher,  was  a 
Voetian,  who,  however,  was  acceptable,  although  he  was 
bitterly  criticised  by  the  two  Labadists  who  came  from 
the  Netherlands  to  settle  a  colony  of  their  coreligionists 
in  the  Hudson  river  region.  Tassemacher  was  toma- 
hawked by  the  Indians  at  the  massacre  of  Schenectady, 
February  8,  1690,  during  the  war  between  France  and 
England  and  Holland,  when  that  frontier  village  in  the 
''  Far  West "  was  the  theme  of  grave  debate  between  Ver- 
sailles, London,  and  the  Hague. 

In  the  senate-room  at  the  University  of  Utrecht  one 
may  see  a  portrait  of  Voet,  painted  by  Rembrandt,  and  in 
St.  Peter's  Church,  at  Leyden,  there  is  a  marble  bust  of 
Coccejus.  Contemporaneous  with  Descartes  and  the  pro- 
gressive and  reactionary  theology  which  he  stimulated 
were  the  Labadists,  who  had  no  hope  that  Christianity 
could  ever  reach  its  ideal  in  a  church  torn  asunder  by 
party  strife,  and  who  thirsted  for  more  spirituality  in  re- 
ligion. Driven  out  of  France  by  Cardinal  Mazarin,  Joan 
Maldee  Labadie,  who  was  born  February  13,  1610,  in  the 
Roman  communion,  first  joined  the  Jansenists  of  Port 
Royal,  then  went  to  Orange,  the  capital  of  Orange-Nassau, 
and  afterwards  to  London  and  Geneva.  In  the  Swiss  city 
he  met  the  brother  of  the  most  learned  woman  then  in  the 
Netherlands,  Anna  Maria  Schurman,  famous  for  her 
knowledge  of  languages  and  philosophy.  Before  her 
house  to-day  in  Utrecht  is  a  tablet  in  honor  of  her  fame. 
After  five  years'  correspondence  between  this  lady  and  the 
great  mystic,  Labadie  came  to  Utrecht,  preaching  on  the 
way  at  Middelburg  to  vast  crowds,  but  he  was  expelled  by 
the  magistrates.  He  gathered  an  independent  congrega- 
tion at  Veere,  an  ancient  town  of  the  Scotch  '^'^  staple  "  or 
trade-monopoly,  and  there  he  preached  to  increasing  mul- 


85;^  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [U18 

titudes,  and  soon  became  a  cause  of  trouble  between  the 
two  cities.  When  the  people  of  Veere  and  Middelburg 
were  almost  ready  for  war,  he  retired  peaceably  and  came 
to  Amsterdam,  where  Maria  Schurman  joined  him — '^a 
second  Paula,  bound  in  a  platonic  friendship  to  this  second 
Jerome."  Anna  Maria  Schurman  left  the  Reformed 
Church  and  joined  the  Labadists.  The  Amsterdam  mag- 
istrates, at  the  instigation  of  the  Reformed  pastors,  now 
interfered,  with  prohibitions  against  joining  the  sect. 
From  that  time  forth  its  prosperity  waned ;  but  the  fire 
kindled  by  the  Labadian  mystics  was  used  to  light  other 
lamps,  and  many  of  the  Labadists  became  members  of  the 
Society  of  Friends. 

William  Penn,  the  founder  of  Pennsylvania,  after  writ- 
ing his  celebrated  defence  of  toleration,  entitled  The  Great 
Cause  of  Liberty  of  Conscience,  made  his  second  journey 
through  his  mother's  native  country,  the  Dutch  United 
States,  where  he  met  Anna  Maria  Schurman.  Penn  spoke 
Dutch  as  well  as  English — for  he  was  the  son  of  a  Dutch 
mother,  Margaret  Jasper,  of  Rotterdam — and,  preaching  to 
the  Labadists  and  the  Mennonites,  was  able  to  persuade 
some  of  the  best  families  of  the  Republic  to  join  him  in  his 
experiment  of  a  godly  commonwealth  in  Pennsylvania,  In 
Friesland  he  not  only  imbibed  many  ideas  from  the  Dutch 
social  and  political  system,  which  he  embodied  in  the  con- 
stitution of  Pennsylvania,  but  he  also  gathered  many  new 
recruits  of  the  best  sort  suited  to  aid  him  in  founding  a 
noble  state  eminently  free  from  mediaeval  dogmas.  Penn 
drew  from  the  auspicious  example  of  the  Dutch  federal 
republic  the  idea  and  ground-work  for  his  Flan  for  the 
Peace  of  Europe,""^  or  treatise  on  the  federation  of  Chris- 
tendom, or  the  United  States  of  Europe,  in  which  he  ad- 
vocated the  settlement  of  international  questions  without 
war.  He  thus  definitely  anticipated  that  tribunal  of  arbi- 
tration between  civilized  nations  which  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury may  yet  realize  as  a  fact  and  a  fulfilment  of  common 
Christianity. 

Free  intellect,  having  been  driven  out  of  Spain  and  the 

*  Reprinted  in  Old  South  Leaflets,  No.  75  :  Boston,  1896. 


1678]  PROSPERITY   AT   AMSTERDAM  853 

Spanish  Netherlands,  found  refuge  in  the  tolerant  Dutch 
Kepublic.  Cornelius  Jansen,  born  near  Leerdam,  in  South 
Holland,  October  28,  1585,  was  educated  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Utrecht,  and  studied  theology  at  Louvain,  where, 
in  1630,  he  held  the  chair  of  scriptural  interpretation. 
From  this  year  he  formulated  the  system  of  doctrines  as- 
sociated with  his  name,  and  which  were  afterwards  ex- 
panded and  defended  by  the  Port  Koyalists.  His  scheme 
is  one  of  many  attempts  to  interpret  Jesus  through  Augus- 
tine, and  to  apply  the  enginery  devised  and  initiated  by 
the  Bishop  of  Hippo  to  the  Church  of  Christ.  Jansen- 
ism, which  Ultramontane  writers  view  as  a  mitigated  form 
of  Calvinism ;  which  Jesuits  regard  as  "  the  most  sub- 
tile reptile  that  ever  attached  itself  to  the  side  of  Belgian 
Catholicism,"  and  which  others  consider  to  be  a  sort  of 
Catholic  Puritanism,*  having  first  attracted  the  anathe- 
mas of  the  Jesuits  and  drawn  the  lightning  of  the  Vati- 
can, was  expelled  from  France  by  Louis  the  Fourteenth, 
who  enforced  the  papal  decisions  in  the  Unigenltus  bull 
of  1713.  It  afterwards  found  a  home  in  Utrecht,  where 
its  Archbishop  resides,  ruling  over  twenty-seven  con- 
gregations. Their  theological  school  is  at  Amersfoort, 
and  they  call  themselves  Old  Catholics. 

Refugees  from  England,  southern  and  western  Europe, 
Germany,  and  Russia  also  found  a  home  and  welcome  in 
the  land  of  William  the  Silent.  Many  of  them  were  like 
harmless  doves  flying  before  the  hawks  of  persecution. 
The  Israelites  from  Portugal  flocked  in  large  numbers  to 
Amsterdam,  after  expulsion  from  their  native  country, 
during  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century.  With 
the  German  Jews  they  found  a  second  Jerusalem  on  the 
banks  of  the  Amstel,  where,  by  means  of  trade,  and  es- 
pecially in  the  cutting  and  polishing  of  diamonds,  they 
gained  vast  wealth.  They  made  this  northern  Venice 
the  centre  of  the  diamond  industry  of  the  world,  erected 
their  own  charitable  and  devotional  institutions,  and  built 
imposing  temples.     In  the  political  struggles  between  the 

*  See  The  Church  in  the  Netherlands  (p.  297),  by  R.  H.  Ditchfield :  Lon- 
don, 1893. 


854  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1678 

stadholders  and  the  anti-Orange  party,  they  almost  always 
took  the  part  of  the  former.  While  Descartes,  Coccejus, 
and  Voetius  were  in  their  prime,  though  before  the 
great  controversy  associated  with  the  names  of  these  men 
had  broken  out,  there  was  born  in  the  house  of  a  Portu- 
guese Jew,  in  Amsterdam,  a  child  named  Baruch  de  Spin- 
oza, or,  as  Latinized,  Benedict  Spinoza,  whose  spirit  even 
to  this  day  lives  pre-eminent  in  the  world  of  pure  thought, 
while  his  statue  adorns  the  capital  of  the  nation  that  is 
proud  to  own  him  as  her  child.  He  was  a  bright  boy, 
and  was  given  by  his  father  an  education  which  led  him 
through  the  cycle  of  rabbinic  and  mediaeval  Hebrew  liter- 
ature to  the  Old  Testament,  the  commentaries,  and  the 
writings  of  the  scholastics,  and  thence  to  the  school  of 
Descartes.  He  was  an  honest  Hebrew  thinker,  and  be- 
came a  skeptic,  even  as  the  honest  scholar  of  the  Jesuits 
had  become  a  skeptic.  Unable  to  retain  the  idea  of  God 
as  the  cause  and  creator  of  the  universe,  and  equally  un- 
able, with  his  Jewish  mind,  to  accept  the  Christian  con- 
ception of  God,  he  doubted  all  things  and  fell  back  upon 
the  pantheism  of  Substantiality.  The  nucleus  of  his  sys- 
tem of  thought  is  found  in  his  Ethics,  around  which  his 
other  writings  group  themselves.  According  as  he  is  ad- 
mired or  hated,  he  is  looked  upon  as  a  thorough-going 
monotheist  or  a  pantheistic  fatalist.  Spinoza  taught  in 
his  Ethics,  "Everything  is  in  God;  nothing  is  outside  of 
God.  Everything  that  exists  is  in  God — the  only  possi- 
ble subsistence.  Nothing  can  be  without  or  outside  of 
Him." 

Spinoza  was  excommunicated  August  6,  1666,  with  the 
usual  dramatic  accessories  which  ecclesiastics  supposed 
necessary  for  the  deterrence  of  error  and  the  preservation 
of  faith  and  truth.  The  synagogue  was  lighted  by  thou- 
sands of  burning  candles,  painted  black,  which  threw  a 
lurid  glare  into  a  cavity  filled  with  blood.  A  mournful 
voice  was  heard  in  a  sort  of  chant,  intoning  the  decree 
of  excommunication,  and  then  the  trumpet  sounded  in 
loud  blasts.  As  these  ceased,  anathemas  were  hurled  at 
the  honest  thinker,  the  candles  were  cast  into  the  blood 
and  extinguished,  and  a  loud  amen  confirmed  the  awful 


1678]  WITCHCRAFT  DOOMED  855 

curses  heard  b}'  the  deeply  impressed  multitude.*  Spin- 
oza died  in  1677.  In  his  lifetime  a  flood  of  books  and 
pamphlets  was  called  forth  in  answer  to  his  writings,  and 
the  leaven  of  his  thought  is  still  working,  f 

The  Dutch  United  States  was  in  this  century  the  labo- 
ratory of  critical  thought.  While  England  closed  her 
universities  to  all  except  those  able  to  wear  the  loose 
ethical  yoke  of  conformity,  the  Dutch  Republic  made 
conscience  free  and  welcomed  all  law-abiding  students 
and  inquirers.  At  Leyden,  Utrecht,  Franeker,  and  Har- 
der wijk  most  of  the  clergy,  physicians,  and  lawyers  in  the 
free  churches  of  England  and  America  were  educated. 
The  Dutch  furnished  scores  of  thinkers  who,  whether 
crowned  with  the  orthodox  laurel  or  blasted  by  the  anath- 
emas of  the  Church,  helped  to  enlarge  the  mind  of  the 
race  and  to  strike  down  great  evils,  thus  becoming  the 
world's  true  benefactors.  Scores  of  the  best  books  written 
in  the  English  tongue  were  composed  in  the  atmosphere 
of  the  free  Republic.  Comenius,  the  educator,  and  at  one 
time  president  -  elect  of  Harvard  College  ;  Linnaeus,  the 
botanist ;  John  Locke,  with  his  epistle  on  Toleration ;  and 
Daniel  Neal,  the  historian,  are  but  a  few  of  the  names, 
shining  with  increasing  lustre,  of  those  who  helped  to 
make  that  noble  British  republic,  which  lives  disguised 
under  the  fiction  of  monarchy. 

The  belief  in  witchcraft,  one  of  the  most  awful  mental 
diseases  and  scourges  of  mankind,  received  its  death-blow 
in  Holland.  Whether  among  the  pagan  Semites,  the  an- 
cient Hebrews  or  other  Asians,  in  the  timeless  continent 
of  Africa  from  pre-historic  aeons  to  our  own  era,  or  among 
our  own  ancestors  of  Teutonic  race,  witchcraft  has  ex- 
isted, since  times  long  before  organized  religion,  as  a 
destroyer  of  human  peace,  a  darkener  of  social  joys,  the 
paralysis  of  science  and  progress.  Witchcraft  has  been 
epidemic  among  mankind  in  every  age  and  clime.  More 
cruel  than  Moloch,  it  has  sent  millions  of  human  beings 

*  Hansen's  Reformed  Church  in  tlie  Netherlands,  p.  230. 
f  To-day,  the  Library  of  the  Cornell  University  contains  the  fullest  set  of 
writings  of,  and  concerning,  the  great  philosopher. 


856  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1678 

to  terror,  torture,  and  death.  The  early  Christian  Church, 
born  into  an  atmosphere  of  belief  and  magic,  seems  never 
to  have  questioned  its  reality.  Her  monotheism  and  her 
identification  of  religion  with  ethics  led  her  to  look  on 
the  gods  of  the  heathen  as  devils  and  on  their  worship 
as  witchcraft.  Her  conversion  of  the  Germanic  peoples 
brought  in  a  fresh  host  of  demons.  The  nobler  rational- 
ism of  Agobard  of  Lyons,  who,  in  the  ninth  century,  dared 
to  question  the  popular  superstition,  was  superseded  in 
the  thirteenth  century,  when  Thomas  Aquinas  gave  its 
ripest  form  to  the  mediaeval  theology. 

The  system  of  Aquinas,  which  became  the  popular  one 
in  the  Netherlands,  was  transferred  bodily  from  the  Cath- 
olic to  the  Reformed  theology.  The  symmetry  of  his 
scheme  seemed  to  demand  for  the  Devil  an  earthly  follow- 
ing not  less  numerous  or  loyal  than  God's  faithful  Church, 
and  bound  to  their  Master  by  similar  ties  of  worship  and 
service.  After  two  centuries  of  inquisitorial  sermons  and 
treatises,  aided  by  the  law  and  the  judges,  the  Christian 
Church  began  the  persecution  of  witches,  and  the  bulls 
of  the  Pope  sanctioned  the  worst  charges  of  the  witch- 
hunters.  Thousands  were  put  to  death  on  the  charge  of 
witchcaft  by  Christian  men  who  believed  that  thereby 
they  were  doing  God's  service.*  Spain  and  Scotland  were, 
perhaps,  next  to  Germany,  the  lands  which  suffered  most 
from  the  delusion  of  witchcraft,  though  in  England  there 
lacked  neither  witch-hunters,  like  James  the  Second,  nor 
witch-burners  ;  while  in  New  England,  among  the  Puri- 
tans, though  not  among  the  Pilgrims,  wdtch-hangers  were 
sufficiently  numerous.  Among  the  Pilgrims,  who  had 
dwelt  eleven  years  in  the  Netherlands,  no  such  procedure 
as  the  pursuit  of  witches  was  known.  If  the  persecution 
knew  fiercer  epidemics  in  Catholic  communities,  it  was 
more  chronic  in  Protestant  lands,  and  in  the  purely  Eng- 
lish colony  at  Salem,  Massachusetts,  it  became  a  panic. 

Though  scepticism  was  never  wanting,  the   first  open 

*  My  friend,  Professor  George  Burr,  of  Cornell  University  and  geograph- 
er of  the  Venezuela  Boundary  Commission  of  1896-97,  has  made  this  whole 
subject  his  special  study,  and  to  his  writings  I  am  much  indebted. 


1678]  CLERICAL  SUPERSTITION  857 

protest  oame  from  Dr.  Wierius,  a  physician  at  Grave,  in 
North  Brabant,  who  published  in  1563  his  brave  and  no- 
ble book,  De  Prcestigiis  Dcemonum^  exposing  the  absurd- 
ity of  belief  in  the  supposed  tricks  of  demons,  and  in 
incantations  and  sorcery.  Thus,  out  of  the  Netherlands 
was  raised  the  first  voice  to  rebuke  the  hideous  delusions 
of  the  age  and  call  a  halt  to  that  judicial  murder  of 
multitudes  which  was  then  going  on  all  over  Europe.  The 
Dutch  Republic  was  also  the  place  of  refuge  for  the  hunt- 
ed victims  of  this  delusion — a  hunt  which  often  cloaked 
malice  and  villany.  A  still  higher  honor  was  reserved 
for  the  Dutch  pastor,  Balthazar  Bekker,  who  struck,  in 
1691,  the  deadliest  of  all  blows  at  this  paganism  lurking 
under  the  shelter  of  Christianity,  by  his  famous  book, 
Betooverde  Wereld  (the  witch-haunted  world),  in  which  he 
undermined  the  whole  theory  of  human  intercourse  with 
the  Devil.  Bekker  was  born  in  1634  at  Metslawier,  in 
Friesland,  and  served  as  domine  at  Loenen,  at  Weesp, 
and  then  in  Amsterdam.  In  interpreting  the  Bible,  he 
refused  to  adopt  the  rules  of  either  Coccejus  or  Voetius. 
While  his  fellow-ministers  in  the  Reformed  Church,  dur- 
ing the  presence  of  a  brilliant  comet  in  the  heavens,  were 
teaching  the  people  that  such  an  occasional  visitor  must 
be  regarded  as  a  harbinger  of  great  calamities,  and  were 
quoting  Scripture  to  sustain  their  views,  Bekker  published 
at  Leeuwarden  an  elaborate  work  on  comets,  protesting 
against  the  popular  and  clerical  superstition.  Twelve 
years  later,  after  visiting  many  repulsive  places  in  order 
to  hunt  down  to  their  source  various  ghost  stories  sup- 
posed to  be  well  authenticated,  withal  greatly  helped  and 
encouraged  by  his  wife,  he  published  his  famous  work  on 
the  '*  bewitched  world,"  with  the  purpose  of  freeing  his 
fellow  -  Christians  from  that  thraldoiji  of  unchristianlike 
fear  which  they  shared  with  Jews,  Mohammedans,  and  pa- 
gans. Exploring  the  whole  ground,  he  showed  great  learn- 
ing and  familiarity  with  the  Scriptures,  but  unfortunate- 
ly called  in  the  philosophy  of  Descartes  to  sustain  his 
views.  Deposed  from  the  ministry,  the  magistrates  nev- 
ertheless continued  him  to  the  last  in  the  enjoyment  of 
his  salary.     This  has  ever  been  the  glory  of  the  Repub- 


858  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [16'78 

lie,  that,  despite  nnmerons  private  attempts  to  change 
the  noble  record,  intelligent  laymen  have  ever  been  ready 
to  restrain  the  clergy,  to  rebuke  bigotry,  and  make  toler- 
ation the  public  law  of  the  land.  ''  Bekkerism,"  as  it  was 
called,  disturbed  those  pagan  traditions  which  had  root- 
ed themselves  like  tenacious  parasites  upon  the  Christian 
Church,  but  civilization  and  purer  Christianity  now  every- 
where rejoice  because  Balthazar  Bekker  lived  and  taught. 

Other  theological  developments  in  the  Dutch  churches 
were  manifested  when  rationalism  was  applied  to  the  doc- 
trine of  the  person  of  Christ,  especially  by  Herman  Alex- 
ander Koell,  born  in  1653,  who  taught  as  minister  at 
Deventer,  and  was  a  professor  at  Franeker  and  Utrecht. 
His  opponent  was  the  famous  Vitringa.  It  may  be  said 
that  during  the  last  quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century 
and  the  first  of  the  eighteenth  philosophy,  rather  than 
pure  Christian  theology,  ruled  in  the  pulpits  of  the  Ee- 
formed  Church ;  yet  both  have  so  influenced  municipal 
and  state  politics,  and  colored  all  Dutch  history,  that  he 
who  tries  to  understand  the  Dutch  people,  whether  in 
Europe,  America,  or  South  Africa,  without  knowing  the 
intensity  of  their  convictions,  will  fail  to  comprehend 
either  their  motives  or  actions.  This  we  shall  see  as  we 
proceed  further.  Nevertheless,  despite  individual  excep- 
tions and  partisan  extremes  in  both  church  and  state, 
critical  science  shows  the  Dutch  Eepublic  to  have  been 
the  original  home  of  modern  toleration  and  of  that  re- 
ligious liberty  which  under  God  is  the  grandest  proof  of 
the  progress  of  the  race. 

The  young  Prince  William  of  Orange  married,  on  the 
4th  of  November,  1677,  Princess  Mary,  daughter  of  the 
Duke  of  York,  who  was  heir  to  the  British  throne.  This 
marriage  was  purely  a  state  affair.  William  chose  his 
consort  with  the  idea  of  securing  the  powerful  alliance  of 
Great  Britain,  in  order  to  carry  out  his  life-long  purpose 
of  foiling  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  who  incarnated  the  war- 
like policy  and  expectation  of  France  to  be  paramount 
in  European  politics.  The  hopes  of  France,  since  the 
days  of  Henry  the  Fourth,  have  centred  in  the  idea  of 
possessing  the  Netherlands  and  making  the  Rhine  her 


1686]  THE   LEAGUE   OF  AUGSBURG  859 

frontier.  None  saw  this  more  clearly  than  William.  The 
States  -  General,  however,  accepted  the  terms  offered  by 
Louis,  and  so  the  stadholder  consented  to  the  peace  of 
Nymegen  in  July,  1678,  which,  through  the  bargain  made 
by  Louis  with  Charles  the  Second,  exposed  the  Spanish 
Netherlands  to  the  grasp  of  French  ambition.  At  Nyme- 
gen  England  was  for  the  first  time  represented  in  a  con- 
tinental congress. 

France  was  now  the  most  formidable  Power  in  Europe. 
The  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  caused  thousands 
of  the  best  Protestant  French  families  to  find  a  home  in 
other  lands.  The  Dutch  Republic  was  notably  enriched 
with  the  blood  and  talents  of  these  Huguenots,  who  in 
many  instances  changed  their  names  as  well  as  their 
speech  to  Dutch,  while  keeping  their  excellent  character 
and  religion. 

The  invasion  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands  by  Louis  the 
Fourteenth  was  accompanied  by  frightful  excesses,  and 
William,  distrusting  the  *'  Roi  Soliel,"  formed,  in  1686,  a 
new  coalition,  called  the  League  of  Augsburg,  by  which 
the  German  Empire,  the  Dutch  Republic,  Savoy,  and  Eng- 
land formed  a  grand  alliance,  lieaded  by  AVilliam  the 
Third,  against  France.  The  stadholder  of  the  Dutch  Re- 
public was  thus  brought  into  direct  personal  contact  with 
British  politics,  and  became  the  head  of  the  interests  of 
Protestant  freedom. 

The  Duke  of  York,  on  becoming  King  James  the  Sec- 
ond, surpassed  all  the  Stuarts  in  his  vices,  and  a  storm  of 
wrath,  charged  with  the  lightnings  which  the  Parliament 
of  England  held  in  its  grasp,  was  gathering  over  him. 
The  English  people  have  always  been  able  to  stand  royal- 
ty, so  long  as  royalty  behaves  itself,  as  a  good  servant;  but 
James  was  playing  the  master  and  despot.  William,  after 
trying  to  make  peace  between  the  King  and  his  people, 
determined  to  maintain  the  rights  of  his  wife,  especially 
when  he  saw  that  his  father-in-law  was  linking  his  fort- 
unes to  those  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  the  common  ene- 
my of  England  and  Holland,  and  was  leaning  upon  him  for 
support.  He  sent  his  trusted  councillor,  Dijkvelt,  who, 
with  excellent  address,  won  the  confidence  of  the  bishops 


860  HISTORY   OF   THE   NETHERLANDS  [1688 

and  statesmen^,  and  also  pleased  and  encouraged  the  peo- 
j)le.  King  Jameses  continued  infatuation  with  Koman 
ideas  of  government  increased  the  popular  discontent  of 
the  English  and  warmed  their  general  willingness  to  look 
for  a  Dutch  deliverer.  When  James  Francis  Edward 
Stuart,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  was  born  the  end  of  forbear- 
ance had  come,  for  the  English  people  decided  to  exter- 
minate Stuart  royalty,  root  and  branch. 

It  now  began  to  look  in  England  as  though  politics, 
which  always  makes  strange  bedfellows,  had  gone  even 
further  into  the  realm  of  allegory.  Those  who  had  been 
as  different  in  opinions  as  are  the  appetites  of  the  lion  and 
the  calf  in  nature  now  began  to  act  in  accord  with  each 
other.  Those  who  had  kept  apart  as  wolves  and  sheep  dwelt 
in  harmony  before  a  common  danger.  The  British  nobles 
and  dignitaries  of  all  parties  united  in  a  Macedonian  in- 
vitation to  the  Dutchmen  to  come  over  and  help  them. 
Both  Whigs  and  Tories  were  one  in  beckoning  to  the  Prince 
of  Orange.  Having  the  consent  of  Amsterdam  and  the 
other  cities  which  had  previously  opposed  him,  and  ac- 
companied by  a  splendid  army  of  fifteen  thousand  men, 
possibly  half  of  whom  were  Huguenots,  together  with  a 
great  fleet  of  five  hundred  ships,  William  the  Third  passed 
out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Maas,  and  sailed  past  the  Hook 
of  Holland,  through  the  straits  of  Dover  and  into  the  Chan- 
nel. While  the  royalist  army  was  in  the  north  of  Eng- 
land, in  expectation  of  encountering  the  Dutch  there, 
AVilliam,  having  conducted  his  operations  with  great  se- 
crecy and  skill,  landed  with  his  host  at  Torbay,  in  Devon- 
shire, November  5,  1688.  Unopposed  he  marched  to  Lon- 
don, and  entering  that  city,  December  18th,  in  triumph, 
he  was  hailed  as  a  national  deliverer  and  the  greatest  of 
England^s  Christmas  presents.  Lord  Somers,  one  of  the 
keenest  students  of  Dutch  history,  and  by  whom,  or  under 
whose  supervision,  the  Dutch  Declaration  of  Independence 
of  1581  had  been  translated,  was  chairman  of  the  parlia- 
mentary committee  which  drew  up  the  Declaration  of 
Eights.  By  this  action  of  Parliament,  which  followed 
the  Dutch  precedent,  the  worthless  Prince  was  deposed 
and  the  government  was  reorganized.     William  and  his 


1690]  AN    UNPOPULAR  KING  861 

wife,  Mary,  were  made  King  and  Queen,  and  were  crowned 
in  Westminster  Abbey,  February  13, 1688.  The  Jacobins, 
or  adherents  of  James  and  of  Spain,  held  out  for  some 
time  in  Scotland  and  Ireland ;  but  the  struggle  ended  in 
Scotland  when  the  Earl  of  Dundee  died,  and  in  Ireland 
after  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  July  1,  1690 — a  victory  at 
which  William  commanded  in  person. 

Under  the  tolerant  Dutch  King,  ^'  the  sour  Calvinist " 
of  the  London  cockney  and  disappointed  spoil-seekers,  the 
free  churchmen  of  England  were  awarded  something  like 
their  rights.  DeFoe's  writings,  which  moulded  English 
public  opinion,  while  powerfully  aiding  the  throne  on 
which  sat  a  Dutch  ruler,  pricked  the  bubbles  of  insular 
conceit.  His  satire,  A  True -horn  Englishman,  showing 
the  very  much  mixed  blood  in  the  composite  English  na- 
tion, sold  more  largely  than  anything  previously  printed 
in  the  language,  and  made  King  William  more  popular. 
The  issues  of  the  Puritan  revolution  and  the  ideas  of  the 
Commonwealth  were  practically  incorporated  into  the 
British  constitution,  and,  under  William's  untiring  indus- 
try and  practical  genius,  modern  England  began  her  superb 
career  of  freedom  and  prosperity  at  home,  and  of  blessing 
to  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  the  sterling  qualities  of  their 
Dutch  King,  the  debt  which  they  owed  to  him  and  the 
undoubted  gratitude  which  they  felt,  the  British  people 
never  really  liked  him.  Indeed,  he  was  personally  disa- 
greeable to  them,  largely  because  of  his  stern  repression 
of  all  manifestations  of  any  kindly  or  genial  feeling  and 
his  negligence  of  those  arts  which  "double  the  value  of  a 
favor  and  take  away  the  sting  of  a  refusal."  Civil  service 
reform  had  not  yet  become  the  splendid  reality  of  our 
time,  and  the  place-hunters  kept  up  a  continual  growl  be- 
cause Dutchmen  held  so  many  fat  offices.  Moreover,  it 
soon  became  manifest  that  William  had  crossed  the  seas 
less  with  the  idea  of  freeing  the  nation  from  the  tyranny 
of  James  than  for  the  purpose  of  enlisting  English  power 
against  the  King  of  France. 

In  the  Fatherland  there  was  not  a  little  hard  feeling 
because  of  the  stadholder's  neglect  of  the  national  interests 


862  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1&91 

and  his  apparent  delight  in  humbling  the  pride  of  Am- 
sterdam and  in  maintaining  the  interests  of  his  party  at 
all  hazards.  William,  being  the  representative  of  Eng- 
land as  well  as  of  the  Republic,  evidently  rejoiced  in  the 
alliances  which  curbed  the  pride  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth. 
In  the  field  William's  success  was  by  no  means  uniform. 
He  was  repeatedly  outgeneralled  and  defeated  in  the 
Belgic  Netherlands,  while  these  wretched  provinces  suf- 
fered all  the  horrors  of  war  without  much  apparent  ad- 
vantage. His  recapture  of  Namur,  in  1695,  was  his  great- 
est triumph,  after  the  battle  of  the  Boyne.  But  although 
the  Dutch,  as  well  as  the  English,  gained  comparatively 
little  renown  on  land,  they  maintained,  despite  occasional 
reverses,  their  prestige  at  sea. 

Several  severe  naval  battles  were  fought,  one  of  which 
was  at  Beachy  Head  in  the  English  Channel,  June  29, 
1690,  where  Admiral  Cornelius  Evertsen,  poorly  support- 
ed, and  in  fact  nearly  deserted  by  his  English  allies  under 
Torrington,  maintained  the  fight  alone  and  lost  greatly 
in  men  and  ships.  The  allied  fieet  took  refuge  in  the 
Thames,  while  the  French  privateer  Jean  Bart  ravaged 
the  Dutch  herring -fleet  the  same  year  that  Cornelis 
Tromp  died.  But  when  the  allied  fleet  of  eighty  vessels, 
between  La  Hogue  and  Barfleur,  encountered  the  French 
fleet  which  had  been  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  trans- 
porting an  army  of  King  James's  partisans  to  invade  Ire- 
land, a  battle  ensued  which  lasted  two  days,  and  resulted 
in  the  defeat  of  the  French  and  the  consequent  reasser- 
tion  of  Dutch  and  English  power  on  the  sea.  This  vic- 
tory so  far  disturbed  the  plans  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth 
that  he  offered  terms  of  peace ;  and  public  opinion,  both  of 
the  Dutch  and  the  English,  compelled  William,  although 
greatly  against  his  desire,  to  agree  to  a  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities. In  1697,  at  Eyswyk,  near  the  Hague,  commis- 
sioners met  together,  ended  the  nine  years'  war  and  gave 
peace  to  Europe.  At  this  assembly,  England  was  for  the 
second  time  represented  in  an  European  continental  con- 
gress, the  first  being  at  Nymegen,  in  1678,  and  both  on 
Dutch  soil.  The  ambition  of  France  had  but  compelled 
a  "  balance  of  power,"  and  the  Republic  was  a  powerful 


WILLIAM  III.  OF  ENGLAND 


1699]  THE  CZAR-MECHANIC  $63 

factor  in  regulating  the  equilibrium.  This  convention  of 
Eyswyk,  between  France  and  the  allies — Germany,  Neth- 
erlands, England,  and  Spain — besides  being  commercially 
beneficial  to  the  Dutch,  and  allowing  them  to  garrison  the 
barrier  towns  on  their  southern  frontier,  had  a  profound 
inflnence  upon  the  future  of  America,  more  especially  in 
deciding  that  its  future  should  be  according  to  the  ideas 
of  Teutonic  instead  of  Roman  civilization. 

It  was  in  this  same  year  that  Peter  the  Great,  Czar  of 
Russia,  impersonating  those  yearnings  for  progress  and  a 
nobler  national  life  which  the  Russian  people  had  felt 
even  before  his  day,  came  to  Zaandam>  in  North  Holland, 
and  worked  as  a  ship  carpenter.  He  occupied  the  ordi- 
nary cottage  of  a  mechanic,  with  its  bunk  or  bed  in  a 
closet,  its  great  fire-place,  and  its  humble  but  comfortable 
surroundings.  The  hut  at  Zaandam,  with  the  lot  of 
ground  on  which  it  is  situated,  has  been  presented  by  the 
Dutch  government  to  Russia,  and  has  been  enclosed  by 
the  Russians  within  a  neat  wooden  edifice.  Its  old  walls 
are  embellished  with  tablets,  pictures,  and  other  souvenirs 
left  by  visiting  Russian  sovereigns,  noblemen,  and  people, 
so  that  it  has  become  an  interesting  place  for  the  visiting 
tourist.  The  Czar-mechanic,  after  a  short  time  at  Zaan- 
dam, went  to  Amsterdam,  and  thence  to  England,  where, 
among  other  makers  of  civilization  and  teachers  of  man- 
kind, he  met  William  Penn.  Dutchmen  have  been  fre- 
quently called  to  enter  the  service  of  the  Autocrat  of  all 
the  Russias,  and,  to  this  day,  many  words  used  on  board 
a  Russian  ship,  and  not  a  few  terms  relating  to  naval  life, 
are  of  Dutch  origin. 

In  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  the  ques- 
tion as  to  who  should  inherit  Spain  and  the  Spanish  pos- 
sessions was  like  that  concerning  Turkey,  which  disturbs 
the  European  nations  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. The  problem  of  "  The  Spanish  Succession"  had  not 
been  settled  by  the  war.  The  partition  treaty,  made 
October  11,  1698,  assigned  the  Spanish  Netherlands  to 
the  Electoral  Prince  of  Bavaria ;  but  his  sudden  death, 
February  6,  1699,  compelled  a  second  division,  by  which 
the  Spanish  Netherlands  fell  to  the  Archduke  Charles  of 


864  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1702 

Austria.  Louis  the  Fourteenth  treacherously  claimed  the 
Spanish  crown  for  his  grandson,  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  and, 
declaring  that  ^'^the  Pyrenees  have  ceased  to  exist,"  began 
offensive  operations.  A  new  grand  alliance  was  formed 
at  the  Hague  between  Great  Britain,  the  Dutch  Republic, 
and  the 'German  Empire  to  prevent  the  union  of  France 
and  Spain.  In  1701  the  troops  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth 
were  admitted  into  the  Belgic  provinces  by  the  governor- 
general,  who  recognized  the  Duke  of  Anjou  as  Philip  the 
Fifth  of  Spain,  and  thus  William  saw  the  defences  swept 
away  by  which  he  had  hoped  to  keep  the  French  out 
of  the  Netherlands.  Although  he  was  compelled  by  the 
peace  party  in  England  to  recognize  Philip  the  Fifth,  as 
the  Dutch  Republic  had  done,  yet  the  stadholder-king 
found  the  British  nation  united  in  support  of  a  new  vvar, 
because  Louis  the  Fourteenth  had,  in  fulfilment  of  his 
promise  to  King  James  on  his  death-bed,  acknowledged 
his  son,  afterwards  the  Pretender,  King  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland. 

By  this  time,  however,  Williams's  health,  which  had 
never  been  strong,  and  had  been  undermined  by  applica- 
tion to  the  cares  of  state  and  weakened  by  loss  of  exer- 
cise and  recreation,  broke  down  under  overwork.  In  the 
midst  of  his  preparations  to  lead  both  the  diplomacy  and 
the  arms  of  the  Republic,  England,  and  the  German  Em- 
pire, he  was  vanquished  by  death,  March  8, 1702.  He  was 
the  fourth  member  of  the  House  of  Orange  to  reflect  un- 
dying lustre  upon  the  family  name.  As  upon  many  other 
occasions,  when  the  blood  of  the  English  people  had  been 
enriched  with  that  of  the  men  and  women  of  industry 
and  character  from  the  Netherlands,  so  under  William 
the  already  very  much  mixed  people  of  England  received 
a  new  infusion  of  blood  and  of  ideas,  which  have  helped 
to  increase  their  grandeur  and  confirm  the  high  moral 
character  of  the  nation.  William  Bentinck,  Earl  of  Port- 
land, the  noble  ancestor  of  noble  statesmen,  who  had 
nursed  AVilliam  in  his  sickness,  was  but  one  example  of 
the  Dutch  founders  of  those  English  families  which,  to- 
gether with  those  who  have  intermarried  in  Holland,  have 
helped  to  make  indissoluble  links  and  nerves  of  friend- 


1715]  A  MANIA  FOR  DIPLOMACY  865 

ship  between  the  two  countries — both  of  which  have  be- 
come leaders  in  freedom,  science,  religion,  and  law. 

In  the  Republic  the  death  of  William  was  the  signal 
for  the  municipal  party  and  the  adherents  of  State  rights 
to  regain  and  reassert  their  power.  Without  a  stadholder, 
the  grand  pensionary  Heinsius  carried  on  the  government. 
The  Republic,  however,  stood  by  the  Grand  Alliance  and 
furnished  a  Dutch  army  which  ably  co-operated  with  the 
Duke  of  Marlborough.  This  famous  warrior,  to  whom 
all  causes  and  kings  were  the  same,  provided  he  could 
keep  office  and  emolument,  won  at  Blenheim,  Ramilies, 
and  Malplaquet  those  great  victories  forever  memorable 
in  English  annals.  They  exhausted  the  power  of  Louis 
the  Fourteenth,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  treaty  of 
peace,  which  was  signed  in  Utrecht  April  11,  1713.  In 
addition  to  the  triumphs  of  the  allies  in  the  Belgic  Neth- 
erlands, the  combined  English  and  Dutch  squadrons,  un- 
der Sir  George  Rooke  and  Gerard  Callenburgh — who  had 
been  one  of  DeRuyter's  captains — took  Gibraltar.  Al- 
though nominally  under  control  of  Spain,  yet  Sir  George 
Rooke  hoisted  the  English  flag  over  the  rock  of  Tarik, 
and,  as  usual,  the  government  at  London  sanctioned  his 
proceedings  and  kept  the  fortress,  despite  all  protests. 
On  account  of  this  victory  the  Dutch  were  allowed  once 
more  to  garrison  the  towns  on  their  southern  frontier  and 
to  keep  the  navigation  of  the  Scheldt  closed.  Belgium 
passed  to  the  ownership  of  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Sixth 
of  Germany,  and  ceasing  henceforth  to  be  the  Spanish, 
became  the  Austrian,  Netherlands,  while  Artois,  Flanders, 
and  Hainault  became  part  of  France. 

A  mania  for  diplomacy  seemed  to  seize  the  other  gov- 
ernments of  Europe  during  the  first  quarter  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century ;  but  from  this  time  forth  the  Dutch,  find- 
ing that  the  great  Powers  around  them  would  use  their 
resources  for  war  and  abandon  them  when  they  wanted 
peace,  withdrew  from  the  active  foreign  politics  of  Europe, 
and  resolved  to  be  drawn  no  more  into  wars  except  for 
national  defence.  Nevertheless  when.  Queen  Anne  of 
England  having  died,  the  succession  passed  to  the  House 
of  Hanover,  and  the  Stuart  Pretender  in  1715  entered 

66 


866  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1715 

Scotland,  the  States-General,  in  aid  of  the  British  govern- 
ment, promptly  sent  an  army  of  six  thousand  troops,  which 
enabled  the  Duke  of  Argyle  to  suppress  the  rebellion. 
Their  action  in  quickly  recognizing  George  the  First,  be- 
cause they  believed  that  thereby  freedom  in  religion  and 
the  liberties  of  Europe  would  be  made  secure,  was  a  prec- 
edent of  which  George  the  Third  was  not  slow  to  avail 
himself  in  1775. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   SHADOW   OF   A    REPUBLIC 

The  Dutch  people,  by  retiring  from  continental  politics, 
were  all  the  better  enabled  to  expend  their  financial  re- 
sources upon  a  new  enemy  and  to  rear  fresh  defences 
against  their  ever -threatening  danger,  the  ocean.  The 
dikes  had  been  first  built  on  a  large  scale  in  the  twelfth 
century — for  no  Dutch  town  with  a  name  ending  in  dam 
is  older  than  that  period — with  such  skill  and  facilities  as 
were  then  known  in  Europe.  The  material  was  of  turf 
faced  with  wood  or  wattle,  and  sometimes  of  brick.  As  the 
Netherlands  did  not  grow  enough  timber  for  its  own  needs, 
the  product  of  the  forest  was  imported  from  other  lands 
for  the  construction  of  the  facings  of  the  dikes,  canal 
walls,  sluice-gates,  and  other  parts  of  the  land-defences 
fronting  the  water,  which  were  made  almost  entirely  of 
wood.  Stone  had  not  been  much  used,  for  of  this  sub- 
stance the  land  produced  almost  nothing  except  in  the 
form  of  pebbles  and  bowlders  brought  down  in  geologic 
ages  by  the  glaciers  from  Scandinavia.  In  Drenthe  the 
oldest  human  structures  were  rudely  put  together  in  the 
form  of  cromlechs  or  tombs,  which  were  popularly  called 
"  Hunnebedden,"  or  the  Huns'  graves,  though,  most 
probably,  these  were  the  work  of  the  prehistoric  Kelts. 
They  were  of  granite  and,  on  account  of  their  size,  were 
great  curiosities,  most  of  which  match  in  proportions  the 
bowlder  of  Plymouth  Rock — so  vast  in  rhetoric,  so  modest 
in  size. 

As  oriental  commerce  increased,  the  people  began  to 
notice  with  alarm  that  the  wooden  facings  of  the  great 
dikes  on  the  island  of  Walcheren  and  in  northern  Hoi- 


868  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1716 

land  were  rapidly  falling  to  pieces.  The  solid  beams  and 
piles,  bolted  together  with  iron,  were  found  to  be  eaten 
through  and  through  by  a  marine  creature,  which,  though 
but  a  worm  in  size,  had  an  apparatus  in  its  head  by  which 
it  bored  through  the  stoutest  timber.  The  teredo,  or 
ship-worm,  is  now  found  in  all  European  harbors,  having 
been  originally  brought  over  from  the  Indies.  Before 
many  years  another  mysterious  vital  engine,  no  bigger 
than  a  horse-bean,  and  looking  like  a  rock-slater,  made 
its  appearance.  Whoever  has  seen  the  cliffs  of  Japan 
bored  into  and  tunnelled  until  they  fall,  undermined  by 
the  co-operation  of  the  sea  and  the  little  creatures  that 
do  their  drilling  with  the  aid  of  the  sea-water,  has  seen 
at  least  one  of  the  homes  of  the  pholas.  When  this  tiny 
visitor  was  discovered,  the  coast  people  were  more  fright- 
ened than  when  Louis  the  Fourteenth  and  his  hosts  were 
at  their  doors.  After  fasting  with  prayer,  humbling 
themselves  before  God  and  acknowledging  His  myste- 
rious power,  the  Dutch  set  themselves  to  make  a  new 
suit  of  national  armor,  by  replacing  the  face  of  their 
wooden  walls  with  basalt  and  granite.  Thus  began  the 
more  scientific  extension  and  erection  of  the  dikes.  Whole 
fleetloads  of  Norway  stone  were  imported  for  the  sea- 
front,  towards  which  the  engineers  learned  to  so  slope 
the  dikes  as  to  break  the  force  of  the  waves  and  make 
the  ocean  beat  itself.  For  the  interior  defences  against 
water,  timber,  although  still  suffering  decay  in  fresh 
water,  was  only  gradually  replaced  with  stone  from  the 
German  highlands. 

Meanwhile,  the  Dutch  added  to  their  national  domain 
at  home,  not  by  war  or  conquest,  but  by  their  mastery 
over  nature,  in  pumping  out  lakes  and  ponds,  in  recov- 
ering soil  from  the  ocean,  by  building  dikes,  and  in  re- 
claiming swamp -lands  and  morasses  by  draining  and 
filling.  They  studied  the  secrets  of  engineering,  and  ap- 
plied them  to  the  drainage  and  drying  of  their  spongy 
lands.  The  windmill,  as  well  as  the  spade,  is  one  of  the 
makers  of  this  land  rescued  from  the  waters.  In  the 
draining  of  lakes,  and  in  their  transformation  into  past* 
ure,  garden,  and  grain  lands,  the  windmill,  first  men- 


1715]  THE  ADVANCE  OF  SCIENCE  869 

tioned  in  Bofiemia  in  the  eighth  century,  and  common 
in  the  Netherlands  in  the  thirteenth  century,  was  origi- 
nally in  very  crude  form.  Its  sails  could  be  made  to  turn 
hourly  or  daily  in  the  favoring  winds  only  by  floating  it 
upon  a  raft  on  water  and  towing  it,  by  means  of  boats,  to 
face  the  desired  quarter.  The  Dutchman  fitted  the  wind- 
mill with  a  revolving  cap,  easily  turned  by  hand  with  a 
windlass.  When  built  of  brick,  it  became  a  house  as  well 
as  a  mill.  Of  tiny  proportions  in  the  field,  or  of  colossal 
dignity  along  the  canals,  the  modern  windmill  pumps 
water,  saws  timber,  grinds  grain,  breaks  stone,  lifts  the 
hammer,  hoists  and  lowers  burdens.  Arranged  in  lines, 
like  the  platoons  of  a  great  army,  the  perfected  windmill, 
with  the  power  of  uncounted  horses,  does  the  work  of  great 
manufacturing  towns  and  cities,  pumps  out  lakes,  and 
makes  malarious  lands  healthy.  Most  wonderful  is  the 
story  of  Nederland  als  Polderlatid,  or  the  rescue  from 
the  water  of  the  places  of  human  habitation,  of  the  fertile 
grain  fields  and  pastures  of  cow  and  sheep. 

In  defences  against  human  invasion.  Baron  Menno  Coe- 
horn,  who  has  given  his  name  to  the  portable  bomb-mor- 
tar, enlarged  and  perfected  the  fortifications,  according 
to  the  best  principles  of  the  defensive  art,  with  wall  and 
ravelin,  counterscarp  and  moat.  The  Dutchmen  com- 
peted in  this  regard  with  Vauban,  the  French  engineer, 
determining  to  keep  their  little  Republic  alive  amid  its 
colossal  enemies  —  those  mighty  monarchies  which  sur- 
rounded it  on  every  side.  The  enterprise  and  thrift  of 
the  people  made  this  land,  whose  mines  are  all  above 
ground,  one  of  the  richest  in  Europe.  The  Republic 
also  gave  the  world  a  picture  of  splendid  brick -paved 
roads,  superior  to  anything  in  Europe. 

During  the  period  from  the  foundation  of  the  Bank  of 
Amsterdam,  in  1609,  until  the  ruin  of  the  Republic  by 
stadholderal  usurpation  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  city  on  the  Amstel  was  the  centre  of  Eu- 
ropean trade  and  exchange,  occupying  a  position  in  the 
world  of  finance  that  London  holds  now.  Nevertheless, 
thousands  of  the  Dutch  people,  as  well  as  the  English  and 
French,  fell  victims  to  the  wild-cat  projects  of  the  un- 


870         *  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1740 

scrupulous  Scotchman,  John  Law.  His  Schemes  were 
exposed  in  good  season  by  Dutch  writers,  who  stigmatized 
his  business  as  '^  wind -trade."  His  swindling  was  mer- 
cilessly unmasked  in  an  illustrated  satire,  entitled  "  The 
Great  Spectacle  of  Folly  of  the  Year  1720,''  published 
anonymously  in  Amsterdam.  When  the  ^'  Mississippi 
Bubble"  burst,  thousands  of  respectable  Dutch  families 
were  financially  ruined. 

As  William  the  Third  had  died  childless,  the  succession 
of  the  House  of  Orange  passed  over  into  the  collateral 
Frisian  branch,  to  John  William  Friso,  who  was  at  that 
time  stadholder  or  governor  of  Friesland,  Groningen,  and 
Drenthe.  He  enjoyed  the  honors  of  headship  of  the 
House  of  Orange  but  a  few  years.  He  was  drowned  in 
1711,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  posthumous  son,  William 
Charles  Henry  Friso,  who,  in  1732,  ceded  the  principality  of 
Orange,  from  which  the  house  took  its  name,  to  the  King 
of  France.  In  1734  he  married  into  the  House  of  Han- 
over, which  had  become  also  the  royal  house  of  Great 
Britain.  He  was  possessed  of  so  many  other  titles  and 
lands  in  the  Republic  that  his  influence  seemed  danger- 
ously powerful  to  the  States-General,  while  his  partisans 
were  so  eager  in  his  behalf  that  fears  were  entertained 
lest  he  might  overthrow  the  government. 

Meanwhile,  war  broke  out  between  Spain  and  Great 
Britain,  and  Dutch  vessels  were  seized  by  the  belliger- 
ents ;  but  though  the  Republic  escaped  being  drawn  into 
this  war,  they  were  soon  led  into  another.  The  Ostend 
East  India  Company,  which  had  become  very  prosperous, 
made  the  Dutch  so  jealous  of  their  Belgian  neighbors  that 
they  demanded  the  discontinuance  and  dissolution  of  this 
company.  This  was  agreed  to  on  condition  that  the  Re- 
public should  become  a  party  to  the  treaty  known  as  the 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  which  gave  the  succession  of  the 
Austrian  Netherlands  to  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Sixth 
of  Germany,  and  specified  that  in  case  there  should  be 
no  male  heirs  the  succession  should  go  to  his  daughters. 
The  Emperor  died  in  1740,  and  the  Archduchess  Maria 
Theresa  found  her  dominions  attacked  by  the  King  of 
Prussia^  while  various  other  princes  of  Europe  were  in 


1141]  CHANGES  IN  GOVERNMENT  871 

arms  against  her.  When,  according  to  treaty.  Great 
Britain  and  the  Kepublic  hastened  to  fulfil  their  obliga- 
tions and  assist  her,  the  question  as  to  the  form  in  which 
this  aid  should  be  given  was  violently  agitated  by  the  two 
parties,  the  ^' aristocratic"  and  the  "prinsgezinden" — that 
is,  the  municipal,  or  regents,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
prince-partisans,  or  national-democrats,  on  the  other.  A 
subsidy  of  twenty  thousand  men  was  finally  voted,  and, 
although  the  measure  was  bitterly  opposed  by  several 
cities  and  by  the  State  of  Utrecht,  the  influence  of  Hol- 
land prevailed,  although  by  means  of  a  violation  of  the 
constitution  ;  for,  contrary  to  custom,  the  vote  was  carried 
by  a  majority  in  the  States-General,  and  the  nation  was 
thus  plunged  in  a  foreign  war  which  did  not  directly  con- 
cern the  Dutch  people. 

The  fears  of  those  who  expected  the  enmity  and  ven- 
geance of  France  were  justified,  for  Louis  the  Fourteenth 
of  France  overran  the  Belgic  Netherlands,  and  so  alarmed 
the  Zeelanders  that  they  overturned  their  government 
and  made  the  Prince  of  Orange,  "  the  man  of  the  people," 
stadholder.  The  State-rights  principle  was  now  in  turn 
overthrown,  after  several  years'  exercise,  and  another  of 
those  oscillations  in  the  measure  of  the  contrasted  cen- 
tralization and  localization  of  authority  between  the  cen- 
tripetal and  centrifugal  principles  —  between  the  stad- 
holder or  republican  party  and  the  municipal  or  burgher 
party — which  so  often  characterized  the  history  of  Dutch 
federal  government,  took  place.  The  example  of  Zeeland 
was  quickly  followed  by  the  other  states,  and,  on  the  15th 
of  May,  1747,  William  Charles  Henry  Friso,  under  the 
title  of  William  the  Fourth,  was  made  Stadholder  of  the 
Eepublic  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  union  army  and 
navy.  In  the  presence  of  a  foreign  invasion,  and  of 
serious  internal  dissensions  owing,  most  probably,  to  the 
decay  of  national  character  through  luxury  and  over- 
prosperity,  and  in  the  reaction  which  followed  long -sus- 
tained heroism,  the  Dutch  people  took  another  dangerous 
step  towards  centralization,  which  was  to  reduce  their 
liberty  to  but  a  name  and  a  shadow.  This  step  was  taken 
when  the  offices  of  stadholder,  captain,  and  admiral-gen- 


872  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1751 

eral  of  the  Union  were  made  hereditary  in  the  family  of  the 
Prince.  Even  females  were  eligible,  though  should  they 
marry  without  approval  of  the  States-General,  the  right 
of  their  children  to  succession  was  to  be  regulated  by 
agreement  of  the  States.  By  this  act  the  death  of  the 
Eepublic  was  hastened,  an  event  which,  perhaps,  had  al- 
ready been  foreseen  by  the  most  thoughtful  patriots. 

From  this  time  forth,  although  the  Dutch  lived  under 
the  form  of  a  Republic,  its  spirit  had  fled.  With  a  presi- 
dency non-elective,  hereditary,  and  unimpeachable,  the 
original  defects  of  the  constitution  were  intensified.  More 
than  once  before  the  end  of  the  century  the  nation  was 
on  the  brink  of  civil  war.  The  stadholders,  who  married 
into  the  royal  family  of  England,  assumed  the  airs  and 
insignia  of  sovereignty  in  proportion  as  Dutch  public 
spirit  decayed. 

The  useless  and  exhausting  war  of  the  Austrian  succes- 
sion, in  which  the  French  were  victorious  by  land  but 
unsuccessful  at  sea,  and  which  strained  the  resources  of 
the  Dutch,  French,  and  British  alike,  was  ended  by  the 
peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  October,  1748.  The  distress 
caused  by  the  loss  of  Dutch  commerce  was  increased  by 
popular  discontent,  especially  in  the  northern  provinces, 
which  served  only  to  throw  more  power  into  the  hands  of 
the  stadholder,  who  was  elected  governor  of  both  the  East 
and  the  West  India  Companies,  and  who  had  the  pension- 
ary of  the  richest  and  largest  state  of  Holland  attached 
to  his  cause.  The  stadholder,  however,  finding  the  coun- 
try at  peace,  devoted  himself  to  noble  schemes  for  the 
benefit  of  the  people  and  the  development  of  the  country, 
and  at  his  sudden  death  in  1751,  when  but  forty  years  of 
age,  the  nation  mourned  over  him  as  over  a  dear  friend. 
He  left  a  son  only  three  years  old,  who  was  destined  to 
be  the  last  stadholder  of  the  Eepublic.  The  child  was 
put  under  the  care  of  his  mother,  Anna,  daughter  of 
George  the  Second  of  England,  who  at  once  became 
regent  with  full  power. 

At  this  time,  and  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  later,  Hol- 
land was  little  more  than  an  annex  of  Great  Britain,  and 
the  whole  Eepublic,  having  small  influence  in  the  coun- 


1766]  DUTCH  COMMERCE  IN  DANGER  873 

cils  of  Europe,  was  inclined  to  follow  the  beck  and  nod 
of  King  George  and  his  British  partisans  in  Holland. 
With  a  woman,  who  was  a  stranger  to  the  Dutch  and  a 
relative  of  the  King  of  England,  in  charge  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  prospect  for  peace  and  comfort  at  home  was 
not  very  promising.  Anna,  the  virtual  ruler  of  the  Re- 
public, worked  unceasingly  to  increase  centralization  of 
power  in  the  hands  of  the  stadholder  and  to  entangle  the 
Republic  in  the  Seven  Years'  War  with  France,  during 
which,  besides  naval  battles,  the  invasion  of  Hanover  by 
the  French,  their  defeat  at  Crefeld  on  the  Rhine,  and 
their  attempt  to  invade  Ireland,  the  struggle  was  carried 
into  Africa  and  America.  Plassey  was  the  place  of  that 
triumph  of  British  arms  in  Asia  which  resulted  in  the 
establishment  of  a  great  empire.  In  America,  however, 
Braddock's  army  was  decimated  by  invisible  savages  among 
the  thickets  of  Pennsylvania ;  Washington  and  Sir  William 
Johnson  arose  to  prominence  ;  Fort  Du  Quesne  w^s  taken, 
together  with  Niagara,  Crown  Point,  Ticonderoga ;  and  on 
the  plains  of  Abraham,  in  Canada,  the  decisive  battle  be- 
tween Wolfe  and  Montcalm  was  fought,  which  settled  the 
destiny  of  North  America  to  remain  under,  not  the  Latin, 
but  the  Germanic  ideas  of  civilization. 

Although  the  British  King  George's  daughter  was  un- 
able to  drag  the  Republic  into  this  war  between  Great 
Britain  and  France,  Dutch  commerce  suffered  untold 
damage  from  British  privateers  and  warships,  under  those 
arbitrary  rules  of  contraband  and  blockade  which  Great 
Britain  had  not  yet  submitted  to  international  law.  Prin- 
cess Anna  died  in  1759,  and  though  some  relief  to  Dutch 
commerce  followed,  the  acrimonious  disputes  and  the 
commercial  jealousies  between  the  English  and  Dutch 
East  India  Companies,  which  had  come  to  open  hostilities 
in  the  Indies,  nearly  brought  on  war.  The  protests  of  the 
Dutch  ambassador  in  London  were  answered  as  Great 
Britain  has  so  often  answered  the  protests  of  weaker  na- 
tions— might  making  right. 

Some  relief  was  felt  when,  in  1766,  instead  of  a  matri- 
monial alliance  with  the  Hanoverian  royal  family  of  Eng- 
land, the  Prince  of  Orange,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  was 


874  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1766 

betrothed  to  the  Princess  Frederika  Sophia  Wilhelmina, 
niece  of  Frederick  the  Great  of  Prussia.  This,  however, 
also  proved  a  seed  of  trouble  to  the  Kepublic.  Three  chil- 
dren were  born  of  this  union,  one  of  whom,  a  daughter, 
married  the  crown-prince  of  Brunswick.  The  people  had 
expected  much  relief  from  their  troubles  when  their  stad- 
holder  should  come  to  full  manhood ;  but  they  were  keenly 
disappointed.  Though  given  to  literary  dalliance,  and 
fond  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  he  was  a  weak  political  ruler, 
who  usually  showed  firmness  only  in  matters  prejudicial 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  nation.  The  chief  councillors 
who  influenced  him  continually  were  his  German  tutor. 
Prince  Louis  of  Brunswick,  then  commander  of  the  Dutch 
army,  and  his  Prussian  wife  Wilhelmina.  During  his  long 
lease  of  power,  from  1766  to  1795,  things  went  from  bad 
to  worse,  and  patriotism  seemed  lost  in  party-spirit.  The 
^* Patriots"  or  '^Keezen"  —  a  nickname  contracted  from 
Cornelius  de  Gijselaar,  pensionary  of  Dordrecht,  who  was 
the  determined  opponent  of  the  stadholder — upheld  par- 
liamentary and  municipal  liberty  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  a  ruler  who  was  king  in  all  but  name.  The 
Orangemen,  ^^  Oranje  klanten,"  or  Orange  chappies,  up- 
held the  prince  in  all  his  acts,  whether  they  were  wise  or 
foolish,  just  or  unjust. 

British  influence  over  the  State  of  Holland  and  the 
whole  Republic  had  been  greatly  increased  and  strength- 
ened by  the  appointment  to  the  Hague  of  that  able  and 
unscrupulous  ambassador  Sir  Joseph  Yorke,  who  now  up- 
held it  with  renewed  insolence.  He  had  formerly  been  a 
colonel  in  the  British  army,  and  he  carried  into  diplomacy 
the  methods  of  the  camp  rather  than  the  manners  of  the 
cabinet.  The  first  notable  act  which  brought  him  into 
prominence  occurred  in  1756,  when,  on  the  breaking  out 
of  the  Seven  Years'  War  between  the  giant  powers  of  France 
and  England,  the  States  were  compelled  to  adopt  the 
cause  of  one  side  or  the  other.  Sir  Joseph  demanded  a 
subsidy  with  six  thousand  men,  which  he  claimed  had  been 
stipulated  by  the  treaties  of  1678  and  1716.  However,  in 
this  he  was  balked,  and  the  Dutch,  despite  his  personal 
influence  with  the  Princess  Anna,  adhered  to  their  neu- 


1766]  CLOSE  RELATIONS   WITH  ENGLAND  875 

trality,  insisting  that  in  this  case  England  was  the  aggress- 
or, and  that  their  contract  was  to  furnish  troops  only  in 
her  defence.  Stung  by  his  failure,  Yorke  made  himself  a 
past-master  in  knowledge  of  the  intricacies  of  Dutch  poli- 
tics, and  bent  all  his  efforts  to  the  forming  of  a  British 
party,  which  should  control  especially  the  finances  as  well 
as  the  votes  of  the  deputies  of  cities  and  states,  and  which 
should  always  be  found  on  Great  Britain's  side  in  every 
controversy.  It  was  during  Yorke's  period  of  office,  when 
the  Dutch  term  for  the  admirers  of  things  English,  Anglo- 
manen  (Anglo-maniacs),  came  into  use,  that  the  great  Eng- 
lish banking-houses  in  Amsterdam  were  established,  and 
the  relations  between  England  and  Holland,  especially  in 
the  matter  of  economics,  became  so  close. 

This  state  of  affairs  increased  the  practical  acquaintance 
of  the  Dutch  people  in  general — not  only  of  the  bankers, 
lawyers,  and  merchants,  but  even  of  the  peasantry — with 
those  events  which  led  to  the  American  Revolution.  They 
saw  clearly  into  the  causes  of  the  war.  They  sympathized 
with  the  unjustly  taxed  colonists  on  the  other  side  of  the  At- 
lantic, and  were  able  easily  to  understand  why  the  flag  of 
American  Revolution — in  the  same  colors  and  in  the  same 
form  as  their  own — had  been  raised,  as  their  own  had  been 
two  centuries  before.  As  in  the  Dutch,  so  in  the  American 
case,  the  real  revolution  was  from  without.  In  the  one 
case  the  Spanish  King  and  Cabinet,  and  in  the  other  the 
young  German  King  and  a  corrupt  British  Parliament,  in- 
vaded ancient  guaranteed  rights.  The  irritations  created 
by  an  unpopular  political  church,  by  hostile  sumptuary 
laws  and  commercial  greed,  by  sordid,  restrictive,  and  hos- 
tile legislation,  had  been  borne  and  patiently  suffered;  but 
when  unjust  taxation  without  the  right  of  representation 
— an  iniquity  which  touched  every  man's  pocket — was 
attempted,  then  revolt  was  certain  and  bloodshed  sure. 
To  the  Dutch  the  American  assertion  of  ancestral  rights 
and  chartered  liberties  was  all  the  more  intelligible,  since 
the  nation  between  the  dikes  and  the  sand-hills  consisted 
also  of  many  provinces,  with  varying  interests,  dialects, 
and  modes  of  local  government,  which  had  nevertheless 
come  to  the  Union  of  Utrecht  and  formed  the  United 


876  HISTORY  OP  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1766 

States,  with  a  written  compact  and  a  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence, and  having  also  a  tricolored  flag.  Indeed,  they 
saw  from  the  first  what  John  Adams  perceived  so  clearly 
years  afterwards,  when  he  wrote  that  '^the  originals  of 
the  two  republics  are  so  much  alike  that  the  history  of 
one  seems  but  a  transcript  from  that  of  the  other." 

When,  therefore,  the  infatuated  king  and  parliament, 
under  the  goading  of  a  corrupt  ring  of  English  poli- 
ticians, forced  a  war  upon  the  American  colonists  —  of 
whom,  probably,  not  a  majority  were  English  born  or  of 
English  descent — the  public  spirit  of  the  Dutch  nation 
was  quickened  by  the  example  of  those  other  United  States 
beyond  the  Atlantic.  When  the  Rev.  Dr.  Price,  a  Unita- 
rian clergyman  of  London,  wrote  his  two  pamphlets — one 
exposing  the  iniquitous  schemes  of  the  ''  moneyed  friends 
of  the  British  government,"  and  the  other  entitled  "Ob- 
servations on  the  Nature  of  Civil  Liberty,  the  Principles 
of  Government,  and  the  Justice  and  Policy  of  the  War 
with  America" — they  were  promptly  translated  into  Dutch 
by  Baron  Joan  Derek  van  der  Capellen,  who  always  re- 
mained a  firm  friend  of  America.  Like  all  other  Dutch 
friends  of  the  American  cause,  he  was  politically  opposed 
to  the  stadholder,  who,  at  this  time,  was  little  more  than 
a  puppet  of  the  court  party,  which  was  managed  by  the 
British  minister.  Sir  Joseph  Yorke. 

Van  der  Capellen,*  born  in  Overyssel,  and  a  member 
of  its  state  legislature,  was  strongly  democratic  in  his 
sympathies.  He  had  successfully  endeavored  to  have  the 
farmers  and  peasantry  of  his  state  released  from  certain 
odious  and  oppressive  burdens,  which  were  old  relics  of 
feudalism.  This  so  enraged  the  more  aristocratic  mem- 
bers, that  they  secured  his  expulsion  from  the  state  legis- 
lature, in  which  he  was  unable  to  regain  his  seat  for  four 
years,  when,  at  the  demand  of  the  people  of  the  whole 
province,  he  was  reinstated  with  honors.  Van  der  Capel- 
len believed  that  the  Teutonic  race,  by  crossing  the  At- 


*  Joan  Derek  van  der  Capellen  (1*741-1784),  door  J.  A.  Sillem,  uit  De 
Gids  1882,  No,  11.  Brieven  van  en  aau  Joan  Derek  van  der  Capellen, 
door  W,  H.  de  Beaufort.   Utrecht,  1879, 


1766]  VAN  DER  CAPELLEN  AND   AMERICA  8^1^ 

lantic,  obtained  an  unspeakable  potency  for  progress,  and 
that  the  hopes  of  the  future  lay  in  the  American  Repub- 
lic, which  he  believed  would  do  a  great  deal  in  regener- 
ating Europe.  His  affection  for  the  American  United 
States,  and  his  faith  in  their  future,  was  warm,  sincere, 
and  unselfish.  At  the  same  time,  when  the  Archbishop 
of  York,  Dr.  Markham,  and  the  Rev.  John  Wesley  were 
abusing  Dr.  Price  in  England,  Van  der  Capellen  was  also 
made  a  target  of  abuse  from  the  British  party  in  Holland. 
Compelled  by  political  rancor  to  fly  from  his  estates  in 
Overyssel,  where  even  the  burial-grounds  of  his  family 
were  not  safe  from  desecration,  he  went  to  Amsterdam. 
There  he  kept  himself  well  informed,  and  receiving  the 
freshest  news  from  America,  he  answered  promptly,  with 
true  statements  of  the  facts,  the  false  and  exaggerated 
reports  made  by  British  agents  and  sympathizers  who 
were  in  the  pay  of  the  parliamentary  stock-jobbers.  He 
opened  a  correspondence  with  Dr.  Franklin  in  Paris  ;  with 
Governor  Jonathan  Trumbull  of  Connecticut,  who  in  Eng- 
land was  called  'Uhe  only  rebel  governor";  with  Govern- 
or William  Livingston  of  New  Jersey,  with  John  Adams, 
and  with  other  of  the  Continental  fathers  whose  names 
are  now  sacred  in  America.  His  influence  and  example 
were  reflected  and  imitated  by  fellow-countrymen  of  wit 
and  ability.  Soon  a  host  of  Dutch  pamphleteers,  drama- 
tists, song-writers,  composers  of  street-ballads,  and  mak- 
ers of  lampoons  and  caricatures,  as  well  as  learned  law- 
yers and  jurists,  became  keenly  interested  in  a  war  that, 
meaning  something  more  than  mere  commercial  exten- 
sion, dynastic  prestige,  or  pride  of  arms,  involved  the  pro- 
foundest  questions  of  law  and  human  progress,  and  were 
in  lively  competition  with  each  other,  informing  their 
countrymen  and  stirring  up  public  opinion. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
STADHOLDEE  AND   PATRIOTS 

Anxious  to  preserve  neutrality,  the  States-General,  in 
accordance  with  international  proprieties  and  even  before 
the  battle  of  Lexington,  issued  a  proclamation,  dated 
March  20,  1775.  This  declaration  of  neutrality,  which, 
as  they  said,  was  the  ^'customary  compliment  of  courts 
not  at  war  with  each  other, '^  ran  as  follows  :  ''Their  High 
Mightinesses  do  absolutely  prohibit  all  exportation  of 
munition,  gunpowder,  guns  and  shot  by  ships  belonging 
to  the  dominion  of  Great  Britain,  provisionally  for  the 
term  of  six  months,  upon  pain  of  confiscation,  with  a  fine 
of  a  thousand  guilders,  to  be  paid  by  the  offending  ship- 
master/' The  cause  of  this  apparently  premature  decla- 
ration of  neutrality  is  easily  discerned.  Great  Britain's 
preparations  for  war  were  In  1775  even  more  manifest  to 
the  Dutch  than  to  most  Americans. 

For  nearly  a  century  the  Scotch  Brigade  had  served  in 
the  army  of  the  Republic,  being  the  honorable  historic 
link  of  connection  with  the  days  when  Briton  and  Dutch- 
man stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the  common  danger 
against  the  pope,  the  inquisition,  and  Philip  the  Second. 
King  George  the  Third,  a  young  man  somewhat  given  to 
over-governing,  wrote  an  autograph  letter  demanding  the 
return  of  the  Scotch  Brigade,  to  be  sent  to  America  for 
use  in  the  war  about  to  break  out.  Van  der  Capellen  and 
other  friends  of  America  showed  that,  according  to  the 
treaties,  men  serving  as  soldiers  under  the  Dutch  flag  and 
in  Dutch  pay  were  to  be  sent  only  to  protect  Protestant 
interests  or  to  assist  Great  Britain  in  defensive  war  only. 
The  stadholder,  the  court.  Prince  Louis  of  Brunswick,  and 


1775]  CLASH  OF  SECTIONAL  INTERESTS  879 

Fagel,  Secretary  of  the  States  -  General,  as  well  as  the 
'^Orange  klanten"  were  all  partisans  in  the  British  cause, 
or  '^  Anglomaniacs."  In  Amsterdam  the  money  power 
was  on  the  side  of  Great  Britain,  but  Van  Berckel,  the  pen- 
sionary of  the  city,  was  hostile  to  the  stadholder  and  fa- 
vored, first  the  French  and  then  the  American  cause. 
Cornelius  de  Gijzelaar,  pensionary  of  Dordrecht ;  Dr.  Cal- 
koens,  the  famous  lawyer  ;  Luzac,  the  Leyden  editor  ;  the 
University  of  Franeker,  and  nearly  all  Friesland  were  also 
in  hearty  sympathy  with  America. 

The  domestic  situation  was  further  complicated  by  the 
clashing  of  sectional  interests.  The  States  of  Utrecht, 
Overyssel,  and  Gelderland,  being  inland  provinces,  were 
in  favor  of  an  increase  of  the  land  forces  because  of  their 
exposure  to  French  invasion.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
powerful  states  of  Holland  and  Friesland,  whose  interests 
were  in  the  line  of  commerce  and  ship-building,  demand- 
ed that  the  navy  be  enlarged,  trusting  for  the  safety  of 
their  possessions  to  increase  of  sea-power.  With  divided 
councils  the  Republic  was  in  real  peril. 

In  other  parts  of  the  world  Dutchmen  were  not  slow 
in  showing  their  warm  personal  sympathy  with  their  fel- 
low-men in  America,  who  were  fighting  a  battle  of  the 
same  kind  that  their  ancestors  had  fought  against  Spain. 
The  very  first  foreign  supplies  came  from  Dutch  seaports, 
especially  the  West  Indies.  St.  Eustatius  was,  from  the 
first  declaration  of  hostilities,  the  favorite  resort  of  Amer- 
ican privateers  and  war  vessels.  The  governor  of  this 
island,  port,  and  fortress  was  Johannes  de  Graaff,  and 
Abraham  Ravene  was  the  commander  of  the  militia.  The 
settlement  consisted  of  the  "upper"  and  "lower"  town, 
a  fort,  a  large  Reformed  church,  the  usual  typical  wind- 
mill, and  several  hundred  houses.  On  the  ample  beach 
the  merchandise  imported  and  exported  could  be  easily 
handled.  Here  American  tobacco  and  other  raw  materials 
were  exchanged  for  munitions  of  war  which,  almost  wholly 
of  British  manufacture,  were  sold  by  English  merchants, 
despite  proclamations  of  neutrality.  Cannon  and  ammu- 
nition figured  in  the  invoices  as  "  hardware  "  and  "grain." 

Here  the  first  foreign  salute  ever  fired  in  honor  of  the 


880  HISTORY   OF   THE    NETHERLANDS  [1*776 

flag  of  the  United  States  of  America  was  given  on  the 
16th  of  November,  1776.  The  Andrea  Dorea,  a  brig  of 
fourteen  guns,  commanded  by  Captain  Josiah  Robinson,  of 
Philadelphia,  bearing  a  copy  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  having  a  commission  from  the  Continental 
Congress  signed  by  John  Hancock,  together  with  copies 
in  blank  for  the  equipment  of  privateers,  dropped  anchor 
in  the  harbor.  The  starless  flag  of  thirteen  stripes,  in  al- 
ternate red  and  white,  exactly  like  that  of  the  Dutch 
navy,  was  flying  at  her  mast-head,  and  the  red,  white,  and 
blue  flag  on  Fort  Orange  was  lowered  in  welcome  to  and 
in  recognition  of  the  American  ship.  In  response  to  the 
Andrea  Dorea^s  salute  of  thirteen  guns,  Eavene,  the  com- 
mander of  the  fort,  by  order  of  Governor  De  Graaff,*  re- 
sponded with  eleven  guns.  By  this  purposed  tally  of 
eleven  **^  honor  shots, '^  two  less  than  to  an  ordinary  man- 
of-war,  he  kept  within  the  technicalities  and  letter  of  the 
law,  at  the  same  time  firing  the  number  of  guns  equal  to 
the  provinces  of  the  Dutch  Republic  and  generality. 
Captain  Josiah  Robinson  and  his  officers  were  invited  to 
dine  with  the  governor,  who  read  with  pleasure  and  profit 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  of  the  United  States  of 
America. 

From  this  time  forth  St.  Eustatius  became  the  head- 
quarters of  supplies  for  the  American  army,  and  hundreds 
of  vessels  sailed  thence  loaded  with  blankets,  powder,  can- 
non, and  other  munitions  of  war,  which  in  due  time 
reached  American  ports  and  the  Continental  army.  In- 
deed, the  very  paper  on  which  Thomas  Paine  wrote  some 
of  his  spirit-stirring  tracts  came  from  St.  Eustatius. 

So  important  did  the  British  Government  consider  the 
destruction  of  this  place,  and  so  tempting  was  the  pros- 
pect of  prize-money,  that  Admiral  Rodney,  leaving  Corn- 
wallis  to  shift  for  himself,  sailed  for  the  West  Indies,  and 
on  February  3,  1781,  demanded  the  immediate  surrender 
of  the  whole  island.  At  that  time,  there  lay  at  anchor 
in  the  harbor  two  American  men-of-war,  the  De  Graaff,  of 

*  Missive,  Deductie  en  Bylagen  van  den  Commaiideur  Pe  Graaflf  of  St. 
Eqstatius,  1  April,  17*79,  pp.  344. 


1776]  SALUTING  THE   AMERICAN  FLAG  881 

twenty-six  guns,  and  the  Lady  de  Graaff,  of  eighteen,  wliile 
fifty  American  vessels  were  also  there  loading  or  unload- 
ing, together  with  their  crews,  consisting  of  at  least  two 
thousand  men.  These  were  all  captured  by  Rodney,  who 
also  seized  the  Dutch  man-of-war  Mars,  of  thirty-eight 
guns,  and  an  old  sixty-gun  ship.  On  the  American  ves- 
sels, pretty  much  everything,  except  the  wood  of  hull  and 
spars,  the  rigging,  sails,  canvas,  powder,  ammunition,  and 
stores,  had  been  bought  at  St.  Eustatius. 

The  act  of  De  Graaff  in  saluting  the  American  flag  had 
been  soon  followed  by  the  capture,  just  outside  the  harbor, 
of  an  English  brigantine  by  a  privateer,  Tlie  Baltimore 
Hero,  commanded  by  Isaac  van  Bibber  who  was  an  Ameri- 
can citizen  born  in  Maryland,  and  a  descendant  of  that 
Dutch  admiral  once  employed  by  Lord  Baltimore  to 
bring  over  his  colonists.  De  Graaff^s  behavior  roused  the 
wrath  of  the  British  Government,  which  made  instant 
application,  through  Sir  Joseph  Yorke,  for  an  explana- 
tion and  apology.  The  English  president  of  the  council 
on  the  neighboring  island  of  St.  Christopher  had  already 
accused  the  Dutch  governor  of  saluting  the  flag  of  rebels 
against  his  Britannic  majesty,  but  De  Graaff  refused  to 
make  any  explanations  except  to  his  masters,  the  States- 
General.  The  grievance,  however,  was  made  a  national 
affair,  and  Yorke  required  a  disavowal  of  the  salute,  and 
threatened  immediate  hostilities  in  case  the  States-Gen- 
eral refused  to  comply  with  his  demand.  The  Dutch 
Congress,  although  resenting  the  harsh  tone  of  the  British 
envoy,  nevertheless  summoned  De  Graaff  to  return  and 
make  explanations,  and  also  enjoined  the  governors  of 
their  other  West  India  colonies  to  prevent  the  export  of 
ammunition  to  the  Americans.  The  British  now  went 
further  in  browbeating  the  Dutchmen,  by  orders  in  coun- 
cil which  forbade  Dutch  ships  from  carrying  timber  or 
naval  stores  to  France  or  Spain,  and  this  when  no  war 
had  been  declared  against  either  country.  Yorke,  after 
twenty-seven  years  of  residence  in  the  Netherlands,  felt 
that  he  had  control  of  a  powerful  party,  and  could  dic- 
tate at  the  will  of  his  master  and  even  of  himself.  The 
Dutch  soon  found,  however,  that  compliance  was  but  th^ 


882  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1778 

stepping-stone  to  subservience.  The  British  fleet  block- 
aded the  rivers  Essequibo  and  Demarara,  and  captured 
over  one  hundred  vessels  belonging  to  the  one  province 
of  Holland.  Yorke  insolently  stated  that  his  master  had 
resolved  to  do  himself  justice,  without  regard  to  rights  or 
treaties,  and  to  revenge  himself  upon  such  as  gave  sup- 
port to  the  Americans.  He  also  claimed  that  it  was  bet- 
ter to  have  a  number  of  open  enemies  than  to  have  allies 
who,  under  the  cover  of  neutrality,  supplied  all  the  wants 
of  the  King's  rebel  subjects.  So  tremendous  was  the  in- 
fluence of  Yorke  that,  in  1799,  finding  the  orders  in  coun- 
cil disregarded,  he  secured  the  passage  by  the  States-Gen- 
eral of  a  resolution  prohibiting  any  convoy  to  ships  laden 
with  materials  for  ship-building.  This  ordinance,  which 
was  voted  in  defiance  of  every  principle  of  law  and  jus- 
tice, annihilated  the  timber  industry  of  Friesland  in  which 
hitherto  above  two  thousand  ships  had  been  engaged  ;  but 
it  determined  not  a  few  leading  men  in  Holland  to  help 
the  Americans  at  all  hazards.  Among  others,  an  import- 
ing and  trading  firm  of  Zaandam,  of  which  Claas  Taan 
was  the  head,  occupied  their  fleet  of  eighteen  ships  in 
carrying  goods  to  the  American  market.  They  ran  the 
British  blockade  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chesapeake,  and 
brought  grain  into  Baltimore  when  bread-stuffs  were 
greatly  needed. 

Popular  opinion  was  almost  wholly  on  the  side  of  the 
Americans,  as  the  abundant  literature  of  this  period  shows. 
Professor  Jean  Luzac's  International  Gazette,  of  Leyden, 
which  had  a  circulation  in  all  the  courts  of  Europe,  ad- 
vocated the  cause  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  fur- 
nished an  abundance  of  thoroughly  trustworthy  news. 
Dutch  officers  crossed  the  sea  to  enlist  in  the  American 
army.  Gosuinus  Erkelens  of  Amsterdam,  in  Connecticut 
and  Pennsylvania,  by  his  correspondence  kept  up  the  in- 
terest between  eminent  men  of  the  two  Eepublics.  Amer- 
ican colonial  commissioners  obtained  money  and  built 
ships  in  Amsterdam  which  eluded  the  vigilance  and  grasp 
of  the  stadholder.  Late  in  September,  1779,  John  Paul 
Jones,  ^'  Scotchman  and  pirate,"  in  common  English 
phrase,  though  a  regularly  commissioned  officer  in  the 


1778]  NEUTRALITY   OF  THE  REPUBLIC  883 

United  States  Navy,  brought  his  prize,  the  Serapis,  into 
the  Znyder  Zee,  and  the  stars,  as  well  as  the  stripes,  as 
authorized  by  Congress,  were  mirrored  in  Dutch  waters. 
Jones  visited  Amsterdam  and  the  Hague,  and  was  every- 
where honored  and  welcomed  by  the  patriots,  the  streets 
of  the  cities  of  Holland  and  Friesland  resounding  with 
ballads  which  celebrated  the  Yankee  victory. 

Nevertheless,  the  States -General  still  preserved  the 
neutrality  of  the  Kepublic  by  declining,  in  April,  1778, 
the  offer  of  the  United  States  commissioners,  Franklin, 
Lee,  and  Adams,  for  a  treaty  of  friendship  and  commerce. 
At  this  time,  when  the  Dutch  flag  was  being  insulted, 
their  commerce  depleted,  and  even  the  passage  on  the 
high  seas  denied  them,  the  country  was  still  rent  on  the 
question  as  to  whether  its  army  or  its  navy  should  be  in- 
creased. Jealousy  was  rife  between  the  maritime  and 
inland  provinces,  and  party  virulence  was  at  its  height. 

The  envoy  of  the  Bourbon  King  at  the  Hague  now 
sought  to  foil  the  schemes  of  the  English.  Under  press- 
ure of  France,  the  legislature  of  Holland  passed  a  resolu- 
tion which,  however,  was  rejected  by  the  States-General, 
in  favor  of  a  convoy  by  the  national  war-ships  for  Dutch 
vessels  bound  to  French  ports.  This  rejection  still  further 
encouraged  the  British  government,  which  now  went  a 
step  further,  and  ordered  its  ships-of-war  to  search  Dutch 
vessels  —  a  proceeding  which  nearly  brought  on  a  naval 
battle  between  the  Dutch  Admiral  Bylandt,  and  the  Brit- 
ish Admiral  Fielding.  Sir  Joseph  Yorke  renewed  his  de- 
mand for  a  military  subsidy,  on  a  three  weeks'  notice,  and 
threatened  that  if  a  negative  answer  was  given  it  would 
be  regarded  as  an  abandonment  of  all  alliance  with  Eng- 
land ;  moreover,  he  asserted  that,  the  old  treaties  being 
abrogated,  the  Republic  would  stand  as  an  indifferent  and 
unprivileged  power.  Indeed,  the  British  statesman  actu- 
ally thought  that  he  was  able  to  so  dictate  to  the  Dutch 
as  to  compel  them  to  abandon  the  usual  referendum  of  the 
States-General  to  the  states  particular,  and  thus  to  violate 
their  constitution.  He  refused  the  slightest  delay.  When, 
however,  the  States  had  debated  the  question,  they  unani- 
mously refused  to  furnish  any  soldiers  to  Great  Britain. 


B84  HISTORY  OP  THE  NETHERLANDS  [lV78 

Utrecht  and  Overyssel  were  especially  strong  in  their  con- 
demnation of  the  course  of  George  the  Third  and  his  Parlia- 
ment. The  menace  of  the  British  was  immediately  carried 
out  and  all  treaties  were  annulled.  Forthwith  letters  of 
marqub  and  reprisal  were  issued  which  authorized  British 
captains  to  seize  Dutch  ships  carrying  anything  which 
English  captains  chose  to  call  contraband.  Thus  ruth- 
lessly Great  Britain  estranged  the  affections  of  her  oldest 
and  most  constant  ally. 

It  now  became  necessary  for  the  Dutch  Kepublic,  and 
also  for  other  countries  of  Europe  as  well,  to  oppose  the 
aggressions  of  Great  Britain,  which  seemed  determined  to 
limit  the  freedom  and  security  of  the  seas  so  as  to  suit  her 
own  convenience.  According  to  the  plan  suggested,  Eus- 
sia,  the  Kepublic,  and  France  formed  the  ^' armed  neutral- 
ity,^^ guaranteeing  freedom  of  trade  to  neutral  ships, 
settling  what  was  contraband,  defining  blockade  and  in- 
culcating the  spirit  of  international  law.  In  vain  the  Brit- 
ish agents  in  St.  Petersburg,  with  abundance  of  money  at 
their  command,  endeavored  to  exclude  the  Dutch  from 
the  union.  Having  previously  declined  to  hire  out  twenty 
thousand  Muscovite  soldiers  for  British  use  in  North 
America,  Catherine  would  not  now  yield,  even  to  the 
golden  pressure  from  London.  Failing  in  this,  since  the 
Eussian  Queen  neither  vacillated  nor  lacked  generosity, 
even  though  war  should  follow  her  refusal,  the  British  en- 
voys endeavored  in  the  States-General  to  defeat  the  al- 
liance ;  but  four  States  out  of  the  seven  secured  its  pas- 
sage. 

In  the  mean  time,  after  France  had  recognized  the 
United  States  of  America  as  an  independent  nation,  and 
agreed  to  send  an  army  to  their  assistance,  the  Continental 
Congress,  in  1778,  had  authorized  their  commissioner, 
William  Lee,  to  open  negotiations  for  a  similar  treaty  with 
the  Kepublic.  Though  not  officially  received,  Lee  suc- 
ceeded in  influencing  such  leading  men  in  Amsterdam  as 
Jan  de  Neufville,  then  at  Aken,  and  especially  Mr.  E.  F. 
Van  Berckel,  the  powerful  pensionary  of  the  city,  to  for- 
mulate a  treaty,  to  be  negotiated  as  soon  as  Great  Britain 
should  recognize  the  independence  of  the  United  States, 


1780]  HOSTILITY   TOWARDS  GREAT   BRITAIN  885 

which,  as  Burgoyne  had  surrendered,  it  was  confidently 
expected  would  occur  very  soon.  Van  Berckel  pressed 
the  matter,  having  in  mind  the  purpose  of  opening  direct 
trade  with  the  American  ports.  However,  his  action  was 
unofficial,  and  even  Lee  had  not  full  authority  to  make  a 
treaty  ;  yet  this  Amsterdam  incident  had  a  powerful  effect 
in  intensifying  the  hostility  felt  in  the  Republic  towards 
Great  Britain  and  in  increasing  the  friendship  towards  the 
United  States. 

The  ex-president  of  congress,  Henry  Laurens,  having  a 
sketch  of  the  proposed  treaty,  together  with  various  let- 
ters and  papers  showing  the  friendship  of  Holland,. and 
containing  the  proposition  of  Dutch  bankers  to  loan  money 
to  the  Americans,  started  across  the  ocean  in  the  packet 
Mercury  which,  unfortunately,  on  September  10,  1780, 
was  captured  off  the  coast  of  Newfoundland  by  the  Brit- 
ish frigate  Vestal.  Laurens  threw  his  papers  overboard, 
but  the  package  of  this  landsman,  not  having  been  heavily 
weighted  with  lead,  as  would  have  been  the  case  with  an 
old  sailor's  signal-book,  was  recovered  and  furnished  full 
proof  of  the  purpose  of  his  mission.  Having  been  exam- 
ined before  the  Privy  Council  in  London,  Laurens  was 
sent  to  the  Tower,  where  he  was  imprisoned  for  fifteen 
months.  Sir  Joseph  Yorke  subsequently  put  Laurens' 
papers,  or  copies  of  them,  into  the  hands  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  who  laid  them  before  the  legislature  of  Holland 
and  the  National  Congress.  Yorke  demanded  the  instant 
punishment  of  Van  Berckel  and  his  coadjutors,  and  an  ex- 
pressed disavowal  of  their  proceedings  by  the  various 
states.  Both  the  separate  legislators  and  the  congress  ex- 
plicitly disavowed  the  act  of  Van  Berckel ;  but  not  satis- 
fied with  this,  the  British  minister  read  a  lecture  to  both 
the  legislature  of  Holland  and  that  of  the  Republic,  de- 
claring that  they  had  committed  a  crime  which  was  an  in- 
fraction of  the  public  faith,  an  attack  upon  the  dignity  of 
the  English  crown,  and  a  violation  of  the  constitution  of 
the  United  Netherlands,  of  which,  he  declared,  the  Brit- 
ish king  was  the  guarantor. 

Herein  the  British  minister  not  only  showed  his  igno- 
rance of  the  Dutch  constitution,  though  he  had  lived  in 


886  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1780 

the  country  thirty  years,  but  his  bullying  behavior  took 
away  every  particle  of  respect  which  the  Dutch  statesmen 
might  have  had  towards  him.  Summing  up  all  the  ac- 
counts in  his  indictment  against  the  Republic — the  salute 
to  the  American  flag  at  St.  Eustatius,  the  hospitable  re- 
ception given  to  John  Paul  Jones,  the  trade  with  Amer- 
ican privateers — Yorke  kept  up  his  menace  of  war.  In- 
deed, so  eager  was  the  government  at  London  to  prey 
upon  the  Dutch  possessions  that  war  had  already  been 
resolved  on  in  the  Privy  Council  of  England,  even  before 
the  resolution  of  the  States-General,  to  inquire  into  the 
matter  and  enforce  the  law,  had  been  voted.  In  order 
to  precipitate  hostilities  and  place  the  Republic  in  the 
position  of  a  belligerent,  before  its  envoys  bearing  formal 
notification  of  accession  to  the  armed  neutrality  could 
reach  the  court  of  St.  Petersburg,  the  British  government 
abruptly  recalled  Sir  Joseph  Yorke  from  the  Hague.  The 
declaration  of  war,  promulgated  in  London  on  December 
28,  1780,  but  not  known  in  Holland  until  a  week  after- 
wards, omitted  any  allusion  to  the  true  cause  of  quarrel, 
and  laid  stress  upon  the  matters  connected  with  the  United 
States  of  America. 

The  real  motive  for  Great  Britain's  going  to  war  with 
Holland  was  apparent.  It  was  neither  to  avenge  slighted 
honor,  nor  to  heal  irritated  pride,  but  it  was  to  recoup 
herself,  by  means  of  the  rich  prizes  to  be  taken  from 
the  Dutch,  for  the  losses  which  she  had  sustained  in  the 
American  war.  Even  before  the  declaration  of  war  could 
have  reached  the  enemy's  country  and  before  the  Dutch 
knew  anything  about  it,  the  operations  had  begun.  With- 
in thirty-four  days  two  hundred  Dutch  ships,  with  their 
cargoes,  valued  at  fifteen  million  guilders,  were  seized 
in  British  ports,  and  a  wholesale  confiscation  of  islands, 
ports,  lands,  and  vessels  continued  for  years,  which  en- 
abled Great  Britain  to  replenish  her  treasury  and  make 
up  for  her  losses  in  America. 

While  Great  Britain,  urged  on  by  the  hope  of  abundant 
plunder,  entered  eagerly  and  instantly  upon  war,  the  Dutch 
were  supine  and  languid.  Torn  with  political  dissensions, 
they  had   very  little   real   devotion    for    their   country. 


1Y80]  GREAT  NAVAL  VICTORY  887 

Their  politicians  were  filled  with  the  rancor  of  partisan- 
ship, which  was  mistaken  for  patriotism.  Their  country 
and  their  colonial  possessions  were  vulnerable  at  every 
point,  and  soon  most  of  the  Dutch  settlements  in  three 
continents  had  changed  owners.  In  European  waters 
there  were  many  gallant  naval  duels  between  single  Dutch 
privateers  and  British  vessels,  in  which,  though  usually 
beaten  on  account  of  the  inferior  size  and  armament  of 
their  ships,  the  Dutch  showed  the  spirit  of  their  naval 
ancestors.  One  great  combat  of  fleets  was  fought  off  the 
Doggerbank,  on  the  North  Sea.  Rear- Admiral  Zoutman, 
with  fifteen  warships,  while  convoying  seventy-two  mer- 
chantmen from  the  mouth  of  the  Zuyder  Zee  to  the  Bal- 
tic, encountered  thirteen  heavier  British  ships  which  were 
convoying  a  hundred  English  vessels.  A  battle  ensued 
which  lasted  for  hours.  The  English  finally  withdrew 
from  the  fight,  but  Zoutman  kept  his  place,  though  losing 
one  of  his  ships.  While  the  Dutch  people  at  large  rejoiced 
over  this  victory,  the  stadholder  and  his  partisans  kept 
sullen  silence.  At  length,  roused  from  their  wretched 
apathy,  the  States  -  General  passed  a  vote  ordering  the 
building  of  nineteen  heavy  ships-of-war.  Nevertheless, 
the  president  of  the  Republic,  being  believed  to  have  a 
secret  and  corrupt  understanding  with  England,  and  pa- 
triotism having,  in  the  main,  sunk  to  the  level  of  mere 
partisanship,  little  was  accomplished.  Indeed,  with  such 
divisions  of  authority  in  a  federal  republic,  so  that  the 
executive  was  enabled  to  thwart  the  will  of  the  nation, 
nothing  of  importance  could  be  done. 

These  disasters,  incident  to  such  an  unsatisfactory  form 
of  government,  as  well  as  the  frequent  outbursts  of  popu- 
lar turbulence,  were  not  lost  upon  Americans.  With  the 
noble  example  of  a  tolerant  federal  republic  before  their 
eyes  as  a  living  organism,  the  American  constitutional 
fathers  failed  not  to  take  warnings  from  its  defects  and 
weaknesses,  as  well  as  inspiration  from  its  noble  feat- 
ures, when  in  Philadelphia,  in  1787,  they  resolved  that 
the  stadholder  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  of 
America  should  be  elective  and  impeachable ;  that  the 
several  departments  of  the  government  should  check  and 


888  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1780 

balance  each  other,  and  that  the  people  should  be  protect- 
ed even  from  themselves,  by  rendering  impossible  any 
dangerous  oscillations  in  the  extremes  of  centralization 
and  decentralization  of  power. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  and  his  party  were  unanimously 
opposed  to  any  recognition  of  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica, even  while  the  Dutch  popular  sentiment  was  surely 
ripening  in  favor  of  the  movement,  the  centre  of  which 
was  commercially  in  Amsterdam,  but  sentimentally  and 
politically  in  Friesland. 

Even  before  John  Adams  left  Paris  for  the  Low  Coun- 
tries, July  27,  1780,  to  present  a  memorial  to  the  Dutch 
Congress,  public  opinion  was  ripe  for  action.  The  Amer- 
ican envoy  wore  the  buff  and  blue  uniform,  and  made  him- 
self as  conspicuous  as  possible.  He  called  upon  the  noble- 
men, prominent  merchants,  and  influential  persons,  and, 
taking  Van  der  Capellen's  advice,  began  the  composition 
of  a  pamphlet,  treating  of  the  history,  resources,  and  pros- 
pects of  the  American  colonies.  This  Adams  did  when 
at  Leyden,  the  city  of  Robinson,  Brewster,  Bradford,  and 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  and  of  the  university  in  which  he 
had  placed  his  two  sons.  His  little  book  was  translated 
into  Dutch  and  circulated  throughout  the  country.  It 
reinforced  what  the  Dutch  pamphlets  and  writings  had 
already  made  plain,  that  ''  The  Originals  of  the  two  repub- 
lics are  so  much  alike  that  the  history  of  one  seems  but  a 
transcript  of  that  of  the  other,  so  that  every  Dutchman  in- 
structed in  the  subject  must  pronounce  the  American 
revolution  just  and  necessary  or  pass  a  censure  upon  the 
greatest  action  of  his  immortal  ancestors.^' 

Mass  meetings  were  now  held  in  some  of  the  Dutch 
cities,  and  petitions  were  sent  to  the  States-General  pray- 
ing them  to  recognize  the  United  States  of  America. 
Naturally,  the  democratic  state  of  Friesland  was  the  first 
to  act  through  its  legislature.  Only  seven  weeks  after 
the  issue  of  Adams^'s  memorial,  the  Frisian  delegates  in  the 
States-General  were  instructed  to  send  a  legation  to  the 
United  States.  City  after  city  in  the  Dutch  provinces 
declared  their  sentiments.  Zeeland  and  Overyssel,  Van 
der   Capellen's   state,  followed.      In    April,    Groningen, 


1782]         RECOGNITION  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC  889 

Utrecht,  and  Gelderland  joined.  On  Friday,  April  19, 
1782,  the  seventh  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Lexington, 
and  exactly  one  year  after  the  presentation  of  Mr.  Adams's 
memorial,  the  referendum  to  the  various  states  had  been 
accomplished,  and  the  national  legislature  passed  a  vote 
declaring  that  ^'Mr.  Adams  is  agreeable,  and  audience 
will  be  granted  or  commissions  assigned  when  he  shall 
demand  it."  Three  days  afterwards,  John  Adams  was 
introduced  to  the  stadholder  as  the  accredited  minister 
of  the  United  States  of  America. 

The  most  enthusiastic  and  brilliant  of  the  many  cele- 
brations of  this  recognition  of  the  American  by  the  Dutch 
Eepublic  was  that  inaugurated  and  superbly  carried  out 
by  the  faculty  and  students  of  Franeker  University.  In 
different  parts  of  the  Republic  three  silver  medals  were 
struck,  commemorating  the  friendly  union  of  the  two 
republics  whose  histories  were  so  much  alike.  Even  be- 
fore the  negotiation  of  the  treaty,  money  had  flowed  in 
freely  from  Dutch  bankers  to  replenish  the  exhausted 
treasury  of  the  United  States  of  America.  When  the 
principal  and  interest  was  repaid  in  1829,  these  loans 
amounted  to  fourteen  millions  of  dollars.  The  States- 
General  appointed  as  envoy  to  the  American  Congress 
Peter  van  Berckel,  brother  to  that  pensionary  of  Amster- 
dam who  had  excited  the  wrath  of  England  by  proposing 
just  such  a  treaty  with  America. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  while  the  policy  of  the  French  in 
assisting  Americans  with  men  and  money  had  been  part 
of  their  European  scheme  of  politics  to  weaken  England 
and  to  regain  Canada,  if  possible,  the  sympathy  of  the 
Dutch  with  America  was  real  and  sincere.  Their  only 
hope  of  advantage  lay  in  opening  new  markets  for  Dutch 
products,  especially  fish.  In  this,  however,  they  were 
bitterly  disappointed.  They  not  only  gained  little  or  no 
trade,  but  they  soon  found  a  powerful  competitor  in  the 
new  nation  itself.  The  domain  of  their  commerce  in 
China  and  the  Far  East,  where  they  had  long  a  monopoly, 
was  entered  into  by  Americans,  who,  as  soon  as  the  peace 
with  Great  Britain  had  been  declared,  loaded  their  own 
ghips  with  tarn  ^nd  ginseng,  hitherto  transshipped  through 


890  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1782 

Holland,  and  carrying  the  American  flag  around  the 
world  deprived  the  Dutch  of  their  former  gain. 

With  the  accession  of  a  new  ministry  in  England,  there 
was  manifested  a  desire  for  peace  at  the  court  of  London  ; 
and  had  the  Netherlands  been  united  in  sentiment,  a 
peace  could  have  been  made  that  would  have  been  both 
honorable  and  advantageous  ;  but  party  spirit  was  so  bit- 
ter that  it  was  impossible  to  secure  either  honor  or  satis- 
faction. Negotiations  between  France  and  England  were 
opened  in  Paris  for  a  general  peace  on  the  basis  of  the 
independence  of  the  United  States,  but  without  so  much 
as  consulting  the  Netherlands.  Fearing  lest  they  should 
be  entirely  excluded,  the  States-General  sent  two  pleni- 
potentiaries who,  when  they  asked  for  the  restoration  of 
conquests  made  from  them  during  the  war  and  compen- 
sation for  the  losses  which  they  had  sustained,  received  an 
unqualified  refusal,  and  the  two  Dutch  plenipotentiaries 
found  that  Count  Vergennes  was  but  a  broken  reed  to 
lean  upon.  Soon,  to  their  great  amazement,  they  learned 
that  preliminaries  of  peace  had  been  signed  by  all  the 
other  Powers  without  any  regard  having  been  paid  to  the 
Dutch,  other  than  including  them  in  the  armistice  with- 
out their  knowledge  or  consent.  Great  Britain  now  press- 
ed the  matter  upon  the  Republic,  refusing  to  renew  the 
old  treaties  or  give  the  Dutch  a  single  advantage,  while 
she  demanded  honors  to  her  flag,  cession  of  territory,  free- 
dom of  trade  with  the  Dutch  colonies,  and  no  compensa- 
tion for  injuries  inflicted  by  her  own  privateers. 

Disgraceful  and  humiliating  as  this  treaty  was,  it  had 
to  be  accepted  on  account  of  the  horrible  state  of  politics 
then  existing  in  the  Republic.  Each  party  began  to  crim- 
inate and  recriminate  the  other ;  nevertheless,  so  keenly 
did  the  Dutch  feel  their  degradation  in  the  eyes  of  Europe, 
that  they  now  began  to  inquire  seriously  into  the  causes 
of  their  decay.  The  feeling  that  it  was  all  owing  to  their 
hereditary  stadholderate  deepened,  and  forthwith  there 
began  discussion  and  debates  concerning  a  fundamental 
restoration  of  the  constitution.  The  towns  initiated  re- 
form by  exercising  their  right  of  nominating  their  magis- 
trates, by  restoring  their  militia,  and  by  the  formation  of 


1Y83]  FREDERICK   THE  GREAT  INTERFERES  891 

the  free  bodies  of  militia.  Once  more  the  old  Doelen,  or 
target  yards,  became  the  scene  of  numerous  and  brilliant 
assemblages  for  instruction  in  tactical  evolutions  and  the 
use  of  arms. 

However,  the  disease  of  the  nation  was  too  deeply  seated 
to  be  healed  by  mere  talk  or  display.  Feeble,  isolated, 
and  wealthy,  Holland  was  in  reality  like  a  fat  sheep,  ready 
to  be  devoured  by  such  wolves  as  might  wish  to  gratify 
their  rapacity.  So  long  as  patriotism  had  been  pure  and 
the  people  had  been  animated  by  the  .spirit  of  their  ances- 
tors, the  little  Republic  had  been  able  to  defy  even  the 
great  monarchies  around  it.  Now,  however,  in  1783, 
when  the  States-General  had  passed  a  resolution  limiting 
the  powers  and  prerogatives  of  courts-martial,  except  in 
purely  military  cases,  the  King  of  Prussia,  uncle  to  the 
wife  of  the  stadholder,  interfered  in  the  domestic  affairs  of 
the  Republic.  Frederick  the  Great,  then  a  dotard  and  in- 
firm with  gout,  commanded  his  ambassadors  to  lecture 
the  States-General  for  their  treatment  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  and  also  demanded  that  they  should  restrict  the 
freedom  of  the  press  in  the  Netherlands.  Most  of  the  del- 
egates of  the  States-General  were  subservient ;  but  those 
of  Zierikzee  intimated  that  the  German  King  had  better 
mind  his  own  business  and  not  further  embarrass  himself 
with  the  affairs  of  tlie  Republic,  of  whose  constitution  it 
was  impossible  for  him  to  form  a  correct  idea. 

The  next  danger  threatening  the  Republic  arose  along 
its  southern  border.  The  Austrian  Netherlands  had,  un- 
der Maria  Theresa,  gained  considerable  prosperity.  Edu- 
cation, commerce,  and  agriculture  had  revived,  and  many 
of  the  scars  of  that  devastation  which  had  been  wrought 
during  the  Spanish  troubles  had  been  covered  under  the 
bloom  of  literature,  art,  and  the  comfort  which  continu- 
ous industry  brings.  Flanders  and  Brabant  were  espe- 
cially the  seats  of  popular  welfare.  The  suppression  of  the 
Jesuits  was  also  a  great  blessing  to  the  country.  Prince 
Charles  of  Lorraine  and  Maria  Theresa,  the  former  after 
a  rule  of  thirty-six  and  the  latter  of  forty-one  years,  died 
in  1780.  The  new  ruler  was  the  Emperor  Joseph  the 
Second  of  Germany,  who,  with  good  intentions,  began  to 


$92  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1783 

interfere  with  ancient  institutions  and  customs.  Hither- 
to the  Dutch  had  honestly  kept  their  treaties,  and  almost 
all  their  offensive  wars  had  been  with  the  idea  of  main- 
taining the  integrity  of  the  Southern  Netherlands  against 
the  inroads  and  covetousness  of  the  great  Powers.  Joseph 
the  Second,  now  seeing  the  weakness  of  the  Dutch  Re- 
public, began  to  demolish  or  possess  himself  of  its  for- 
tresses on  the  Belgian  frontier.  Then,  in  defiance  of  the 
treaties,  he  demanded  the  opening  of  the  Scheldt  to  navi- 
gation from  Doel  to  Antwerp.  His  arrogant  demands  were 
met  by  the  Dutch  States-General  with  meekness,  they  re- 
questing the  King  of  France  to  act  as  umpire.  Louis  the 
Sixteenth  mediated,  hostilities  were  postponed,  and  the 
Scheldt  was  kept  closed,  though  two  forts  were  ceded  to 
the  Emperor,  and  a  half  a  million  dollars  were  awarded  to 
him  in  satisfaction  of  his  claims  upon  Maastricht.  The 
German  Emperor  now  proceeded  with  a  high  hand  to 
carry  out  his  own  ideas.  The  Belgians,  being  divided 
among  themselves,  could  do  nothing  against  their  foreign 
oppressor,  though  they  succeeded  in  driving  out  the  Aus- 
trians  ;  and  England,  Russia,  and  the  Republic,  on  De- 
cember 10,  1790,  guaranteed  for  a  time  the  Belgian  con- 
stitution. It  was  now  possible  for  Protestants  to  enjoy 
freedom  of  worship  and  to  hold  public  office. 

In  the  Republic  the  bitterness  between  the  stadholder 
and  the  patriots  increased  daily.  Besides  being  deprived 
of  his  command  of  the  garrison  at  the  Hague,  and  being 
limited  in  his  authority  by  the  States-General,  which  had 
become  tired  of  his  despotism,  there  were  other  signs 
which  portended  civil  war.  Even  on  Christmas  Day, 
1780,  John  Adams,  after  only  four  months'  residence  in 
the  country,  had  written  that  he  saw  ''  every  symptom  of 
an  agony  that  precedes  a  great  revolution."  When  the 
stadholder  sent  infantry,  cavalry,  and  artillery  in  a  dem- 
onstration against  the  patriot  party  at  Hattem  and  El- 
berg,  the  people  deserted  their  habitations  as  if  this  mili- 
tary force  were  an  alien  foe.  The  dissatisfaction  of  the 
patriot  party  was  so  great  that  the  stadholder  was  sus- 
pended from  his  office  of  Captain-General  of  the  Union, 
and  thus  was  virtually  deposed  from  authority. 


1783]  ON  THE   BRINK   OF  CIVIL  WAR  893 

England,  France,  and  Prussia  now  mediated  to  restore 
the  Prince  of  Orange  to  full  power,  and  the  patriot  party 
being  divided  among  themselves  gave  the  Orange  parti- 
sans opportunit}'  to  reform  and  revive  their  strength. 
The  Prince  of  Orange  resolved  to  begin  war.  On  the 
other  hand,  societies  called  ^'For  Country  and  Liberty" 
were  formed  in  the  cities,  and  bands  of  Patriots  were 
drilling  to  be  in  readiness  to  defy  him.  Hostilities  broke 
out  near  Utrecht,  in  which  about  eighty  men  were  killed 
and  wounded,  and  other  skirmishes  soon  followed.  In 
this  critical  condition  of  affairs,  when  the  nation  was  on 
the  brink  of  civil  war,  the  King  of  Prussia,  who  had  been 
watching  for  some  pretext  for  military  interference  on 
behalf  of  his  brother-in-law,  now,  to  his  delight,  discov- 
ered one.  Such  an  excuse,  and  how  to  put  it  in  effect, 
had  been  debated  at  Nymegen,  where  the  Princess  of 
Orange  and  the  ambassadors  of  Prussia  and  England 
were  in  council,  while  the  stadholder  and  his  armed  par- 
tisans were  at  Zeist.  It  was  agreed  that  the  Princess  of 
Orange  should  ride  in  her  carriage  from  Nymegen  to  the 
Hague,  in  order  to  take  advantage  of  the  growing  discon- 
tent against  the  government  in  Holland.  If  she  arrived 
safely,  she  might,  by  inciting  the  people  to  rise  in  favor 
of  her  husband,  get  up  a  revolt,  and  then  prevail  upon  the 
States-General  to  invite  the  King  of  Prussia  to  assist  in 
putting  it  down.  On  the  other  hand,  if  her  journey  were 
interrupted,  she  might  call  this  an  insult  to  the  sister  of 
the  King  of  Prussia,  and  thus  justify  foreign  interference 
and  the  commencement  of  hostilities.  It  was  thus  de- 
liberately planned  that  a  woman  should  apply  the  torch 
to  the  fuel  already  collected  for  civil  war.  Setting  out, 
accordingly,  she  was  stopped,  and,  though  treated  with 
all  deference,  was  ordered  back  to  Nymegen. 

Throughout  the  struggle  between  the  powerful  state 
of  Holland  and  the  States-General,  and  between  the  pa- 
triot and  the  stadholderal  party,  there  was  an  earnest  at- 
tempt made  by  the  more  democratic  of  the  Dutch  politi- 
cians to  lodge  the  Government  in  the  hands  of  the  people, 
or,  at  least,  to  give  them  some  direct  share  in  it.  A  pow- 
erful anonymous  pamphlet,  entitled  Aa7i  het  Volk  van 


894  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1785 

Nederland  (To  the  people  of  Netherland),  was  published 
October  17, 1781.  It  was  an  open  and  stirring  plea  against 
both  the  Prince  and  the  municipal  Regency,  and  in  favor 
of  a  democracy.  It  was  widely  circulated,  and  became 
the  theme  of  general  debate.  The  author  maintained 
that  the  people  should  have  a  direct  voice  in  the  Govern- 
ment, which  he  contended  should  be  a  mixture  and  com- 
bination of  the  powers  of  the  one,  the  few,  and  the  many, 
each  checking  and  controlling  the  other.  The  direct  in- 
fluence of  the  American  revolution  in  stimulating  the 
pride  and  rising  spirit  of  the  people  was  at  once  confessed 
by  both  the  Orange  Klants  and  the  Keezen ;  but  so  wrath- 
ful was  the  Prince  of  Orange  that,  under  his  dictation, 
the  States  of  Utrecht  and  the  States-General  offered  a 
reward  of  fourteen  hundred  guilders  for  knowledge  of  the 
author,  who,  however,  was  not  known  until  after  the  seals 
of  the  secrecy  of  nearly  a  century  had  been  removed. 
He  was  no  other  than  Baron  van  der  Capellen,  the  friend 
of  Adrian  van  der  Kemp,  the  founder  of  the  town  of 
Barneveldt,  now  Trenton,  N.  Y.,  and  the  true  father  of 
the  practical  plan  for  the  Erie  Canal. 

The  patriot  party  also  hoped  that  France  would  come 
to  their  aid ;  but  Vergennes  had  died,  the  finances  of 
France  were  disturbed,  and  the  treasury  nearly  empty. 
The  new  royal  minister,  the  Archbishop  of  Sens,  shrank 
from  any  active  support  of  the  Dutch  patriots.  This 
encouraged  the  King  of  Prussia  to  further  insolence. 
He  ordered  his  ambassador  to  write,  under  his  instruc- 
tions, a  letter  to  the  Princess,  inviting  her  to  come  to  the 
Hague,  and  requiring  the  Patriots  to  implore  her  pardon 
for  their  errors,  to  revoke  all  previous  resolutions  against 
her,  and  agreed  to  punish  all  who  had  any  share  in  hu- 
miliating her.  All  this  was  to  be  done  at  four  days^  no- 
tice. The  patriots  Van  Berckel  and  Gyzelaar  demanded 
that  no  notice  be  taken  of  this  insulting  document,  but  a 
resolution  was  passed  that  ambassadors  should  be  sent  to 
Berlin. 

Meanwhile  the  Prussian  troops,  twenty  thousand  in 
number,  were  in  motion,  while  Great  Britain,  besides 
reinforcing  her  navy,  had  made  a  treaty,  agreeing  to  pay 


1788]  PRUSSIANS  INVADE  GELDERLAND  895 

twelve  thousand  Hessians  to  invade  the  Netherlands, 
should  France  offer  any  aid.  The  Prussians  entered  Gel- 
derland,  September  13th,  one  division  camping  near  Arn- 
hem,  while  the  second,  crossing  the  Waal  at  l^ymegen, 
appeared  before  Gorkum  on  the  17th.  This  fortified 
town,  under  the  command  of  Alexander  van  der  Capel- 
len,  was  compelled  to  surrender,  and  the  people  welcomed 
the  Duke  of  Brunswick  with  cries  of,  "Oranje  boven.^' 
One  body  of  Prussians  marched  towards  Naarden  and 
another  proceeded  along  the  Lek,  while  Utrecht,  which 
the  Patriots  had  fortified  at  great  expense,  was  basely 
surrendered  by  the  Rheingraf  van  Salm,  its  treacherous 
commander.  The  States  of  Holland  now  violently  swayed 
towards  the  cause  of  the  stadholder,  and  the  edicts 
against  Orange  badges  and  party  songs — a  form  of  ani- 
mosity and  colorphobia  which  had  extended  even  to  car- 
rots—  were  suspended,  and  the  commission  of  defence 
ordered  that  no  further  resistance  should  be  made  to  the 
invaders.  Thus,  inside  of  a  week,  the  Patriots  fell  from 
the  heights  of  hope  to  the  depths  of  despair.  Deserted 
by  France,  they  could  offer  no  more  resistance. 

The  stadholder  once  more  entered  the  Hague,  welcomed 
as  a  beloved  sovereign,  while  the  streets,  houses,  and 
churches  were  decorated  with  bands  and  masses  of  orange. 
Only  Amsterdam  held  out.  The  people  of  this  city 
pierced  the  dikes  and  laid  the  country  under  water,  but 
neglected  to  guard  the  Haarlem  water-way.  The  Duke 
of  Brunswick  was  thus  enabled  to  send  a  force  in  boats, 
and  by  so  doing  compelled  the  surrender  of  the  city,  thus 
completing  an  almost  bloodless  revolution  in  a  fortnight. 
For  the  first  time  in  her  history  Amsterdam  became  the 
encampment  of  a  victorious  enemy.  England  and  Prussia 
now  joined  hands  to  guarantee  the  hereditary  stadholder- 
ate.  All  over  the  country  the  Patriots  were  forced  to 
wear  orange  badges,  and  this  shameless  interference  by 
foreign  governments  with  the  domestic  concerns  of  an 
adjoining  state  was  defended  even  by  the  Whigs  as  well 
as  by  the  Tories  in  the  English  Parliament.  •  Never  be- 
fore had  the  Dutch  fallen  so  low.  Rewards  were  show- 
ered upon  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  who  was  called  by  the 


896  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1788 

Orangists  the  defender  of  their  ancient  liberty.  When 
he  retired  from  the  country,  this  German  deliverer  took 
away  as  his  lawful  booty  the  arms  and  ammunition  be- 
longing to  Holland,  and  left  behind  him  four  thousand 
Prussian  soldiers  to  garrison  the  dijfferent  towns. 

Meanwhile  the  personally  feeble  stadholder,  aided  by 
his  able  and  brilliant  wife,  strengthened  his  power  in 
every  way.  An  entirely  new  set  of  deputies  in  the  Orange 
interests  were  sent  to  the  States  of  Holland ;  and,  since 
most  of  the  patriot  leaders  were  either  refugees  or  living 
in  private,  there  were  very  few  anti-Orangists  to  be  found 
in  the  assembly.  Van  Berckel  and  Zeebergen  were  de- 
clared incapable  of  serving  as  legislators,  and  Bleiswyk 
was  succeeded  by  Van  de  Spiegel.  The  Princess  of  Orange 
busied  herself  in  forming  a  party  at  court  and  throughout 
the  country  wholly  favorable  to  her  own  interests.  Fort- 
unately, however,  through  Van  de  Spiegel,  the  tutor  of 
the  hereditary  Prince  of  Orange,  political  matters  were 
greatly  improved. 

The  Eepublic  was  now  little  more  than  a  province, 
jointly  administered  by  Prussia  and  England,  the  Dutch 
being  indifferent  and  supine  towards  the  politics  of  Eu- 
rope. Their  commerce  was  almost  ruined  and  the  public 
spirit  was  at  its  lowest  ebb.  Of  the  patriot  leaders, 
eighteen,  including  Van  Berckel  and  De  Gijselaar,  had 
been  outlawed.  Hundreds  more  were  refugees  in  France, 
ready  to  take  advantage  of  any  new  turn  of  fortune. 
Others,  like  Adrian  van  der  Kemp,  had  fled  to  the  United 
States  of  America  to  find  a  new  home  in  the  land  of 
promise. 

Though  that  effective  example  of  resistance  of  revolu- 
tion from  without,  usually  called  the  American  Kevolu- 
tion,  did  not  avail  to  give  the  Netherlands  government 
by  the  people,  it  was  influential  in  bringing  on  the  French 
revolution,  which  had  an  immediate  and  lasting  influence 
upon  the  Dutch  Republic.  The  French  armies  overran 
the  Belgic  Netherlands,  and  then  demanded  the  free  nav- 
igation of  the  Scheldt.  The  national  convention  of  France, 
finding  that  the  stadholder  William  the  Fifth  was  the 
ally  and  obedient  servant  of  England,  declared  war  against 


1794]  THE   ADVENT   OF  FREEDOM  897 

him,  and  also  proclaimed  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Re- 
public were  released  from  the  oath  which  they  had  been 
forced  to  take  in  1788,  and  that  all  who  still  felt  bound 
by  such  oath  were  enemies  of  the  French  people.  Both 
the  stadholder  and  the  States-General,  his  willing  servant, 
answered  with  a  manifesto,  prepared  for  defence,  and  be- 
gan to  guard  their  frontiers.  Soon  afterwards,  the  French 
general,  Dumouriez,  having  but  fourteen  thousand  men, 
among  whom  were  two  thousand  Dutch  refugees,  and 
only  a  slight  train  of  artillery,  invaded  the  Republic.  The 
invaders  were  almost  everywhere  successful,  despite  some 
assistance  sent  by  the  British  government,  and  the  pa- 
triotic party  favoring  them  formed  revolutionary  com- 
mittees and  gave  a  welcome  to  their  French  allies.  The 
severe  winter  of  1794-95,  which  threw  natural  bridges 
over  the  rivers  and  canals,  assisted  the  invaders.  Gen- 
eral Pichegru  captured  Amsterdam  and,  by  means  of  his 
hussars,  the  Dutch  fleet,  which  had  been  frozen  in  the  ice 
at  the  Texel.  In  all  the  towns  and  cities  where  the  pa- 
triot party  was  in  the  ascendant,  the  people  erected  lib- 
erty poles,  on  the  top  of  which  they  put  hats  made  out  of 
tin,  often  of  great  size,  and  painted  with  the  tricolor,  red, 
white,  and  blue.  Around  these  they  danced  in  mirth  and 
joy,  hailing  the  advent  of  freedom  and  the  abolition  of 
the  oppressive  monopolies  and  privileges,  the  relics  of 
feudalism,  all  of  which  centred  in  the  hereditary  stad- 
hol derate.  The  French  crossed  the  Waal,  and  with  su- 
perior force  scattered  the  English  detachments  opposing 
them. 

The  stadholder,  William  the  Fifth,  now  bade  farewell  to 
the  States-General  at  the  Hague,  went  down  to  Schevenin- 
gen  and  left  the  country,  getting  off  in  a  fishing-smack 
to  England.  This  departure  took  place  in  accordance 
with  an  ultimatum  of  the  French  national  convention, 
and  as  an  indispensable  preliminary  to  the  conclusion  of 
a  treaty  with  the  States-General.  The  next  day  the  am- 
bassadors of  Great  Britain,  Prussia,  Spain,  Italy,  and 
Hanover  returned  to  their  respective  governments. 

Into  the  details  of  the  French  occupation  of  the  North- 
ern Netherlands  we  need  not  enter,  but  give  merely  an 

67 


898  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1*794 

outline  of  the  events  between  ''the  eighteen  unhappy 
years''  from  1795  to  1813.  Whether  under  the  name  of 
the  ''  Batavian  Republic,"  the  kingdom  of  Holland,  or 
the  provinces  of  the  French  empire,  the  French  occupa- 
tion was  virtually  a  French  conquest  that  had  little  per- 
manent influence  on  Dutch  history  or  character. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE    FRENCH    OCCUPATION- 

The  revolutionary  committees  now  prepared  the  peo- 
ple to  greet  the  French  as  friends  and  brethren.  In 
Amsterdam  the  liberty -tree  was  planted  on  the  Dam. 
Throughout  most  of  the  towns  and  cities  the  revolution- 
ary committees,  which  had  already  been  organized,  ad- 
ministered affairs  when  the  old  governments  abdicated. 
On  the  22d  of  January,  179G,  the  French  army  entered  the 
Hague,  where,  as  in  the  other  cities,  the  people  frater- 
nized with  their  invaders,  hailing  them  as  friends.  The 
revolution  being  completed,  the  central  committee  sent 
out  their  invitations.  Deputies  came  up  from  all  the 
states  to  the  Hague  in  March,  1796,  where  a  national  con- 
vention met,  which  acknowledged  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people  and  the  rights  of  man.  Even  the  villages  had  rep- 
resentatives of  their  own,  and  the  Batavian  Republic,  first 
proclaimed  May  IG,  1795,  became  a  fact. 

Although  the  ancient  privileges  and  monopolies,  which 
so  long  had  rested  heavily  upon  the  Dutch  people,  were, 
with  the  guilds  and  the  titles  of  nobility,  abolished,  and 
the  constitution  of  1798  and  that  of  1801  promised  sta- 
bility and  prosperity,  yet  the  Dutch  had  to  pay  dearly  for 
their  freedom.  They  soon  learned  the  difference  between 
an  American  and  a  French  "revolution."  Instead  of 
their  deliverers  reforming  the  constitution  in  the  manner 
thought  best  by  the  revolutionary  committees  and  pa- 
triots, the  Dutch  people  found  they  could  do  nothing 
except  "at  the  bidding  of  their  French  masters,  who  com- 
pelled them  to  lay  an  embargo  on  British  vessels  then  in 
their  ports.     This,  of  course,  once  more  brought  on  a  war 


900  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1807 

with  Great  Britain,  which  pursued  her  usual  policy  of 
seizing  the  possessions  of  the  Republic  in  various  parts 
of  the  world.  So  it  happened  that  soon  Dutch  commerce 
and  fisheries  were  nearly  paralyzed  and  the  colonies  lost. 
The  towns  and  magazines  of  the  Batavian  Republic  were 
held  by  foreigners,  and,  besides,  its  people  were  required 
to  take  an  oath  that  nothing  should  be  done  against  the 
French  Republic.  The  demands  of  the  French  army  for 
forage  and  fuel  were  insatiable,  while  in  payment  the 
people  were  compelled  to  receive  that  worthless  paper- 
money  called  the  ^^assignats."  In  October,  1797,  after 
blockading  the  Texel  so  as  to  utterly  ruin  Holland^s  com- 
merce, the  British  admiral,  Duncan,  won  a  victory  over 
the  Dutch  fleet,  under  Admiral  de  Winter,  at  Kamperduin. 
The  Batavian  Republic  became  virtually  a  province  of 
France. 

Various  changes  in  government  followed — the  Dutch, 
meanwhile,  losing  the  flower  of  their  young  men  in  fight- 
ing the  battles  of  Napoleon,  who  had  become  First  Con- 
sul of  the  French  Republic,  and  who  changed  the  consti- 
tution to  suit  his  whim.  In  1799  an  army  of  10,000 
English  and  13,000  Russian  troops  landed  in  North  Hol- 
land, at  Kijkduin,  but  were  defeated  at  Bergen  and  Cas- 
tricum,  the  Dutch  failing  to  welcome  their  professed  de- 
liverers. Bonaparte  visited  the  country  in  1805,  the  year 
in  which  the  constitution  was  again  revised.  He  invested 
Rutger  Jan  Schimmelpenninck,  the  Dutch  ambassador 
at  his  court,  with  the  sole  government  of  the  Batavian 
Republic.  Although  a  council  of  nineteen  members, 
styled  their  ''High  Mightinesses,"  formed  the  law-mak- 
ing body,  yet  Schimmelpenninck  possessed  almost  mo- 
narchical power,  under  the  title  of  Pensionary,  and 
was  addressed  as  "  His  Excellency."  Under  this  pen- 
sionary the  Dutch  politicians  were  divided  into  three  par- 
ties—the Unitaries  and  the  Federalists,  with  a  small  body 
of  Democrats. 

In  1807  Napoleon  declared  the  country  a  kingdom,  and, 
calling  it ''  Holland,"  made  his  brother,  Louis,  king.  Louis 
at  once  began  earnestly  to  relieve  the  distresses  of  the 
people,  to  develop  the  resources  of  the  country,  and  to 


1808]  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HOLLAND  901 

give  unity  to  the  nation.  The  world-famous  City-hall, 
in  Amsterdam,  became  the  palace.  King  Louis  bought 
of  the  Amsterdam  banker,  Hope,  the  beautiful  country- 
seat,  a  '^Pavilion,''  near  Haarlem,  and  often  sojourned 
at  Loo,  afterwards  the  summer  residence  of  Dutch  princes 
and  sovereigns.  One  of  his  best  appointments,  made  in 
the  year  that  his  son,  the  future  Napoleon  the  Third,  was 
born,  was  that  of  Herman  Daendels  to  be  governor-gen- 
eral of  the  East  Indies,  where  he  planted  forty-five  mill- 
ion coffee -trees,  and  improved  the  administration  of 
affairs  in  many  ways.  In  1808  the  Koyal  Institute  of 
science,  letters,  and  fine  arts  was  established.  In  1810 
Louis  Napoleon,  who  had  won  great  popularity  with  the 
Dutch,  was  obliged  to  resign,  because  he  refused  to  be 
a  mere  tool  in  the  hands  of  his  brother,  the  French 
Emperor. 

Then  the  Kingdom  of  Holland,  as  it  had  been  called, 
was  divided  into  seven  departments,  and  made  an  integral 
part  of  the  French  empire.  Napoleon  declared  that  the 
Netherlands  were  nothing  more  than  a  deposit  of  earth 
brought  down  by  the  rivers  from  the  interior  of  France 
and  central  Europe,  and  so  he  insisted  .  that  by  nature 
they  were  a  part  of  France.  The  departments  created  in 
all  the  Netherlands  were  those  of  the  Zuyder  Zee,  the 
Mouths  of  the  Maas,  the  Mouths  of  the  Ehine,  the  Upper- 
Ijssel,  the  Mouths  of  the  Ijssel,  the  Western  Eems,  Frisia, 
the  Two  Nethes,  the  Mouths  of  the  Scheldt,  the  Scheldt, 
and  the  Doer,  the  three  last  being  combined  with  portions 
of  Belgium  and  Germany.  Thus  there  were  formed  eleven 
departments  in  all,  and  these  were  subdivided  into  cantons 
and  communes. 

Everything  was  now  done  that  could  be  accomplished 
to  make  the  Dutch  as  French  as  possible.  The  customs, 
manners,  tastes,  and  ideas  of  France  were  sedulously  culti- 
vated, the  Dutch  laws  were  translated  into  French,  Dutch 
youth  were  sent  to  French  schools,  while  tens  of  thousands 
of  Dutchmen  served  in  Napoleon^'s  composite  army,  no 
fewer  than  fifteen  thousand  of  them  being  in  the  disas- 
trous invasion  of  and  retreat  from  Eussia.  Meanwhile 
the  people  were  ground  down  under  the  burdens  of  taxa- 


902  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1809 

tion  and  conscription,  and  were  harrassed  with  a  political 
and  legal  system  which  was  wholly  unsuited  to  them.  On 
the  other  hand,  some  benefits,  notably  the  improvements 
of  public  roads,  unity  in  legislation,  and  a  simplification  in 
public  business,  were  undeniably  manifest.  On  Den  Held- 
er,  opposite  the  Texel  Island,  Napoleon  began  the  con- 
struction of  great  dikes,  fortifications,  and  dock-yards,  and 
employed  his  Spanish  prisoners  at  the  work,  thus  laying 
the  foundations  of  that  naval  station  of  which  the  Dutch 
are  to-day  so  proud. 

In  building  large  arsenals  and  dock-yards  at  Antwerp, 
Napoleon  excited  the  fears  and  jealousies  of  Great  Britain. 
It  was  determined  in  London  to  send  out  a  great  expedi- 
tion to  aid  the  continental  allies  of  Great  Britain  by  pre- 
venting the  concentration  of  Napoleon's  strength,  so  that 
he  should  be  unable  to  overwhelm  any  one  of  his  adversa- 
ries. This  scheme  was  planned  in  1807,  when  Prussia, 
Kussia,  and  Austria  were  powerful ;  but  it  was  not  put  in 
execution  by  the  slow-minded  British  ministry  until  early 
in  the  summer  of  1809.  By  this  time  Napoleon  had  over- 
whelmed Prussia,  reduced  Kussia  to  neutrality,  and  was 
gradually  forcing  Austria  to  succumb.  There  were  at 
this  time  but  ten  thousand  French  soldiers  in  the  Nether- 
lands, and  the  fortifications  of  Antwerp  were  not  only 
greatly  dilapidated,  but  had  only  two  thousand  invalids 
and  coast  guards  for  their  garrison.  The  belated  expedi- 
tion, consisting  of  sixty  war  vessels  and  one  hundred  and 
fifteen  gunboats,  troop-ships,  and  transports,  carrying 
forty-one  thousand  soldiers,  sailed  July  28,  1809.  Lord 
Castlereagh  had  given  orders  to  the  commander.  Lord 
Chatham,  the  elder  brother  of  Pitt,  to  advance  immediate- 
ly in  full  force  against  Antwerp.  Instead  of  going  at  once 
up  the  Scheldt,  Chatham  foolishly  stopped  to  bombard 
Flushing — a  most  useless  and  wasteful  performance.  In 
the  meantime  the  army  was  landed  and  quartered  amid  the 
swamps  of  Walcheren,  where,  in  the  malaria  of  midsum- 
mer, the  British  troops  died  by  the  thousands,  while  the 
garrison  at  Antwerp  was  reinforced  to  the  number  of  fifteen 
thousand  men.  Flushing  did  not  fall  until  August  16th, 
and  when  a  little  later  Chatham  was  ready  to  march,  there 


1809]  THE  CODE  NAPOLEON  903 

were  thirty  thousand  soldiers  ready  to  defend  Antwerp, 
while  the  British  army  was  decimated  with  marsh  fever. 
It  would  then  have  been  madness  for  him  to  have  at- 
tempted the  reduction  of  the  great  fortresses  on  the  Scheldt, 
so  the  expedition  returned  to  England,  leaving  fifteen 
thousand  men  in  Walcheren  so  as  to  compel  the  French 
to  keep  a  strong  force  in  Belgium.  Even  then  malaria 
killed  more  men  than  would  have  perished  in  a  campaign. 
One  half  died  and  the  other  half  were  permanently  disabled 
by  disease.  This  expedition  cost  the  British  tax-payers 
£20,000,000.  Its  failure  led  to  furious  onslaughts  on  the 
ministry  in  the  House  of  Commons  and  in  the  newspapers, 
and,  besides,  a  duel  was  fought  between  Lord  Castlereagh 
and  George  Canning,  the  father  of  the  so-called  "  Monroe 
Doctrine."  Around  the  Dutch  churches  in  Domburg  and 
other  villages  in  Walcheren  are  the  silent  memorials  of 
one  of  the  greatest  disasters  known  in  British  military 
history. 

Amsterdam  was  reckoned  the  third  city  of  the  French 
empire,  the  Code  Napoleon  was  made  the  law  of  the  land, 
and  the  conscription  was  rigidly  enforced.  All  males 
above  twenty  years  of  age — being  the  flower  of  the  young 
men  of  the  Netherlands — were  ranged  under  the  French 
colors,  so  that  one-fifth  of  the  whole  population  became 
soldiers  and  were  sent  to  Napoleon's  various  slaughter- 
pens.  English  goods  being  prohibited  from  entering  the 
Dutch  ports,  a  great  rise  in  the  price  of  necessaries  of 
life  took  place.  The  Dutchman  dearly  loves  his  coffee, 
which  all  classes  drink,  the  poor  especially  finding  com- 
fort in  this  decoction  of  the  oriental  bean.  The  price  of 
it  now  rose  from  twelve  to  sixty -three  stuyvers  ($1.25) 
a  pound,  while  sugar,  which  formerly  sold  at  ten  stuy- 
vers (twenty  cents),  advanced  to  sixty  stuyvers  ($i.20)  a 
pound.  Necessity  and  industry  combined  to  create  sub- 
stitutes, so  chickory  and  beet-root  sugar  were  sedulously 
cultivated  in  Netherlandish  soil.  Other  measures  equally 
odious  and  obnoxious  sowed  the  seeds  of  bitter  discontent 
against  French  rule  and  prepared  the  Dutchmen  for  re- 
volt. Education  was  deformed  rather  than  reformed. 
The  universities  of  Harder wijk  and  Franeker  were  sup- 


904  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1811 

pressed,  and  those  of  Utrecht  and  Amsterdam  were  re- 
duced to  the  grade  of  secondary  schools. 

In  the  Far  East  the  English  captured  Java  in  1811,  and 
occupied  other  Dutch  colonies ;  but  in  Japan,  after  the 
French  occupation  of  Holland,  the  Dutch  factor  at  De- 
shima  received  his  annual  vessel  from  Batavia,  and  re- 
turned it  under  the  United  States  flag  and  in  command 
of  the  American  Captain  Stewart.  In  1811  the  heroic 
Hendrik  Doef  once  more  raised  the  Netherland  flag  at 
Deshima,  the  island  in  front  of  Nagasaki. 

Napoleon's  disastrous  retreat  from  Moscow,  on  account 
of  which  many  Dutch  families  mourned  the  loss  of  their 
sons,  starved,  frozen,  or  killed,  was  succeeded  by  the  bat- 
tle of  Leipsic.  Soon  afterwards  the  allies  entered  Paris, 
and  Napoleon  abdicated  and  retired  to  Elba. 

By  this  time  the  Dutch  were  all  ready  to  ^^take  Hol- 
land.'' Gijsbert  Karel,  Count  of  Hogendorp,  called  '^^the 
father  of  the  Dutch  constitution,"  whose  statue  now 
stands  in  his  native  city  of  Rotterdam,  was  the  man  for 
the  hour.  Born  October  27, 1762,  he  was  educated  at  Ber- 
lin, and  having  served  for  a  while  in  the  German  army, 
he  went  to  America  in  1782  with  the  first  Dutch  minister. 
Van  Berckel,  and  was  six  months  in  the  new  world,  where 
he  met  Franklin,  Washington,  and  Jefferson,  with  whom 
on  his  return  home  he  kept  up  a  correspondence.  He 
travelled  also  in  Great  Britain  and  became  a  profound 
student  of  political  affairs.  In  1795»  he  founded  at  Am- 
sterdam a  famous  business  house,  and  being  full  of  public 
spirit  he  wrote  treatises  upon  sociology  and  economics. 
Since  1801  he  had  occupied  himself  with  a  plan  for  the 
constitution  of  his  country,  after  the  French  should  be 
gotten  out  of  it.  With  Count  van  Limburg  Stirum, 
Baron  van  der  Duyn  van  Maasdam,  and  three  others,  he 
held  conferences,  and  awaited  the  opportunity,  which  the 
Patriots  now  believed  to  be  not  very  far  off,  of  throwing 
off  the  French  yoke.  Accordingly,  they  bound  themselves 
with  Kemper,  the  celebrated  professor  of  law  at  Leyden, 
and  with  Falk,  the  captain  of  the  national  guard,  to  keep 
peace  and  order  after  the  battle  of  Leipsic,  October  16,1812, 
w^hen  it  was  generally  believed  that  Napoleon  was  dead. 


1813]  REVOLT  AGAINST  FRENCH   RULE  905 

Gradually  the  signs  of  revolt  against  French  rule  mul- 
tiplied. The  French  functionaries  frequently  found  the 
statues,  emblems,  and  governmental  insignia  of  Napoleon's 
empire  smeared  over  with  orange.  Such  outbursts  of  the 
paint-pots  which  covered  up  everything  with  orange  tints 
seemed  sudden,  but  were  not  mysterious  to  the  initiated. 
The  league  of  gentlemen  in  the  Hague,  under  Hogendorp, 
soon  numbered  four  hundred  members.  In  Amsterdam 
the  signs  of  changa  became  so  manifest  that  the  French 
evacuated  the  city  and  retired  to  Utrecht,  November  14, 
and  the  governor-general  and  other  French  functionaries 
followed.  The  people  of  Amsterdam  rose  up  and  made 
themselves  possessors  of  the  custom-house  and  guard- 
houses, and  a  committee  of  citizens  took  ^ssession  of  the 
government.  Two  days  later  Count  van  Limburg  Stirum 
and  the  sons  of  Hogendorp  showed  themselves  in  public 
wearing  the  orange  cockade.  Van  Limburg  Stirum  was 
made  governor  of  the  Hague.  Hogendorp  issued  a  call 
for  the  gathering  of  the  old  regents,  or  city  councils,  and 
on  the  21st  of  November  Hogendorp  and  Van  Maasdam 
proclaimed  to  the  nation  the  beginning  of  the  provisional 
government.  The  cities  of  Rotterdam  and  Haarlem 
quickly  followed  the  example  of  the  Hague  and  Amster- 
dam.* Baron  Jacob  Fagel  and  Henry  George  Perponcher, 
went  over  to  England  on  the  19th  of  November.  They 
returned  bringing  an  autograph  letter  from  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  William  Frederick,  the  son  of  William  the  Fifth, 
born  at  the  Hague  in  1772,  saying  that  he  would  return 
to  Holland,  as  his  father  had  left  it,  at  Scheveningen,  on 
a  fishing-smack.  This  he  did,  setting  foot  on  his  native 
soil  November  30th.     He  was  warmly  welcomed. 

On  the  2d  of  December,  1813,  the  French  having  evac- 
uated Utrecht,  the  Prince  of  Orange  took  oath  as  sover- 
eign-prince to  respect  the  constitution.  The  English 
drove  the  last  remnants  of  French  out  at  Zeeland.  Von 
Bulow  and  his  Cossacks  overran  Gelderland,  Overyssel, 
Groningen,  and  Friesland,  ejecting  the  French  garrisons, 
while  the  Dutch  or  their  allies  gained  possession,  one  after 
the  other,  of  Arnhem,  Coevorden,  Naarden,  and  smaller 
places.     The  military  system  was  now  reformed,  the  re- 


906  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1813 

served  forces,  consisting  of  men  from  seventeen  to  Mty 
years  of  age,  to  be  enrolled  by  inscription.  An  active 
army,  partly  of  volunteers  and  partly  of  conscripts,  was 
quickly  formed,  consisting  of  twenty-five  thousand  men. 
In  addition  to  the  regular  taxes,  the  nation  made  a  free- 
will offering  of  one  hundred  thousand  guilders  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  country.  Everywhere  in  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica people  were  amused  to  hear  the  strange  news — "  The 
Dutch  have  taken  Holland/' 


CHAPTER  XV 
THE  KIN^GDOM  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS 

HoGENDORP  was  made  president  of  the  commission  of 
fifteen  persons  whom  the  Prince  of  Orange  had  nominated 
for  the  preparation  of  a  national  "ground-law."  This 
statesman's  elaborate  sketch  became  the  basis  of  the  con- 
stitution which  was  presented  before  a  convocation  of  six 
hundred  notable  men  of  the  land,  who  met  together  in  the 
New  Church  at  Amsterdam,  March  29, 1814.  After  grave 
consideration,  four  hundred  and  forty-eight  of  them  voted 
in  favor  of  the  instrument,  called  the  "fifth  constitution," 
which  consisted  of  nine  chapters  and  one  hundred  and 
forty-six  articles.  It  guaranteed  a  national  legislature  of 
one  hundred  and  ten  members  in  two  chambers,  freedom 
of  religion,  equality  of  all  before  the  law,  and  independence 
of  the  judiciary.  It  fixed  the  boundaries  of  the  nine  prov- 
inces and  awarded  to  each  one  on  the  sea -coast  the  ad- 
jacent islands,  fixed  the  annual  income  of  the  sovereign 
prince,  whose  title  was  "  Royal  Highness,"  at  one  million 
five  hundred  thousand  guilders,  and  settled  various  other 
details  of  the  government.  On  the  next  day  the  Prince 
of  Orange  was  solemnly  inaugurated  king,  Domine  Petrus 
Haack  preaching  the  sermon. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  new  States-General  was  on  the 
2d  of  May,  1814.  By  the  Congress  of  Europe,  at  the  first 
Peace  of  Paris,  Nederland  and  Belgium  were  made  into 
one  kingdom  under  the  sovereignty  of  the  House  of  Orange- 
Nassau.  William  Frederick,  the  new  king,  took  the  sov- 
ereignty over  Belgium  in  July.  Nederland  received  back 
from  Great  Britain  her  colonies  which  she  had  possessed 
previously  to  January  1,  1803,  with  the  exception  of  Cey- 


908  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1815 

Ion,  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Demerara,  Essequibo  in 
Venezuela,  and  Berbice  in  Guiana.  In  compensation  for 
his  hereditary  possessions,  which  were  taken  partly  by 
Prussia  and  partly  by  Nassau,  King  William  was  given  the 
Duchy  of  Luxemburg,  of  which  he  became  the  Duke,  as 
well  as  King  of  all  the  Netherlands.  The  Congress  of 
Vienna,  which  put  Napoleon  under  ban,  made  Luxem- 
burg a  part  of  the  Germanic  confederation,  with  seven- 
teen votes.  Louis  the  Eighteenth,  as  head  of  the  House 
of  Bourbon,  being  made  king  of  France,  reigned  but  a 
hundred  days.  Napoleon  landed  at  Cannes  on  the  first  of 
March,  1815,  and  soon  had  one  hundred  thousand  men  in 
arms  under  his  eagles. 

The  call  to  deliver  Europe  from  one  who  oppressed  it  in 
the  name  of  democracy  was  most  heartily  heeded  in  the 
Netherlands,  and  an  army  of  twenty-five  thousand  enthu- 
siastic soldiers,  led  by  the  Prince  of  Orange,  eldest  son  of 
the  king,  marched  with  Wellington  and  Blucher,  who 
gathered  a  host  of  two  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  men. 
At  Quatre  Bras  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  his  Dutch  troops 
performed  prodigies  of  valor  and  drove  back  Marshal  Ney. 
On  the  field  of  Waterloo,  also,  June  18,  1815,  the  Prince 
led  the  Netherlands  troops,  who  fought  with  steady  brav- 
ery, winning  from  Wellington  a  splendid  tribute  of  praise. 
The  Prince  was  wounded  and  left  the  field,  but  only 
when  in  the  hands  of  the  surgeon.  William  Frederick  of 
Orange  was  crowned  King  of  all  the  Netherlands,  in  Brus- 
sels, September  27,  1815,  and  in  October  Napoleon  was  an 
exile  at  St.  Helena. 

It  was  a  hazardous  experiment  in  statecraft  to  attempt 
thus  to  cement  into  one  two  peoples  so  diverse  in  religion, 
language,  character,  and  interests,  as  the  Dutch  and  the 
Belgians.  Moreover,  the  personality  of  King  William,  who 
was  rather  a  brave  military  officer  than  a  wise  and  patient 
statesman,  did  not  promise  a  brilliant  future  for  this  ill- 
assorted  union.  He  gave  himself  vigorously  to  the  de- 
velopment of  his  domain,  and  great  enterprises  were  un- 
dertaken. These  promised  to  change  ''the  cockpit  of 
Europe  "  into  a  peaceful  garden,  in  which  the  scars  of  war 
should  be  healed  "  in  the  sweet  oblivion  of  flowers."    He 


1815]  THE  NEW   CONSTITUTION  909 

had  named  a  commission  of  twenty-one  members  to  pre- 
pare and  revise  a  constitution  for  all  the  Netherland  prov- 
inces. The  commission  held  its  sessions  in  Holland,  fin- 
ishing this,  the  ''^  sixth  constitution,"  in  July,  1815.  One 
hundred  and  ten  members  of  the  two  chambers  of  the 
States-General  of  the  Netherlands  unanimously  accepted 
the  instrument.  The  King  now  called  together  in  the 
Belgic  or  Southern  Netherlands  a  convention  of  sixteen 
hundred  and  three  notables,  one  for  every  two  thousand 
inhabitants,  to  consider  and  ratify  the  new  constitution. 

The  famous  Bishop  of  Ghent,  Maurice  Jean  Magdaleine 
de  Broglie,  who  had  been  driven  from  his  see  during  the 
French  regime,  had  returned  and  been  reinstated.  With 
tremendous  vigor  and  constant  activity  he  threw  his 
great  influence  against  the  new  constitution,  which  was 
not  very  democratic  in  its  general  provisions.  When  the 
notables  assembled,  only  thirteen  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  were  present.  Of  these,  seven  hundred  and  ninety- 
six  voted  in  favor  of,  and  five  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
voted  against,  the  new  constitution,  while  two  hundred  and 
eighty  withheld  their  votes.  This  augured  ill  for  the  suc- 
cess of  the  union  of  the  two  kingdoms,  and  the  outlook 
was  even  less  promising  when  the  ecclesiastical  powers  in 
Belgium  issued  their  manifesto,  entitled  ''  The  Doctrinal 
Judgment  of  the  Bishops."  In  the  North,  Bilderdijk  and 
Tollens  sang  the  praises  of  the  King,  and  the  Dutchmen 
rejoiced.  In  the  Belgian  provinces  a  party  was  formed  to 
put  in  practice  English  constitutional  and  French  repub- 
lican ideas,  yet  the  mass  of  the  people,  being  under  the 
immediate  influence  and  control  of  their  spiritual  advisers, 
were  not  satisfied  with  the  new  order  of  things.  The 
despotic  character  and  bigotry  of  the  king  only  made  mat- 
ters worse.  He  intermeddled  unnecessarily  and  continually 
with  the  Catholics,  both  in  matters  of  religion  and  of  educa- 
tion, and  appointed  Dutchmen  as  office-holders  in  numbers, 
beyond  all  proportions  of  justice  to  those  born  south  of 
the  Scheldt.  In  1830  there  was  but  one  Belgic  Nether- 
lander among  seven  ministers  in  the  royal  cabinet.  Of 
two  hundred  and  nineteen  functionaries  in  the  depart- 
ments of  the  ministry  of  home  affairs,  all  were  Dutch  ex- 


910  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1828 

cept  fourteen,  while  of  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy-three 
infantry  officers,  only  two  hundred  and  seventy-four  were 
Belgians.  The  majority  of  the  people  in  the  Southern 
Netherlands,  being  Walloons,  spoke  French,  but  the  King, 
intending  to  make  the  Southern  Netherlanders  thoroughly 
Dutch,  required  a  knowledge  of  that  language  as  a  req- 
uisite for  office.  The  Belgians  also  complained  that  they 
were  unjustly  taxed,  that  they  were  unfairly  represented 
in  the  States-General,  and  that  unconstitutional  restric- 
tions were  laid  upon  the  press.  In  1827  King  William 
was  obliged  to  submit  to  a  concordat  with  the  pope,  plac- 
ing the  seventeen  provinces  under  an  archbishop  and 
seven  bishops,  but  the  execution  of  the  concordat  was  ob- 
structed and  not  carried  out.  The  next  year  William  sent 
a  message  to  the  States  -  General,  taking  a  high  hand  in 
limiting  the  freedom  of  the  press. 

As  matters  went  on  from  bad  to  worse,  both  the  cleri- 
cals and  the  liberals  of  Belgium  united  together,  in  1828, 
to  obtain  their  rights.  They  demanded  freedom  of  re- 
ligion, of  instruction,  and  of  the  press.  The  second 
chamber  of  the  States-General  was  now  divided  into  two 
hostile  camps.  Attempts  to  coerce  or  intimidate  the  Op- 
position, by  persecuting  the  Democratic  or  Liberal  lead- 
ers, only  made  the  Belgians  more  fiercely  discontented. 

The  tension  between  the  Northern  and  Southern  Neth- 
erlands was  now  becoming  dangerous.  The  fight  was  at 
first  conducted  in  the  press  and  on  the  platform,  the  Hol- 
landers talking  of  '^  Father  William,^'  and  the  Belgians  of 
"Father  Despot.^^  The  tone  of  the  Belgian  press  grew 
seditious.  The  adjective  "infamous"  was  openly  ap- 
plied to  oppressions  of  the  royal  ministers  and  against 
their  restrictions  of  the  liberty  of  the  press.  Everywhere 
the  Belgians  lifted  up  a  threatening  cry  against  "  the 
Hollandish  dominion." 

All  was  ripe  for  a  revolution  when  the  French  political 
volcano,  with  its  almost  periodical  outbursts,  began  a 
new  eruption  in  1830,  driving  out  Charles  the  Tenth, 
and  bringing  in  the  Bourgeois  King  Louis  Philippe. 
The  tidal -wave  upraised  in  France  reached  Brussels. 
On  the  night  of  the  24th  of  August^  the  King's  birthday. 


1831]  ANTWERP  BOMBARDED  BY  THE  DUTCH  911 

the  opera.  La  Muette  de  Portici,  which  has  for  its  subject 
the  revolt  cf  the  Neapolitans  under  Aniello  in  1647  against 
the  Spaniards,  was  being  performed.  During  this  opera 
the  French  Marseillaise  was  sung.  Aroused  by  the  sen- 
timents and  music,  a  crowd  assembled  and  began  to  de- 
stroy and  plunder  the  houses  of  the  minister.  Van  Maanen, 
and  the  printer  of  the  government  newspaper.  Two  days 
later  the  armed  citizens^  guard  put  on  the  old  Brabant 
colors,  black,  yellow,  and  red,  which  now  form  the  Bel- 
gian flag,  and  the  insurrection  became  general  all  over 
the  country. 

After  various  conferences  on  the  subject,  the  Prince  of 
Orange  entered  Brussels  on  the  31st  of  August.  Both 
he  and  the  Dutch  troops  were  driven  out.  At  Antwerp, 
the  Dutch  garrison  bombarded  the  city,  but  unable  to 
make  their  position  secure,  marched  out  and  joined  the 
main  body  of  the  army  at  Vilvoorde.  A*  second  minion 
of  the  Prince  of  Orange  to  Brussels  was  fruitless,  anir  he 
was  called  back.  The  provisional  government  called  a 
convention,  and,  meeting  on  the  4th  of  October,  pro- 
claimed the  independence  of  Belgium.  The  European 
Congress  of  London  met  in  November,  wherein  sat  Lord 
Palmerston  and  Talleyrand,  Netherland  being  represent- 
ed by  Anton  R.  Falck.  The  separation  of  the  two  coun- 
tries was  decreed  on  December  20,  1830.  A  truce  was 
ordered,  and  the  Dutch  army  retired  within  the  fron- 
tiers of  the  Northern  Netherlands.  Leopold,  who  had 
declined  the  crown  of  Greece,  was  made  King  of  the  Bel- 
gians. After  what  is  termed  "  The  Ten  Days'  Campaign," 
from  the  2d  to  the  12th  of  August,  1831,  the  treaty  called 
"the  four  -  and  -  twenty  articles"  was  settled  upon,  by 
which  the  province  of  Limburg  remained  as  part  of  the 
Dutch  Kingdom.  In  the  various  skirmishes,  probably 
less  than  a  thousand  lives  were  lost.  At  Antwerp,  the 
Dutch  Lieutenant  Van  Speijk  blew  up  his  ship  with  all 
on  board  rather  than  surrender  to  the  Belgians.  In  Brus- 
sels the  '^Martyr's  Memorial,"  in  Amsterdam  the  Metal- 
Cross  monument  in  front  of  the  palace,  and  at  Egmond- 
aan-Zee  a  bronze  lion  for  Van  Speijk  commemorate  those 
killed  in  this  war. 


912  HISTORY  OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1840 

Not  until  nine  years  afterwards  did  the  Dutch  King, 
who  remained  Grand  Duke  of  Luxemburg,  agree  to  this 
severance  between  the  two  countries.  His  acts  during 
this  period  were  not  remarkable  for  wisdom  or  dignity, 
and  they  made  him  unpopular  with  the  Dutch  and  hated 
by  the  Belgians.  Resigning  his  throne  and  abdicating 
in  favor  of  his  eldest  son,  October  7, 1840,  he  retired  with 
his  enormous  fortune  to  Berlin,  and  died  there,  December 
.12,  1843.  When,  by  the  treaty  of  London,  April  19,  1839, 
Belgium  obtained  a  guarantee  of  its  integrity,  and  the 
free  passage  of  the  Scheldt  was  secured,  Antwerp  began 
its  modern  expansion  and  growth,  entering  upon  an  era 
of  prosperity  which  made  it  one  of  the  greatest  of  modern 
seaports,  while  the  bright  and  gay  city  of  Brussels  rapidly 
became  a  second  Paris. 

In  the  Kingdom  of  Nederland,  in  1840,  the  great  prov- 
inc^of  Holland,  which  by  its  size  and  wealth  had  always 
beS  so  dangerous  to  the  stability  of  the  Republic,  was 
divided  into  the  provinces  of  North  and  South  Holland, 
with  capitals  at  Haarlem  and  the  Hague.  The  Dutch 
kingdom  thereafter  consisted  of  eleven  provinces,  the 
Duchy  of  Luxemburg  being  separate.  In  the  same  year 
some  unimportant  alterations  were  made  in  the  constitu- 
tion, and  the  Crown  Prince  was  inaugurated  as  King  Will- 
iam the  Second  in  the  New  Church  at  Amsterdam,  No- 
vember 28th. 

The  new  ruler,  who  was  a  very  different  man  from  his 
father — more  benign  and  gracious — soon  became  very  pop- 
ular. Born  in  the  Hague,  December  6,  1792,  he  accom- 
panied his  grandfather,  the  last  of  the  stadhol  ders,  to  Eng- 
land, was  educated  at  Berlin  and  Oxford,  and  served  in 
the  Spanish  and  British  armies  against  the  French,  making 
a  splendid  record  of  valor  at  Quatre  Bras  and  Waterloo, 
as  we  have  seen.  On  February  21, 1816,  in  St.  Petersburg, 
he  married  the  Russian  Princess,  Anna  Paulownia,  the  sis- 
ter of  Alexander  the  First,  Emperor  of  Russia.  After  her 
many  pretty  flowers,  including  the  blossoms  of  Japan's 
noblest  tree,  and  the  great  polder  in  North  Holland,  have 
been  named.  King  William  the  Second  loved  and  en- 
couraged art,  and,  being  of  a  military  and  romantic  turpi 


1845J  AN  ERA   OF  PROSPERITY  913 

of  mind,  he  was  less  inclined  to  interfere  in  matters  of 
state.  He  restored  order  to  the  finances,  and  the  national 
energies  being  stimulated  to  a  genuine  renovation  of  trade 
and  commerce,  the  government  of  the  Netherlands  became 
more  and  more  harmonized  with  modern  forms  and  spirit. 
A  motion  to  revise  the  constitution  was  made  in  1845  by 
nine  liberal  members  of  the  States-General,  but  at  that 
time  without  effect.  Since  then,  however,  two  parties 
have  carried  on  the  government  and  directed  politics  in 
the  kingdom — the  Liberals  and  the  Conservatives. 

When  France,  the  centre  of  revolutionary  disturbance 
in  Europe,  again  sent  out  those  political  vibrations  which 
seem  like  seismic  throes  propagating  their  force  under  the 
ocean  to  distant  lands,  Nederland  again  showed  its  stabil- 
ity and  the  proof  of  its  stronger  life.  Like  ite  silent  lead- 
er, it  stood  -^  tranquil  amid  the  waves."  In  Belgium  there 
was  a  financial  panic,  but  in  the  Netherlands  King  Will- 
iam the  Second,  yielding  gracefully  to  the  demand  Wt  a 
new  revision  of  the  constitution,  appointed  a  commission 
consisting  of  D.  Donker  Curtius,  L.  Z.  Luzac,  J.  R.  Thor- 
becke,  J.  M.  de  Kempenaar,  and  L.  D.  Storm.  The  re- 
sult of  their  labors  was  thoroughly  discussed  and  finally 
adopted  by  the  States-General,  approved  by  the  King,  and 
the  revised  constitution  became  the  law  of  the  land  on  the 
3d  of  November,  1848. 

According  to  this,  the  succession  of  the  crown  is  in  both 
the  male  and  female  line.  The  King,  sharing  his  power 
with  the  States-General,  is  commander  of  the  land  forces 
and  chief  director  of  the  colonies.  The  ministers  are  re- 
sponsible to  the  nation  and  not  to  the  sovereign.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  first  chamber,  numbering  thirty-nine,  sit  for 
nine  years.  The  members  of  the  second  chamber,  chosen 
by  the  citizens  having  the  right  to  vote,  sit  for  four  years, 
each  member  representing  forty-five  thousand  people,  and 
the  total  number  being  seventy-five. 

An  era  of  prosperity  was  ushered  in  under  the  adminis- 
tration of  John  Rudolf  Thorbecke,  the  brilliant  and  able 
Liberal  statesman,  whose  writings  had  done  so  much  to 
mould  public  opinion  in  favor  of  the  Constitution  of  1848, 
which  gave  fruition  to  the  hopes  of  republican  davs. 
58 


914  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1849 

Thorbecke  continued,  enlarged,  and  consolidated  the  work 
of  Hogendorp,  ''the  father  of  the  Dutch  constitution." 
From  the  year  1848  until  1872,  Thorbecke,  as  a  tireless 
patriot,  served  his  country  with  eminent  ability  and  wis- 
dom. He  was  three  times  at  the  head  of  the  cabinet.  Af- 
ter his  death,  an  annuity  of  twenty  thousand  guilders  to 
his  two  daughters  bears  witness  of  the  gratitude  of  King 
and  people.  To-day,  his  statue  stands  not  in  the  aristo- 
cratic and  conservative  city  of  the  Hague,  but  in  liberal 
and  appreciative  Amsterdam. 

When  William  the  Second  died  at  Tilburg  on  the  17th 
of  March,  1849,  his  oldest  son  became  King  William  the 
Third,  who  ruled  until  his  death  at  Het  Loo,  in  Gelder- 
land,  November  23,  1890.  Born  in  the  Hague,  February 
19,  1817,  he  married,  June  18,  1839,  Sophia,  a  daughter 
of  the  King  of  Wurtemburg.  Under  his  long  and  pros- 
perous reign  Nederland  enjoyed  a  great  revival  of  material 
pw5perity,  intellectual  expansion,  a  new  bloom  of  art,  and 
splendor  of  literature,  a  sound  military  and  naval  admin- 
istration, and  a  marked  revival  of  the  national  spirit  which 
has  already  lifted  the  nation  into  a  position  of  strength 
and  dignity. 

Though  his  little  kingdom  was  but  as  a  pigmy  in  size 
among  the  great  armed  giants  of  Europe,  the  King  came 
to  his  throne  and  the  revival  of  patriotism  occurred  in  the 
age  of  steam  and  electricity,  and  of  the  marvellous  devel- 
opments of  science. 

When  steam  came  to  do  a  work  that  waited  not  for  the 
■uncertain  winds  of  Heaven,  the  enterprise  of  drainage  re- 
ceived a  still  greater  impulse,  and  the  days  of  the  wind- 
mill were  numbered.  Though  thousands  still  wave  their 
arms  and  cast  their  shadows  over  the  landscape,  yet  few 
new  ones  are  now  built ;  for,  by  means  of  the  steam  dredge 
and  steam  pump,  new  water-ways  are  opened  for  the 
immense  inland  commerce  of  the  nation,  old  canals  and 
grachts  are,  through  forced  motion  of  the  water,  kept  sa- 
lubrious, while  large  low  or  flooded  tracts,  which  formerly 
bred  malaria  and  prevented  profitable  farming,  are  made 
to  smile  with  growing  food  for  men  and  his  dumb  helpers, 
so  that  health  abides  where  disease  was  wont  to  tarry.  Be- 


1852]  REVIVAL  OF  THE  NATIONAL  SPIRIT  915 

sides  pumping  out  ninety  lakes,  including  Haarlem  Meer 
(1839-1852),  diking  the  sea  coast  and  river-banks,  and  re- 
claiming to  fertility  many  thousands  of  acres  from  swamp 
and  morass,  ^^new  rivers"  and  channels  are  cut  to  order 
as  necessity  requires.  The  North  Holland  Canal,  and  the 
North  Sea  Canal,  the  first  connecting  Amsterdam  with 
Alkmaar,  Den  Helder,  and  the  Texel,  and  the  second  with 
the  North  Sea  direct,  the  new  Water  Way  of  Rotterdam 
from  the  Maas  to  the  sea,  are  noble  examples  of  modern 
engineering  science  and  proofs  of  the  revival  of  the  na- 
tional spirit. 

The  railway  system,  already  inaugurated  before  the  cor- 
onation of  King  William  the  Third,  furnishes  transporta- 
tion to  all  classes  and  is  graded  to  suit  every  purse,  some 
of  the  roads  being  owned  by  the  State,  others  by  private 
companies.  Great  lines  traverse  the  two  Hollands  and 
Zeeland  from  Den  Helder  and  Enkhuizen  to  the  Hoolf  of 
Holland  and  Flushing,  and  from  Leeu warden  and  Gron- 
ingen  to  Maastricht,  while  through  the  inland  provinces  a 
network  extends  east  and  west,  linking  together  all  the 
important  cities  from  the  Hague  to  Winterswijk,  Enschede, 
Oldenzaal,  and  Nieuweschans.  In  addition  to  the  heavy 
railways  are  steam  tramways,  which  also  link  together 
towns  and  cities  in  an  easy  chain  of  communication,  the 
tram  lines  in  North  Brabant,  Utrecht,  and  Friesland  be- 
ing of  considerable  length.  These  easy  modes  of  travel 
and  transportation,  with  other  modern  factors  of  change 
and  progress,  while  destroying  provincial  peculiarities, 
picturesque  costumes,  and  customs,  and  relegating  many 
an  old  local  legend  and  tradition  to  the  realm  of  the 
fabulous,  add  greatly  to  the  sum  of  human  comfort.  They 
also  give  the  people  an  added  sense  of  nationality,  while 
keeping  them  in  more  vital  touch  with  mankind  at  large. 
The  men  on  the  trains  and  at  the  stations,  with  their  red 
caps,  diagonal  breast-belts,  uniforms  and  head-plates,  and 
the  signal-women,  with  their  low  black  enamelled  hats  and 
blue  coats  lined  with  red,  form  the  personnel  of  a  modern 
method  of  transportation  which  requires  for  complete  suc- 
cess all  the  ancient  virtues.  The  thorough  equipment  and 
speed  of  the  trains  and  the  trim,  comfortable  stations,  re- 


916  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLANDS  [1852 

inf orced  by  the  magnificent  triumphs  and  wonderful  science 
of  engineering,  make  the  Dutch  railway  system  one  of  the 
best  fitted  for  its  purpose  in  Europe.  The  Central  Station  at 
Amsterdam  was  built  by  P.  J.  H.  Kuypers,  the  architect 
also  of  the  Rijks  or  National  Museum,  who  was  so  pro- 
foundly influenced  in  his  tastes  by  his  literary  friend,  J.  A. 
A.  Thijm,  the  father  of  modern  Hollandish  Catholic  liter- 
ature. Both  edifices  in  their  fagades  are  in  the  early 
Dutch  Renaissance  style. 

Population  steadily  increases  in  Nederland,  notwith- 
standing great  losses  by  emigration.  The  old  hive  has 
continually  swarmed  off  new  generations  of  busy  workers 
that  have  winged  their  way  over  the  seas.  The  Dutch 
emigrants  build  up  new  commonwealths  or  reinforce  old 
ones  with  the  sturdy  virtues  and  rich  blood  of  the  Father- 
land. Besides  educating  the  Pilgrims  and  many  of  the 
Pif  itan  founders  of  New  England  in  their  free  Republic, 
the  Dutch  stamped  their  genius  ineffaceably  upon  the  em- 
pire region  of  America  —  the  four  middle  states.  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware — from 
which  have  come  forth  so  many  of  those  great  construc- 
tive measures  which  have  helped  first  to  make  and  then 
to  preserve  the  American  Union.  These  States,  origi- 
nally settled  by  the  Netherlanders,  were  moulded  by  the  va- 
rious peoples  coming  from  the  cosmopolitan  Republic  and 
from  the  four  conntries  in  the  United  Kingdom,  who  took 
many  of  their  precedents  and  progressive  ideas  directly 
from  Zeeland,  Friesland,  and  Holland.  South  Africa  was 
colonized  by  the  Dutch  and  Walloons  who,  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  came  to  the  Cape  and  thence  '^  trekked  " 
their  way  with  oxen  and  wagons  into  the  interior.  Besides 
laying  the  foundations  of  order  in  most  of  the  South  Afri- 
can lands  now  owned  by  Great  Britain,  these  Africanders 
founded  the  Transvaal  Republic  and  the  Orange  Free 
State.  In  the  East  Indies,  from  the  first  discoveries  of 
the  Brothers  Houtman  to  the  days  of  the  founder  of  Ba- 
tavia,  Jan  P.  Koen,  and  until  our  own  times,  there  has 
been  a  steady  growth  of  Dutch  colonies.  The  prevalence 
of  law  and  order  in  this  region  of  the  Malay  world  is  so 
general,  and  the  government  is  so  just,  that  anything  like 


1852]  PIONEERS  OF  COMMERCE  917 

an  exception  to  the  rule,  in  an  outbreak  of  any  sort,  is  a 
god-send  to  journalist  and  novelist. 

The  Dutch  were  the  pioneers  in  attempting  to  solve 
that  problem — which  is  perhaps  the  greatest  in  our  age 
and  the  coming  centuries  —  of  reconciling  the  Oriental 
and  the  Occidental  civilizations,  and  of  the  twain  making 
one  new  and  better  standard  of  life.  The  Dutch  formed 
the  first  Asiatic  Society  for  the  exploration  of  the  mines  of 
Oriental  speech,  thought,  and  institutions.  They  brought 
back  from  the  East,  both  near  and  far — from  Arabia  and 
India,  from  the  Malay  and  the  Chinese  worlds,  and  from 
Japan — a  little  world  by  itself — the  first  manuscripts  and 
material  for  literary  study.  From  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury to  the  present  moment  Dutch  scholars  have  never 
been  surpassed,  whether  in  relative  number  or  in  quality. 
Nor  are  the  names  of  the  first  masters,  Erasmus,  Lipsius, 
Scaliger,  Heinsius,  Graevius,  and  Kilian,  greater  than 
those  of  our  century,  which,  in  Arabic  knows  De  Goeje ; 
in  Sanskrit,  Kern  ;  in  critical  knowledge  of  the  Semitic 
languages,  Kuenen  ;  in  Talmudic  Hebrew,  Wildeboer  ;  in 
comparative  religion,  De  la  Saussaye  and  Tiele ;  and  in 
the  cultus  of  China,  Schlegel  and  Groot.  In  the  opening 
of  trade  with  the  spice-lands  of  the  Far  East,  and  with 
China,  Formosa,  Cho-sen,  and  Nippon,  the  men  of  the 
Republic  were  pioneers.  Throughout  the  northern  Pa- 
cific and  in  all  the  Archipelago,  stretching  from  the  Phil- 
lippines  to  the  Kuriles,  the  number  of  familiar  Dutch 
names  on  capes,  water-ways,  and  islands  are  as  numerous 
as  in  the  extreme  south,  where  New  Zealand,  Van  Diemen's 
Land,  and  New  Holland  (Australia)  tell  of  their  restless 
enterprise. 

In  our  days  the  opening  of  Japan  to  the  commerce  of 
the  world,  its  flowering  as  a  nation,  with  a  bloom  of  art 
that  surprises  the  world,  with  a  national  spirit  supposed 
to  have  been  unknown  to  modern  Asia,  and,  in  the  last 
decade  of  this  century,  its  appearance  as  a  first-class  arm- 
ed Power,  able  to  humble  China,  with  an  army  and  navy, 
and  a  position  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  that  makes  her  some- 
thing with  which  even  Russia,  Germany,  Great  Britain, 
and  the  United  States  must  reckon,  is  one  of  the  strik- 


918  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1861 

ing  phenomena  of  history.  Yet,  he  who  would  study 
modern  Japan^  and  leave  out  the  Dutch  influence  and 
leaven,  finds  a  puzzle  rather  than  natural  law.  Knowing 
of  Deshima  and  the  Hollanders,  the  secret  is  open.  While 
nominally  shut  up  from  all  the  world,  Japan  was  con- 
stantly receiving,  during  her  two  centuries  and  a  quarter 
of  profound  peace,  incessant  fertilization  and  reinforce- 
ment from  Holland.  The  ships  that  came  every  year  from 
Amsterdam,  by  way  of  Batavia,  were  like  bees  alighting 
in  the  clover  field.  They  brought  the  vitalizing  ideas 
and  inventions  of  Holland  and  Europe.  At  Nagasaki  the 
Hollanders,  in  turn,  having  probed  the  blossoms  of  the 
Japanese  genius,  brought  their  honey  to  Europe.  The 
Dutch  taught  the  Japanese  their  own  language,  one  of 
the  strongest  and  richest  in  Europe,  to  hundreds  of  stu- 
dents, besides  furnishing  books  and  information  to  scores 
of  inquiring  spirits.  Long  before  Dai  Nippon  gave  any 
sign  to  the  world  outside  of  desire  to  enter  the  fraternity 
of  nations,  there  were  several  thousand  Japanese  who  had 
learned  the  Dutch  language  and  made  it  their  vehicle  of 
knowledge.  They  had  studied  medicine  and  surgery  of 
the  Dutch  physicians.  They  had  perused  Dutch  books 
on  subjects  illustrating  nearly  every  line  of  human  inves- 
tigation. The  first  Japanese  students  in  Europe  went  to 
school  in  Holland. 

Those  were  red-letter  days  on  the  illuminated  scroll  of 
Japan's  intellectual  history,  when,  in  1861,  Dr.  Pompe  van 
Meerdervoort,  surrounded  by  Japanese  physicians  and 
medical  students,  made  the  first  scientific  dissection  of  a 
human  cadaver,  and  later  erected  a  hospital  at  Nagasaki. 
It  was  another  type  of  the  English  reaper,  who  has  ever 
gathered  where  the  Dutch  sower  first  cast  in  seed,  when 
Fukuzawa,  Japan's  '^  grand  old  man,"  who  began  his 
culture  in  the  language  of  Vondel,  continued  in  that  of 
Shakespeare.  On  July  4,  1869,  instead  of  taking  sword 
and  rushing  to  the  battle  of  Uyeno,  he  sat  down  on  the 
same  day  of  conflict  with  three  fellow-students  to  study 
Wayland's  Moral  Science. 

Even  when  the  trade  with  Japan  ceased  to  be  of  any 
profit,  the  Dutch  kept  it  up  for  sentiment's  sake  and  the 


1861]  DUTCH   INFLUENCE   IN  JAPAN  919 

honor  of  their  flag.  In  1844,  King  William  the  Second 
sent  out  two  Dutch  men-of-war  on  a  friendly  mission  to 
Japan,  carrying  his  letter  of  February  15,  in  which  he 
warned  the  Shogun  in  Yedo  to  be  prepared  for  defence 
after  the  Opium  War  in  China ;  or,  preferably,  to  open 
their  country  to  foreign  trade.  When  the  young  Repub- 
lic in  the  West  was  moving  towards  the  Pacific ;  when, 
through  Marcus  Whitman,  Oregon  and  the  northern  Pa- 
cific Slope  came  under  control  of  the  government  of  Wash- 
ington, and  when,  after  the  war  with  Mexico,  our  gold- 
seekers  and  merchants  fiocked  to  California,  while  our 
whaling  ships  were  passing  by  the  score  along  Japanese 
coasts,  then  the  Dutch,  having  long  before  prepared  the 
Japanese  to  consider  the  idea  of  abandoning  their  life  as 
a  hermit  nation,  went  still  further.  In  1852,  after  hav- 
ing furnished  charts  and  interpreters,  and  the  knowl- 
edge which  equipped  Commander  Perry  for  his  task, 
they  notified  the  Japanese  of  the  American  expedition, 
and  ii^  1853  earnestly  advised  them  to  give  friendly  wel- 
come.* 

Commodore  Matthew  C.  Perry,  whose  son-in-law,  the 
Honorable  August  Belmont,  was  at  the  same  time  minis- 
ter at  the  Hague,  was  able  to  win  from  the  Shogun  a 
treaty  of  amity  and  protection  to  American  seamen,  the 
standard  text  of  which  was  in  the  Dutch  language.  A 
Dutch  secretary,  Henry  Heusken,  after  ably  assisting  the 
American  minister,  Townsend  Harris,  in  securing  the  open- 
ing of  the  country  to  foreign  trade  and  residence,  and  the 
British,  German,  and  French  envoys  in  their  treaty-mak- 
ing, became  the  first  victim  to  the  Japanese  assassin^s 
sword,  f  The  Dutch  language  had  been  the  basis  of 
Japan's  European  culture  for  a  century,  and  the  band  of 
students  and  educated  men  who  began  the  first  movements 
of  medical,  literary,  social,  political,  and  religious  reform, 
who  furnished  both  the  war-leaders  that  overthrew  feu- 
dalism, and  the  statesmen  that  created  the  government  of 
the  Meiji  period  (1868-1894)  were,  all  of  them,  men  who 

*  See  Life  of  Malthm  Calhraith  Perry,  a  Typical  American  Naval  Officer. 
\  See  Townsend  Harris^  First  American  Envoy  in  Japan. 


920  HISTORY  OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [1863 

had  sat  at  the  feet  of  the  Dutchmen  of  Nagasaki  as  their 
teachers. 

It  is  true  that  the  hermit  among  the  nations,  that  had 
so  long  made  himself  outcast,  did  not  come  to  himself 
and  advance  to  the  world's  house  of  brotherhood  without 
reaction  and  war,  nor  has  the  present  civilized  and  par- 
tially Christianized  Japan  reached  the  high-water  mark 
of  1897  without  the  undertow  of  Chauvinism.  Twice  did 
the  Dutch  ally  themselves  with  the  British,  French,  and 
Americans  to  humble  those  ultra-patriotic  clansmen  of 
Choshiu  who  first  insulted  foreigners  and  then  profited 
by  chastisement  from  them  to  bring  forth  the  peaceable 
fruits  which  we  behold  in  constitutional  Japan.  Obeying 
the  Mikado  and  disobeying  their  Shogun,  this  clan,  so 
signally  rich  in  men  of  civic  ability,  erected  batteries 
commanding  the  straits  of  Van  der  Capellen  at  Shimono- 
seki.  They  began  at  once  both  civil  and  foreign  war,  by 
opening  their  artillery  first  on  the  American  steamer 
Pemlrohe,  June  25,  and  then  July  9,  1863,  on  the  Neth- 
erland's  corvette.  Medusa.  To  fire  on  the  old  red,  white, 
and  blue  flag,  familiar  in  Japanese  waters  long  before  ever 
a  Pilgrim  Father  left  Holland  for  America,  seemed  to  the 
Dutch  captain,  afterwards  Admiral  F.  F.  de  Casembroot, 
a  more  heinous  offence  even  than  to  insult  the  newer  flag 
having  the  same  colors.  As  the  wooden  frigate  received 
the  concentrated  fire  of  eight  batteries  and  two  armed 
vessels,  both  Casembroot  and  his  men  showed  that  *^ Dutch 
courage''  was  one  thing  in  British  satire  and  another 
thing  in  reality.  The  coolness  and  valor  of  the  sailors 
were  the  same  as  of  yore.  Though  the  Japanese  heavy 
eight-inch  guns  were  many  and  well  served  by  native  stu- 
dents of  Dutch  treatises  on  artillery,  yet  the  Medusa, 
moving  slowly  up  the  narrow  ocean  stream,  which  is  here 
but  nine  hundred  yards  wide  and  runs  like  a  mill-race, 
kept  up  a  constant  fire  against  the  two  warships  and  the 
six  batteries,  silencing  one  of  the  latter  mounting  eight 
heavy  guns.  For  an  hour  and  a  half  the  Medusa  was  the 
target  for  a  thousand  artillerists,  and  was  struck  by  thirty- 
one  shots,  seventeen  of  which  pierced  her  hull.  Three 
eight-inch  shells  burst  on  board.     Yet,  while  splinters  and 


1864]  "CHURCH   UNDER   THE   CROSS"  921 

bolts  flew  around  the  ship  in  a  manner  such  as  no  Dutch 
vessel  had  known  since  Kamperduin,  and  the  sailors  had 
never  before  been  under  fire,  they  served  their  guns  cool- 
ly and  with  rapidity.  Four  men  were  killed  and  five 
wounded. 

When,  on  September  5  and  6,  1864,  the  allied  fleet  of 
nine  British,  three  French,  four  Dutch  vessels,  with  one 
tug  flying  the  American  flag,  making  seventeen  ships  with 
7590  men  and  208  guns,  first  cleaned  out  the  forts  and 
then  landed  and  destroyed  them,  Casembroot  again  com- 
manded the  Dutch  men-of-war.  His  ships  were  the  Met- 
alen  Kruis,  a  screw  steamer  of  sixteen  guns,  named  after 
the  metal  cross  awarded  to  the  Dutch  heroes  in  the  war 
with  Belgium  in  1830 ;  the  DjamM,  a  screw  steamer  of 
sixteen  guns,  bearing  the  name  of  a  Dutch  possession  in 
Sumatra ;  the  Amsterdam,  a  paddle-wheel  frigate  of  six- 
teen guns,  and  the  Medusa.  The  Metalen  Kruis  and  the 
Djamhi  were  in  the  advanced  squadron.  The  Medusa 
was  in  the  light  squadron  which  took  the  batteries  in 
flank.  The  Amsterdam  was  at  first  kept  in  reserve  to 
render  assistance  to  any  ship  disabled  or  grounded,  but 
afterwards  took  an  active  part  in  the  bombardment  and 
landing  of  the  troops.  The  Dutch  marines  also  had  a 
fair  share  in  those  land  operations  which,  with  the  terrific 
ship  fire,  taught  the  Japanese  a  lesson  from  which  they 
were  not  slow  to  profit.  In  the  National  Museum  at  Am- 
sterdam hang  the  battle  flags  of  the  Dutch  squadron,  not 
far  away  from  the  noble  monument  erected  to  the  mem- 
ory of  the  soldiers  slain  in  the  Dutch  East  Indian  wars. 

The  modernizing  of  Dutch  politics  showed  that,  while 
the  country  had  for  its  government  a  kingdom  in  form, 
it  was  a  republic  in  reality.  In  a  word,  the  constitutional 
monarchy  fulfilled  the  hopes  of  the  Republic.  Neverthe- 
less, the  liberality  of  tone  and  sentiment,  going  by  a  nat- 
ural reaction  perhaps  too  far,  created  within  the  national 
church  a  new  commotion,  or  series  of  commotions,  which 
issued  in  the  formation  of  the  Christian  Reformed  Church, 
or  the  new  "Church  Under  the  Cross.^'  This,  besides 
building  up  many  congregations  and  edifices  in  a  new  de- 
nomination in  Nederland,  was  the  direct  cause  of  a  large 


922  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1874 

emigration  to  America,  in  the  years  1846  and  1847,  the 
first  of  importance  since  the  earlier  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  The  story  of  these  ''^new  Pilgrim  Fathers  "is 
one  of  romantic  interest,  and  their  semi-centennial  or 
jubilee  was,  in  September,  1897,  remembered  in  Wisconsin 
and  I^ebraska,  and  celebrated  with  great  enthusiasm  in 
Pella,  Iowa,  and  Holland,  Michigan. 

While  the  National  Eef  ormed  Church  (de  Nederlandsche 
Hervormde  Kerk)  is  still  the  means  of  spiritual  culture 
to  perhaps  a  majority  of  the  nation,  the  Christian  Ee- 
formed  Church  has,  in  proportion  to  numbers,  far  ex- 
ceeded the  National  Church  in  missionary  activity  and 
zeal  for  practical  Christianity.  The  old  standards  of 
faith,  as  expressed  in  logical  formulas,  such  as  the  Belgic 
Confession  and  the  Canons  of  the  Synod  of  Dordrecht, 
are  no  longer  binding  upon  the  consciences  of  church 
members,  though  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  is  still  the 
basis  of  instruction  and  of  those  catechetical  exercises 
which  are  carefully  carried  on  in  all  branches  of  the 
Christian  Church  in  Nederland.  Most  of  the  city  churches 
of  the  Establishment  are  collegiate,  that  is,  grouped  un- 
der the  control  of  one  consistory,  the  ministers  preach- 
ing in  different  edifices  on  successive  Sundays.  Various 
schools  of  thought  are  represented  in  the  National  Church, 
from  the  most  evangelical  to  the  most  rationalistic.  Each 
of  the  great  congregations  is  composed  mainly  of  the  ad- 
mirers of  the  clergyman  who  succeeds  in  attracting  them 
by  power  of  his  eloquence,  industry,  and  character,  or  by 
the  type  of  thought  most  desired.  The  historic  brick 
edifices  built  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  long  ago  purged 
of  the  accretions  which  gathered  in  the  times  when  the 
Bible  was  a  book  practically  unknown  to  the  people,  are 
in  the  hands  of  the  Reformed  congregations,  though  they 
are  very  poorly  adapted  for  the  modern,  simple,  and  un- 
liturgical  services  in  which  the  sermon  forms  so  promi- 
nent a  feature.  With  uncomfortable  seats  and  unheated 
in  winter,  it  is  not  wonderful  that  so  many  of  the  men 
desert  the  hallowed  places  of  worship,  or  sit  with  their 
hats  on.  The  women,  who  are  ever  in  the  majority,  are 
allowed  foot-stoves,  and  show  in  their  costumes  all  tastes 


1880]  GROWTH  OF  ROMAN   CATHOLICISM  923 

and  grades  of  social  life,  the  peculiar  dress  of  the  local 
peasantry  and  the  last  new  fashion  from  Paris  being  ex- 
hibited side  by  side. 

The  practical  abandonment  by  the  consistories  and 
classes  of  the  old  creed-symbols  of  the  early  Eeformation 
and  of  the  seventeenth  century,  as  a  test  for  membership 
or  participation  at  the  communion-table,  created  dissatis- 
faction which,  in  1886,  led  to  the  protest  and,  on  refusal 
to  take  action,  to  the  withdrawal  of  Rev.  Dr.  Abraham 
Kuyper  and  a  number  of  his  followers,  who  took  the  name 
of  **  Doleerende  Kerken  (the  suffering  churches)  or  Con- 
tra-Eemonstrants — the  same  name  used  in  opposition  to 
the  Arminians  before  the  great  Synod  of  Dordrecht.  Dr. 
Kuyper's  movement  culminated  in  the  formation  of  a 
considerable  number  of  churches,  which  had  a  separate 
existence  as  a  denomination  until  their  union  with  the 
Christian  Reformed  Church  in  1895. 

In  the  three  government  universities,  the  state  teach- 
ing of  theology,  except  the  history  and  philosophy  of 
religion,  has  been  abandoned  since  October,  1877,  though 
at  each  of  these  universities  the  General  Synod  of  the 
National  Church  has  appointed  two  professors  to  teach 
dogmatic  theology.  As  the  Dutch  were  the  first  in  mod- 
ern times  to  begin  the  study  of  the  oriental  languages,  so 
they  were  the  first  also  to  establish  professorships  of  com- 
parative religion,  and  in  no  country  has  critical  science 
been  more  sedulously  cultivated.  The  names  of  Kuenen, 
Tiele,  De  la  Soussaye,  Kern,  De  Goeje,  Scholten,  Van 
Oosterzee,  are  known  all  over  the  world.  The  Christian 
Reformed  Church  supports  a  theological  seminary  at  Kam- 
pen,  which  trains  young  clergymen  in  the  home  land  and 
from  South  Africa,  the  East  Indies,  and  America,  while 
there  is  also  a  free  university  at  Amsterdam,  originated 
by  Dr.  A.  Kuyper,  on  the  Christian  Reformed  basis,  and 
opened  October  20, 1880.  There  are  also  about  fifty  Free 
Congregations  of  Christian  worshippers  in  the  kingdom. 
Within  a  generation  or  two  there  has  been  a  notable  re- 
newal of  Roman  Catholic  zeal,  with  a  great  increase  of 
membership  in  that  communion.  Their  new  church  edi- 
fices are  among  the  handsomest  in  the  modern  architect- 


924  HISTORY   OF  THE   NETHERLAXDS  [1880 

nre  of  the  country.  With  the  poet-priest  Schaepman, 
their  parliamentary  champions  Van  Vlijmen  and  others 
in  the  States-General,  and  their  knight  of  the  pen,  poet, 
historian,  novelist,  and  art-critic,  the  late  J.  A.  Alber- 
dinghe  Thijm  (1820-1889),  who  showed  that  ^^De  God 
van  Nederland  "  was  not  merely  the  Deity  of  Protestants 
only,  they  have  powerfully  influenced  public  opinion  in 
politics  and  education.  Thijm's  pen,  like  a  torch,  lighted 
up  the  past,  and  recalled  the  nearly  forgotten  fact  that 
the  Netherlanders  were  democratic  in  faith  and  act  long 
before  the  Reformation,  and  that  the  eighty  years'  strug- 
gle against  Spain  had  been  one  for  freedom  of  conscience, 
alike  for  pagan,  Hebrew,  Catholic,  and  Reformed — in  a 
word,  for  humanity. 

When  the  German  Union  was  dissolved  in  1866,  King 
William  the  Third  succeeded  in  separating  Limburg  and 
Luxemburg  from  all  connection  with  Germany,  the  former 
becoming  an  integral  part  of  Nederland.  Impotently 
jealous  of  the  new  Power,  though  imagining  himself  able 
to  do  almost  anything,  *'the  splendid  villain  in  the  Tuile- 
ries.^'  put  pressure  upon  Bismarck  to  aid  him  in  his  proj- 
ect of  purchasing  Luxemburg  and  invading  Belgium. 
Bismarck,  on  the  contrary,  was  able  to  persuade  the  King 
of  Netherlands,  William  the  Third,  not  to  sell  Luxemburg. 
A  congress  was  called,  in  which  the  signatories  of  the 
congress  of  1839  were  the  Powers.  Meeting  at  London, 
it  was  decided.  May  11,  1867,  to  guarantee  the  existence 
of  Luxemburg  as  a  neutral  state  to  remain  in  possession 
of  the  male  line  of  the  House  of  Orange-Nassau,  while 
Prussia  renounced  the  right  of  garrisoning  the  great  for- 
tress, which  was  soon  after  demolished.  The  annexation 
of  Limburg  to  the  Dutch  Kingdom  was  confirmed. 

Thwarted  in  his  plans.  Napoleon  the  Third  persevered  in 
that  offensive  diplomacy  which  caused  the  whole  German 
people  to  rise  up  as  one  man  and  to  march  into  France  to 
avenge  the  robberies  and  devastation  of  Louis  the  Four- 
teenth and  the  insults  of  nearly  two  centuries.  In  the 
great  German  army,  directed  by  a  committee  of  four 
gentlemen — Wilhelm,  Bismarck,  Von  Moltke,,  and  Prince 
Frederick  William — were  thousands  of  descendants  of  the 


1880]  NAVAL  AND   MILITARY  FORCES  925 

exiled  Huguenots  driven  out  under  Louis  the  Fourteenth, 
including  no  fewer  than  six  hundred  officers  whose  fathers 
had  been  hunted  out  of  France.  Then  came  the  war  and 
the  great  "  debacle,"  the  end  of  the  Napoleonic  dynasty, 
the  humiliation  of  France,  and  the  proclamation  at  Ver- 
sailles of  the  unity  of  the  German  Empire. 

The  Dutch  had  learned  to  their  cost,  by  the  experience 
of  the  past,  that,  amid  the  mighty  and  aggressive  nations 
surrounding  them,  they  could  not  safely  allow  their  army 
and  navy  to  sink  into  decay.  Hence,  though  not  accord- 
ing to  the  national  tastes  or  desires,  they  are  obliged  to 
keep  up  such  a  force  as  will  enable  them  to  maintain  their 
neutrality  when  the  great  military  nations  enter  upon 
war.  This  policy  now  bore  good  fruit  in  the  war  between 
France  and  Germany. 

During  this  tremendous  conflict,  while  Belgium  was 
able  to  call  for  and  obtain  the  guarantee  of  Great  Britain, 
which  by  treaties  with  both  France  and  Germany  secured 
her  neutrality  and  independence,  Nederland  was  obliged 
to  depend  upon  herself.  With  her  navy  and  army  in  the 
highest  state  of  efficiency,  she  was  able,  like  Switzerland, 
to  compel  Germans  and  Frenchmen  to  respect  her  neu- 
trality. Meantime  the  uniquely  accurate  maps  of  France 
made  on  her  own  soil  supplied  scholars  and  editors  with 
sources  of  geographical  knowledge  concerning  obscure 
places  at  the  seat  of  war. 

When  peace  was  declared,  the  friends  of  the  little  coun- 
try feared  lest  the  victors  in  their  swollen  pride  would  de- 
mand that  ^'the  watch  on  the  Ehine  '^  should  include  also 
its  mouths,  near  Rotterdam,  Leyden,  and  Amsterdam. 
The  spirit  of  the  Dutch  remained  firm.  When  a  Berlin 
newspaper  intimated  that  the  Uhlans,  unless  Netherland 
did  so  and  so,  might  be  seen  riding  through  the  streets  of 
the  Hague,  a  Dutch  cartoon  was  issued  the  following  week, 
without  one  word  of  text  or  explanation.  It  showed  a 
picture  of  opened  dikes  and  of  floods  four  inches  higher 
than  the  top  of  the  helmet-spike  on  the  tallest  Uhlan. 
This  was  a  sufficient  answer. 

The  reign  of  William  the  Third  was  marked  by  many 
events  which  caused  national  rejoicing.     Several   sons 


926  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1894 

were  born  to  him,  and  the  court  of  the  Hague  was  a  brilliant 
one,  because  of  the  imposing  number  and  interesting  per- 
sonality in  the  royal  family.  The  sovereign  himself  was 
very  fond — too  much  so,  perhaps — of  music  and  singers,  of 
art  and  artists,  and  of  convivial  gayeties.  Queen  Sophia, 
a  lady  of  great  intellect,  learning,  and  character,  as  well 
as  strong  domestic  tastes,  was  greatly  beloved  by  the  peo- 
ple. In  the  House  in  the  Woods,  between  the  capital  and 
the  watering-place  of  Scheveningen,  she  welcomed  many  a 
foreign  guest  of  distinction,  including  among  Americans 
the  historian  of  the  Dutch  Kepublic,  John  Lothrop  Motley, 
and  the  great  master  of  international  law,  David  Dudley 
Field.* 

Prince  Frederick,  the  uncle  of  the  King,  one  of  the  best 
and  noblest  men  that  ever  adorned  the  annals  of  Nether- 
lands, the  wise  adviser  of  the  King,  was  loved  and  honored 
by  all  the  people.  The  quay,  named  after  Prince  Hendrik, 
and  his  bronze  bust  at  Amsterdam  tell  also  a  noble  story 
of  deserved  popularity.  Queen  Sophia  died  in  1877,  and 
one  after  another  the  children  of  William  and  Sophia  fol- 
lowed her.  The  king  married,  January  7,  1879,  as  his 
second  wife,  the  Princess  Emma  of  AValdeck-Pyrmont,  of 
whom  the  present  queen,  Wilhelmina  Helena  Paulina 
Maria,  was  born  August  31,  1880.  When  but  ten  years 
old,  she  was  left  an  orphan  and  the  last  survivor  of  the 
illustrious  House  of  Orange  by  the  death  of  her  father. 
King  William  the  Third,  who,  after  a  gorgeous  funeral, 
was  buried  as  the  last  of  the  princes  of  Orange  amid  the 
tombs  of  his  illustrious  ancestors  in  the  great  church  in 
Delft.  Adolphus,  Duke  of  Nassau,  and  one  of  the  wealthi- 
est princes  in  Europe,  became  Grand  Duke  of  Luxemburg, 
and  had  no  further  connection  with  Nederland. 

The  Atcheen  war,  the  causes  of  which  lie  mainly  in  the 
eagerness  of  European  traders  to  sell  their  fire-arms  and 
war  material,  began  in  1873,  and  has  cost  the  lives  of  many 
of  Nederland's  bravest  and  best  sons.    In  1894  the  Balinese 


*  In  her  questions  to  this  great  juris-consultist,  as  he  once  told  me,  the 
Queen  showed  her  mother  heart  by  inquiring,  first  of  all,  not  of  codes  or 
courts,  but  whether  Charles  Ross,  the  kidnapped  child,  had  been  found. 


1898]  THE  FUTURE  SOVEREIGN  927 

on  the  island  of  Lombok,  who  had  long  oppressed  the  Sas- 
saks  and  reduced  them  to  virtual  slavery,  were  taken  in 
hand.  A  force  of  about  two  thousand  natives  and  Euro- 
pean troops  under  Generals  Vetter  and  Van  Ham  was 
landed  to  redress  wrongs  and  enforce  the  obedience  of  a 
vassal.  Lured  by  Malay  treachery  into  night  ambuscades, 
the  unwelcome  guests  were  so  entrapped  by  their  traitor- 
ous hosts  that  only  consummate  discipline  and  cool  valor 
availed  to  save  them.  In  due  time  vengeance  was  taken 
and  order  restored.  The  heroes,  decorated  at  the  Hague 
in  July,  1895,  at  the  hands  of  the  little  maiden-queen, 
made  a  scene  of  impressive  power  well  calculated  to  en- 
courage patriotism.* 

The  last  revision  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Kingdom  of 
the  Netherlands  took  place  in  1887.t  By  the  act  of  the 
national  congress  of  September  14,  1888,  a  Council  of 
Guardianship  was  instituted  for  Queen  Wilhelmina,  who 
was,  on  her  eighteenth  birthday,  August  30,  1898,  to  be 
enthroned  sovereign  of  the  Netherlands. 

The  four  political  parties  now  represented  in  the  Dutch 
Congress,  or  States-General,  are  Liberals  (Old  and  New), 
Radicals,  Social-Democrats,  and  Clericals.  The  latter  call 
themselves  Anti-Revolutionists,  and  consist  of  the  Ultra- 
Calvinists,  led  by  Dr.  Abraham  Kuyper,  and  of  the  Ultra- 
Montane  Roman  Catholics,  led  by  the  priest,  Schaepman. 
The  motto  and  war-cry  of  this  "  monster-league,''  as  Van 
Lennep  calls  it,  is  *'  The  State  subservient  to  the  Church.'' 
Their  first  alliance  at  the  polls  was  in  1881,  in  order  to 
defeat  the  Liberals  in  the  Second  Chamber.  Since  that 
day,  suffrage  has  been  extended  to  all  male  inhabitants 
not  under  twenty-three  years  of  age,  and  the  success  of 
the  Anti-Revolutionist  or  Clerical  party  was  repeated  in 
the  elections  of  June,  1897.  The  result  gave  a  majority 
of  delegates  in  the  Second  Chamber  favorable  to  the  obedi- 
ence of  the  State  to  the  Church,  and  compelled  the  resig- 
nation of  the  Cabinet. 

*  With  the  Dutch  in  the  East,  by  Captain  W.  Cool.     London,  1897. 
f  Oroiidwet  voor  het  Koninkryk  der  Nederlanden,    Groningen,  1897. 


CHAPTER    XVI 

THE   KEIG^   OF    QUEEN    WILHELMINA 

On  the  17th  of  September,  1907,  Queen  Wilhelmina, 
having  entered  upon  the  tenth  year  of  her  reign,  opened 
the  States-General  with  a  speech  from  the  tl?.rone.  She 
expressed  a  keen  desire  for  the  success  of  the  International 
Peace  Conference,  then  in  session,  and  announced  the  early 
introduction  of  bills  providing  for  the  amendment  of  the 
constitution,  reform  of  the  electoral  law,  strengthening 
of  the  coast  defence,  the  partial  draining  of  the  Zuyder 
Zee,  workmen's  insurance,  and  a  system  of  meat  inspection. 
Thus,  at  The  Hague,  the  second  parliament  of  man,  met 
to  discuss  the  welfare  of  the  world,  and  the  national  legis- 
lature, convoked  to  attend  to  the  needs  of  a  modern  nation, 
small,  but  in  the  van  of  progress,  were  in  concurrent 
session. 

The  realm  in  which,  in  1898,  as  chief  servant  of  the 
Dutch  commonwealth.  Queen  Wilhelmina  began  her  active 
rule,  though  geographically  much  the  same  as  the  Dutch 
republic  of  1581,  is  in  area  of  solid  land  about  twice  the 
size.  In  population  it  is  fivefold  greater.  Not  by  increase 
of  territory  from  other  countries,  or  by  enlargement  of 
numbers  through  immigration,  has  the  greater  glory  of 
the  Netherlands  come,  but  rather  through  man's  intel- 
ligence and  his  persistent  labor.  In  no  other  country 
is  human  lordship  over  nature  more  signally  illustrated. 
Up  from  the  waves,  by  wresting  new  soil  from  the  domain 
of  the  fishes,  the  green  acres  have  been  steadily  won  by  toil. 
The  spade,  the  dike,  the  pump,  the  sunken  mattress,  the 
windmill,  and  the  steam-engine  have  been  the  Dutchman's 


1877]  THE  MAKING  OF  THE  LAND  929 

tools  in  the  making  of  his  land ;  the  God  whom  he  devoutly 
worships  having,  according  to  his  proverb,  made  the  sea. 
With  tenfold  greater  industry,  in  reclamation  of  soil  than 
in  former  ages,  the  Netherlanders  continue  their  fathers' 
tasks,  aided  in  later  centuries  by  wind  and  steam. 

William  of  Nassau  (who  was,  in  all  probability,  not 
called  "the  Silent''  by  his  contemporaries)  unsheathed 
the  sword  to  foil  the  wiles  of  a  lawless  sovereign,  and  to 
resist  revolution  from  without.  In  his  day  the  seven 
states  of  the  Northern  Netherlands,  out  of  which  rose 
the  Dutch  republic,  contained  eight  hundred  thousand 
souls  on  five  thousand  square  miles  of  territory.  Besides 
fighting  the  Spaniard  and  other  enemies,  the  Dutchman 
kept  up  unceasing  defence  against  the  ocean,  and  made 
aggressive  war  on  the  watery  domain.  In  spite  of  oc- 
casional defeat  and  frequent  repulse,  notwithstanding 
broken  dikes  and  disastrous  inundations,  progress  has  been 
ever  onward. 

Though  no  one  is  able  at  a  single  moment  to  state  ex- 
actly the  shifting  and  uncertain  area  of  the  Netherlands, 
yet  officially  the  realm  of  Queen  Wilhelmina,  with  its 
eleven  produces,  contains  12,368  square  miles,  or  about 
one-fourth  the  size  of  New  York  State.  Until  the  era 
of  the  steam-engine,  beginning  about  1833,  the  national 
area  was  8768  square  miles.  On  October  20,  1877,  when 
the  grand  survey  of  the  kingdom  was  completed,  the  realm 
of  King  William  III.  included  12,731  square  miles  of 
more  or  less  dry  land.  In  roughly  stated  proportions,  the 
surface  consisted  of:  pasture,  1444;  arable  land,  859; 
uncultivated  land,  712;  forest,  226;  water  and  morass, 
146;  gardens  and  orchards,  54;  dikes  and  roads,  44;  build- 
ings and  houses,  38 ;  untaxed  land,  92.  The  relatively  large 
area  of  forest  shows  that  Holland — that  is.  Holt  or  Wood 
land,  is  still  worthy  of  its  name.  In  the  noble  competition 
of  the  sea-fronting  provinces,  Zeeland,  typified  by  the 
struggling  but  emerging  lion,  leads  the  van,  having  en- 
larged her  islands  and  won  over  230,000  acres. 

The  dikes,  or  earthen  ramparts,  upreared  at  first  for 


930  HISTORY   OF   THE  NETHERLANDS  [1898 

defence,  were  later  turned  into  aggressive  engines  for  the 
recovery  of  more  soil  from  the  ocean's  grasp  and  made 
to  add  to  the  national  domain.  With  the  enlarged  food 
area  and  other  conditions  favorable  for  the  increase  of 
life,  the  growth  of  population  has  been  marked  until,  in- 
stead of  the  numbers  known  to  "the  Silent/^  there  are 
now  in  the  home  land  over  five  million,  and  in  the  colonial 
possessions  thirty-six  million  souls  in  a  total  area  of  783,- 
000  square  miles. 

In  political  reality  Netherlands  is  still  a  federal  re- 
public disguised  under  the  form  of  a  constitutional  mon- 
archy, the  people  being  bound  by  indissoluble  ties  of  love 
and  gratitude  to  the  native  princes  of  the  House  of  Orange- 
Nassau.  The  constitution  is  the  real  symbol  of  power. 
The  Dutch  do  not  crown  their  chief  executive,  and  their 
fundamental  law  was  known  to  their  own  first-chosen 
King,  William  Frederick  (p.  905),  the  son  of  the  stad- 
holder  William  V.  before  he  accepted  service  as  ruler. 
Him  they  invited  over  from  exile  in  England  to  be  their 
"  sovereign  prince,^'  and  to  continue  the  inspiring  memories 
of  the  Orange-Nassau  servants  of  the  nation.  He  re- 
sponded promptly,  making  happy  union  of  an  illustrious 
princely  house  with  a  free  people.  Immediately  upon 
his  arrival  upon  Dutch  soil,  he  took  oath  to  respect  the 
constitution,  and  was  duly  inaugurated  in  the  New  Church 
in  Amsterdam,  the  metropolis  and  virtual  capital  of  the 
nation — The  Hague  being  the  residence  of  the  court, 
lie  was  never  crowned.  On  the  same  regal  chair  have  sat 
his  successors,  William  II.,  William  III.,  and  Queen  Wil- 
helmina,  none  of  them  wearing  the  crown — which  is  a 
national,  and  not  private  or  family,  possession.  The  golden 
crown,  set  beneath  the  constitution  at  the  inauguration,  is 
the  symbol  of  law  and  order,  and  not  of  hereditary  or 
reserved  power. 

The  doctrine  has  ever  prevailed  in  the  Netherlands,  as 
in  modern  England,  that  the  prince' is  the  servant  of  the 
nation.  As  long  as  royalty  means  highest  service,  it  is 
cherished  by  the  Dutch  people,  which  had  no  kings  until 


1898]  INAUGURATION   OF   QUEEN   WILHELMINA  931 

Napoleon  forced  on  them  his  brother  Louis,  who  so  imbibed 
the  spirit  of  the  Dutch  people  that  he  was  never  an  arbi- 
trary monarch  and  quickly  resigned  his  office.  Led  by 
William  of  Orange,  the  Dutch  first  founded  a  state  with- 
out a  throne,  and  then  made  the  throne  the  symbol  of 
service.  In  modern  Netherlands,  "the  throne '^  is  the 
representative  of  law,  order,  and  national  unity,  but  it 
is  also  the  expression  of  a  people's  love. 

The  inauguration  of  Queen  Wilhelmina,  who  attained 
her  majority  August  31,  1898,  took  place  in  the  New 
Church,  in  Amsterdam,  on  September  6th.  As  witnessed 
by  the  writer,  the  festivities  and  national  rejoicings,  lasting 
during  a  fortnight,  were,  in  epitome,  a  mirror  of  Dutch 
history  and  a  true  reflection  of  the  national  law  and  spirit. 
The  joyous  entry  of  the  mother.  Queen-regent  Emma, 
and  her  daughter,  the  Queen-elect,  into  Amsterdam,  was 
made  in  the  early  afternoon  of  September  5th.  The  avenues 
of  the  city  on  the  Y,  gay  with  artistic  device  and  brilliant 
colors,  were  crowned  with  two  millions  of  happy  spectators. 
On  the  great  open  space,  the  Dam,  the  spike-shaped  granite 
monument,  which  commemorated  the  dead  of  1830,  was 
hidden  in  living  flowers  and  flowing  water,  showing  in 
allegory  the  Amstel  River  and  the  prosperity  of  the  king- 
dom. The  old  City  Hall,  built  to  commemorate  the  Peace 
of  1648,  and  grandly  suggestive  of  republican  ideas  and 
use,  but  now  incongruously  named  "the  Palace,'^  and 
but  poorly  adapted  to  royalty,  was  the  centre  of  interest. 
Here  gathered  first  the  military  and  naval  forces,  in- 
cluding a  body  of  arquebusiers  in  the  seventeenth-century 
costume  of  Prince  Maurice's  soldiery.  After  the  de- 
fenders of  the  nation  had  made  salute  and  recessional,  the 
populace,  in  a  mighty  host,  gathered  for  the  queen's  greet- 
ing. 

The  royal  maiden,  who,  as  the  embodiment  of  the  memo- 
ries and  the  hopes  of  Nederland,  had  won  all  hearts  by 
her  winsome  presence,  stood  beside  a  matron — older  in 
years,  but  still  young.  The  superb  woman,  Emma,  over- 
shadowed both  her  title  and  her  record,  noble  as  these 


932  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1898 

were,  in  her  wise,  motherly  devotion.  As  Queen-regent 
and  executive  head  of  the  nation,  since  the  decease  of 
King  William  III.  in  1890,  her  works  praise  her  in  the 
gates.  As  parent  of  the  future  sovereign,  her  aim  was  to 
make  Wilhelmina  not  only  a  strong  woman,  but  a  true 
queen. 

Such,  indeed,  in  every  inch,  the  tiaraed  maiden  in  royal 
robes  seemed,  when  standing  in  the  New  Church,  before 
the  elite  of  the  kingdom,  she  first  swore  obedience  to  the 
constitution,  and  then  enunciated  those  words  which  moved 
hearts  as  cosmic  forces  stir  the  waves  of  the  sea:  ^^I  in- 
tend to  make  the  words  of  my  beloved  father  my  own,  when 
he  said  that  the  House  of  Orange  can  never,  no,  never, 
do  enough  for  the  Netherlands.^^  As  if  by  Heaven's 
ordinance  and  approval,  the  clouds  of  a  gray  day  broke 
at  that  moment  of  utterance.  The  sunlight,  streaming 
through  the  stained-glass  of  a  newly  set  window,  whereon 
the  figures  and  tints  commemorated  the  story  of  the 
Dutch  nation  from  the  time  of  William  of  Orange,  clothed 
the  young  queen  in  a  glory  of  sunny  radiance.  The 
glistening  tears,  in  the  eyes  of  her  senators  and  fellow- 
servants  of  the  state,  showed  how  deeply  the  young  queen 
had  stirred  their  souls  by  her  speech.  There  on  the  table, 
between  her  and  them,  lay  the  symbols  of  government — the 
crown,  flanked  by  the  sphere  and  sceptre,  but  set  under 
the  documents  of  the  constitution.  Facing  the  now  en- 
throned queen  sat  the  members  of  the  First  and  Second 
Chambers,  who  took  their  oath  of  loyalty  to  her  as  their 
sovereign;  the  notable  men,  representing  law,  learning, 
science,  letters,  and  afi'airs;  the  invited  foreign  guests  and 
representatives  of  the  press  of  many  countries,  and  the 
heads  of  the  legations  and  the  patrician  families.  Behind, 
and  on  either  side,  were  the  court  dignitaries,  the  cabinet 
ministers,  and  the  two  vassal  rajahs  of  Java  with  other 
Oriental  chiefs  and  subjects  from  Insulinde,  all  arrayed 
in  their  native  garb.  In  the  audience  on  the  right  could 
be  seen  the  queen's  crowned  or  coroneted  relatives. 

Facing  the  royal  maiden,  throughout  the  ceremonies, 


1898]  CONGRESS  OF  DIPLOMATIC  HISTORY  933 

were  four  human  figures  capped  and  mute.  These  bore 
the  banners  of  the  Netherlands,  of  South  Holland,  of 
Amsterdam,  and  of  the  House  of  Orange.  Until  the  oaths 
were  mutually  taken,  but  not  until  the  heralds  had  pro- 
claimed Wilhelmina,  by  the  grace  of  God,  Queen  of  the 
Netherlands,  these  silent  figures  stood  immovable  and  with 
covered  heads.  When,  by  the  nation's  free-will  and  act, 
safeguarded  by  law,  the  heir  to  the  House  of  Orange  had 
been  intrusted  with  the  liberties  of  a  liberty-loving  peo- 
ple, these  four  bearers  of  the  symbols  of  nation,  province, 
city,  and  household,  uncovered  their  heads  and  laid  their 
silken  banners  at  the  queen's  feet  in  token  of  fealty.  The 
singing  of  the  "  Wilhelmus  Lied,"  in  the  noble  words  of 
Aldegonde,  and  in  its  twelfth-century  musical  setting, 
closed  the  impressive  ceremonies  of  inauguration. 

The  next  day,  in  the  Eeformed  Church  at  The  Hague, 
the  queen  attended  divine  worship  and  religious  exercises. 
Among  the  fortnight's  diurnal  and  nocturnal  festivities, 
spectacular,  marine,  naval,  illuminative,  athletic,  or  gas- 
tronomic, were  the  sessions  of  the  International  Congress 
of  Diplomatic  History,  held  in  the  First  Chamber  of  the 
States-General;  grand  exhibitions  of  native  costumes  and 
of  liembrandt's  canvases;  the  flight  from  Amsterdam  of 
half  a  myriad  homing- pigeons;  and  the  reception  to 
twelve  thousand  children,  boys  and  girls,  on  the  green 
grass  in  the  park  at  The  Hague.  Among  the  schools 
represented  was  that  named  after  Groen  van  Prinsterer, 
Motley's  severest  critic,  and  one  of  Netherland's  clearest 
historians. 

Since  1829  the  population  has  more  than  doubled.  This 
has  been  almost  wholly  by  natural  increase,  neither  emigra- 
tion nor  immigration  being  of  importance  in  the  national 
economy.  The  birth-rate,  since  1901,  exceeds  twice  over 
the  death-rate,  the  ratio  of  increase  in  1880  being  0.6  and 
in  1905,  1.49.  Capital  punishment  was  abolished  in 
1870,  to  the  lessening  of  the  crime  of  murder.  Beggary 
and  vagabondage  are  treated  as  crimes,  and  private  and 
public  charity  is  very  general.    The  stability  and  the  con- 


934  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1898 

servatism  of  the  Dutch  are  illustrated  by  the  fact  that 
in  1899  of  3,390,243  persons  born  in  the  1123  communes, 
1,009,102  lived  in  their  native  province,  and  617,273 
dwelt  in  some  other  portion  of  the  home  realm.  The  same 
census  in  1899  showed  5,104,137,  and  in  1905  5,591,701 
souls,  of  whom  4,395,345  live  in  the  provinces  in  which 
they  were  born.  Among  the  most  striking  phenomena 
has  been  the  growth  of  cities.  Netherlands  possesses  a 
proportionately  larger  town  population  than  any  country 
in  Europe,  Amsterdam  having  over  six  hundred,  Rotterdam 
over  four  hundred,  and  The  Hague  nearly  three  hundred 
thousand  souls.  This  process  of  municipal  growth  means 
not  only  a  movement  of  population  from  the  rural  to  the 
urban  life,  with  increase  of  manufactures  and  commerce, 
but  also  the  absorption  of  small  historic  communities  into 
the  large  municipal  aggregations;  as,  for  example,  that  of 
historic  Delfshaven,  whence  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  sailed 
on  the  Speedwell,  into  Rotterdam. 

To  secure  national  prosperity,  the  Dutch  people  sub- 
mit cheerfully  to  a  high  rate  of  taxation.  So  far  from 
Holland^s  greatness  being  all  in  the  past,  there  is  probably 
no  nation  on  earth  more  alert  to  measures  for  the  common 
weal,  or  one  possessing  the  elements  of  healthy  growth 
and  permanency.  As  of  old,  to  increase  their  area  the 
Dutch  must  win  land  from  the  waves,  while  to  enlarge 
their  harbors  they  dig  into  the  earth.  Rotterdam,  which 
is  only  a  river  port,  is,  nevertheless,  the  seventh  largest  for 
shipping  in  the  world. 

The  young  queen  had  scarcely  taken  hold  of  the  reins  of 
government  before  the  British  and  Boer  war  in  South 
Africa  broke  out.  Gold  having  been  discovered  in  the 
Transvaal  republic  and  Orange  Free  State,  a  large  number 
of  immigrants  from  various  parts  of  the  world  flocked  in 
to  win  wealth.  The  little  hermit  states  at  once  became  as 
Naboth's  vineyard,  while  very  cosmopolitan  in  their  popu- 
lation. The  rulers  of  South  Africa,  as  intractal)le  as  Na- 
both  before  Ahab,  were  confronted  with  the  old  principle 
of  "  no  taxation  without  representation.'^    With  churlish- 


1899]  THE   SOUTH   AFRICAN  WAR  935 

ness  on  one  side  and  avarice  on  the  other,  the  situation 
soon  became  ominous.  Negotiations  failing,  President 
Paul  Kruger  declared  his  ultimatum.  This  being  declined, 
war  was  begun  by  the  Boers  invading  Natal  and  Cape 
Colony. 

The  sympathy  of  the  Dutch  at  home  was  intense  toward 
their  brethren  and  friends  in  South  Africa,  while,  at  the 
same  time,  the  government  was  placed  in  a  delicate  situa- 
tion between  their  ancient  English  allies  and  the  Afri- 
kanders. The  British  were  obliged  to  use  in  war  nearly 
half  a  million  men,  of  whom  nearly  fifty  thousand  were 
killed  or  injured,  the  Boers  having  under  arms  during  the 
war  probably  70,000  men.  The  Boers,  at  first  successful, 
succumbed  ultimately,  to  the  overwhelming  resources  of 
Great  Britain  and  the  military  genius  of  Lord  Eoberts 
and  Kitchener,  and  their  armies  were  scattered.  President 
Kruger  took  flight  into  Portuguese  territory,  and  Queen 
Wilhelmina  sent  the  cruiser  Gelderland  to  bring  him  to 
Holland.  Hostilities  degenerated  to  the  guerilla  stage,  but 
terms  of  peace  between  Kitchener  and  Botha  were  opened, 
and  military  operations  were  suspended  in  the  spring  of 
1902,  the  war  being  ended  by  June.  Generous  terms  were 
made  by  Great  Britain,  and  since  the  war  all  human 
beings  in  South  Africa  have  profited  mightily.  The  real 
victory  has  been  with  the  Boers,  General  Botha  being 
premier  of  the  region  temporarily  given  over  to  slaughter 
and  devastation. 

The  chief  national  event  in  1901  was  the  marriage, 
on  February  7,  of  Queen  Wilhelmina  to  Henry  Frederick, 
Duke  of  Mecklenburg-Schwerin,  in  the  palace  church  at 
The  Hague.  The  ritual  words  in  the  service  of  the  Re- 
formed Church,  which  requires  a  wife  to  live  where  her 
husband  does,  were  omitted  in  the  vow  taken  by  the  queen. 
In  case  of  absolute  failure  of  issue,  it  is  within  the  power 
of  the  States-General  to  annul  the  marriage  bond.  Duke 
Hendrik,  or  Henry,  was  made  Prince  of  the  Netherlands, 
besides  being  given  rank  as  x\diniral  in  the  Dutch  navy 
and  a  seat  in  the  Raad  van  State,  or  Council  of  State, 


936  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1901 

which  is  the  regulative  feature  of  the  Dutch  govern- 
ment. 

The  four  vital  subjects  in  politics  are  education,  the 
colonies,  the  army,  and  the  franchise.  Parties  form  on 
these  issues.  During  fifty  years  the  Liberal  party  grew, 
and  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  previous  to  1901,  held  office 
and  power.  In  1857  it  was  made  a  law  that  the  communes 
should  sustain  non-sectarian  schools.  This  measure  re- 
moved popular  education  from  ecclesiastical  control.  The 
training  of  the  young  was  carried  on  apart  from  the  teach- 
ing of  dogma  manipulated  by  men  in  whom  was  lust  of 
power  as  well  as  conviction  of  truth.  This  Liberalism  in 
education  was  opposed  both  by  the  Eoman  Catholics  and 
the  ultra-Calvinists,  who  established  sectarian  schools  and 
who,  in  coalition,  term  themselves  Anti-Eevolutionaries. 
Other  groups  in  the  Second  Chamber  are  composed  of  the 
Independents,  the  Historical  Christians,  and  the  Socialists. 
The  latter  are  few  in  numbers,  socialism  not  being  as  strong 
in  the  Netherlands  as  in  Belgium — the  economic  conditions 
being  very  different.  In  1901,  after  long  agitation,  the 
Liberal  party  was  defeated,  and  "  the  clerical  government " 
came  into  power  under  the  premiership  of  Dr.  Abraham 
Kuyper,  long  known  as  scholar,  educator,  and  statesman. 
Education  is  now  universal,  the  school-age  being  from  the 
age  of  six  to  thirteen,  and  attendance  made  compulsory. 

One  of  the  first  emergencies  to  confront  the  new  min- 
istry was  a  well-planned  labor  strike  on  the  railways.  The 
problem  opened  many  delicate  and  interesting  questions 
on  account  of  the  ownership  by  the  government  of  969 
miles,  in  the  total  of  1700  miles  of  railroads  in  the  king- 
dom, as  part  of  the  national  property.  At  daylight  of  the 
morning  set  for  the  outbreak,  every  station,  warehouse, 
terminal,  switch,  and  important  point  was  found  to  be 
guarded  by  soldiers.  The  strike  was  broken  and  quickly 
came  to  an  end. 

In  this,  as  in  every  other  vital  national  question  or  event, 
whether  in  religion,  politics,  economics,  or  succession  to 
the  throne,  the  Dutch  wise  men  are  governed  by  motives 


1902]  GERMANY   AND   HOLLAND  937 

arising  from  their  environment,  the  presence  of  their 
powerful  neighbor  on  the  east  being  the  disturbing  and  in- 
fluencing factor.  Any  serious  interruption  of  the  high- 
ways of  continental  travel  might  give  Germany  the  pretext 
for  marching  an  army  corps  into  Dutch  territory.  Besides 
needing  more  sea-front,  Holland's  powerful  neighbor  re- 
quires quick  and  easy  access  by  water  and  rail  to  the 
Atlantic  and  the  markets  of  the  world.  To  German  am- 
bitions for  expansion,  both  the  Netherlands  and  Belgium 
are  both  political  and  economic  obstacles,  for  the  inland 
empire,  especially  on  the  Khine  and  other  waterways,  pays 
continual  toll  to  the  people  of  the  Low  countries  who  thus 
grow  rich  on  German  commerce. 

The  succession  to  the  headship  of  the  House  of  Orange 
and  thus  potentially  to  the  throne  of  the  Netherlands  is 
essentially  a  German  question,  unless  the  Dutch  govern- 
ment should  revert  to  the  form  of  a  federal  republic. 
There  is  also  a  strong  tendency,  not  on  the  surface,  but  as 
powerful  as  the  undercurrents  of  the  ocean,  to  the  ab- 
sorption of  surrounding  nations.  The  Pan  -  Germanic 
movement  and  propaganda  are  realities.  In  the  vital 
European  doctrine  of  the  balance  of  power,  to  which,  the 
absolute  independence  of  the  Netherlands  is  a  necessity, 
all  the  governments  of  Europe  are  interested.  However, 
in  her  speech,  which  opened  the  Chambers  September  16, 
1902,  the  queen  showed  no  desire  of  foreign  alliance.  In 
the  Algeciras  Conference  of  Powers,  held  in  1906,  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Netherlands,  which  had  hitherto  in- 
trusted its  affairs  in  Morocco  to  the  German  legation,  took 
pains  to  clear  itself  from  the  charge  of  subservience  to 
Germany,  being  guided  during  the  deliberatioils  solely 
by  Dutch  interests.  The  nation  keeps  ever  in  mind  the 
old  fable  of  the  floating  pots,  metal  and  earthen. 

The  repeated  disappointment  of  hopes  that  an  heir  to  the 
House  of  Orange  might  be  born  in  Holland  has  more  than 
once  made  the  question  of  the  succession  acute.  Although 
headship  of  the  House  of  Orange  does  not  necessarily 
mean  succession  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  Netherlands,  as 


938  HISTORY   OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1906 

the  constitution  and  the  marriage  contract  between  Prince 
Hendrik  and  Queen  Wilhelmina  show,  yet  the  decision  of 
the  family  question  may  rest  with  the  German  Emperor. 
Hence  the  anxiety  of  the  Dutch  people.  The  present  heir- 
presumptive  to  the  Orange  succession  is  the  Grand-Duke 
of  Saxe- Weimar,  and  the  next  is  Prince  Albert  of  Prussia. 
The  opening  of  the  twentieth  century  enabled  the  Dutch 
nation  to  survey  its  past,  and  to  take  confidence  for  the 
future.  The  occasion  was  marked  by  a  notable  output  of 
literature  in  which  the  events  of  the  fatherland  and  Europe 
were  brought  under  critical  survey.  The  gratifying  result 
was  seen  in  an  increase  of  patriotic  appreciation.  The 
tercentenary  of  Rembrandt  and  of  De  Euyter  received 
national  attention  with  pageants  and  popular  rejoicing, 
and  the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  birth- 
day of  Bilderdijk  was  celebrated  at  The  Hague.  The 
Netherlands  is  the  land  of  Rembrandt,  as  Belgium  is  the 
land  of  Rubens.  The  one  expresses  in  his  genius  and 
work  the  spirit  of  realism,  inquiry,  truth,  and  freedom. 
The  other  reveals  his  subjection  to  tradition,  mythology, 
and  authority  as  vested  in  kings  and  state  churches.  Criti- 
cism and  research  have  not  only  enlarged  the  known  num- 
ber of  Rembrandt's  canvases,  but  they  have  set  his  name 
still  higher  among  the  small  number  of  the  world's  great 
geniuses.  The  elite  of  the  kingdom,  with  foreign  guests, 
assembled  on  July  16,  190(3,  in  the  Rijks  Museum  at 
Amsterdam  to  celebrate  the  painter's  fame.  The  gathering 
was  held  in  the  old  hall  dedicated  in  golden  letters  to 
Rembrandt  and  Saskia  his  wife.  On  this  occasion  Prince 
Hendrik  delivered  a  superb  panegyric.  The  German  Prince- 
consort  had  mastered  the  difficulties  of  the  Dutch  tongue 
— so  formidable  to  an  adult  German — and  his  later  heroic 
conduct  in  the  rescue  of  passengers  wrecked  on  the  Brit- 
ish steamer  Berlin  at  the  Hook  of  Holland,  in  February, 
1907,  won  the  popular  heart.  A  reaction  set  in  which  put 
an  end  to  slanderous  gossip,  as  short-lived  as  it  was  abomi- 
nably false,  and  lifted  him  into  highest  popularity.  In 
the  new  annex  to  the  National  Museum,   one  room   in 


1906]  THE  DUTCH  EAST  INDIES  939 

seventeenth-century  style,  is  given  np  to  the  exhibition  of 
Eembrandt's  greatest  work,  "  The  Night  Watch." 

The  war  between  Eussia  and  Japan  was  a  colonial  af- 
fair with  the  Muscovites,  and  a  national  struggle  for  life 
and  food  with  the  people  of  Nippon.  The  Dutch  people 
had  more  than  a  general  interest  in  the  struggle  because 
of  their  vast  interests  in  the  East  Indies.  The  victory  of 
Japan,  and  her  rise  as  a  world  power,  created  some  fear 
for  Holland's  distant  and  indefensible  colonies  in  the 
South  Pacific.  The  original  purpose  of  the  Dutch  ex- 
plorers and  merchants  in  the  sixteenth  century  was  not 
conquest,  but  trade.  Yet,  while  Dutch  rule  in  the  tropical 
islands  has  made  for  the  increase  of  order  and  comfort, 
and  the  general  welfare  of  the  native  peoples,  perhaps  no 
government  has  known  better  how  to  get  revenues  from  a 
colonial  dependency  for  its  own  aggrandizement  than  that 
of  the  Netherlands.  The  wealth  flowing  from  Insnlinde 
so  enriched  Holland  that,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  her 
credit  was  the  best  of  any  country  in  Europe.  The  war 
for  independence  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  the  rise  of  the  American  Commonwealth,  and  the 
power  of  Napoleon  greatly  changed  the  situation ;  for  with 
enormous  private  wealth  the  nation  became  publicly  poor. 
A  war  indemnity  of  over  $40,000,000  was  paid  to  France 
in  1795,  and  the  total  national  debt  rose  in  Louis  Napo- 
leon's time  to  half  a  billion  dollars.  When  King  William 
I.  came  into  power,  his  one  idea  seemed  to  be  to  make 
the  colonies  enrich  the  Netherlands  and  pay  its  debts. 
The  "  culture  system  "  in  Java,  profitable  but  oppressive, 
was  put  more  completely  and  rigorously  into  operation, 
and  the  royal  plan  became  reality.  In  1836  the  colonies 
were  declared  to  be  a  legal  mortgage  for  the  state  debt. 
The  war  with  Belgium  in  1830  greatly  disarranged  the 
public  finances,  and  colonial  revenues  dwindled,  being  in 
1832  less  than  $320,000.  In  1841  this  revenue  had  risen 
to  $5,000,000.  Thenceforward  to  1854  the  annual  en- 
richment of  the  Netherlands  from  the  East  was  from 
$3,000,000  to  $8,000,000.    After  this  the  amount  gradually 


940  HISTORY  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  [1870 

lessened  until  in  1877  it  was  but  little  over  $4,000,000. 
The  "  culture  system  "  in  Java  was  abandoned  in  1870, 
and  opportunity  was  given  to  private  enterprise  to  reclaim 
waste  land,  to  the  great  increase  of  agriculture  and  re- 
sources. 

At  the  present  time  the  colonies  are  rather  a  financial 
burden  on  the  mother-country  than  otherwise,  but  this 
change  in  the  status  and  relations  is  not  wholly  an  af- 
fair of  economics.  It  has  come  largely  through  an 
awakened  national  conscience,  and  the  increase  of  prac- 
tical ethics.  Long  has  been  the  struggle,  and  many  were 
the  debates  in  the  national  legislature,  but  the  reformers 
won  the  day.  The  doctrine  is  preached  by  the  better 
element  of  the  nation  that  the  country  which  grinds  its 
colonies  must  go  the  way  of  dying  empires,  while  those 
that  believe  in  motherly  treatment,  and  in  educational  and 
moral  uplift,  will  themselves  be  enriched  above  the  power 
of  money.  Hence  the  vast  altruistic  benefits  conferred 
upon  the  colonists  in  East  India,  with  substantial  moral 
benefit  at  home.  The  real  cause  of  the  deficits  may  be 
found  in  the  Acheen  wars,  which  wiped  out  the  surplus. 
The  strain  of  this  war  led  to  a  protectionist  movement, 
which  thus  far  has  not  attained  great  success,  the  Nether- 
lands sentiment  being  apparently  wedded  to  free  trade. 

In  the  history  of  the  Peace  Movement  for  the  creation 
of  a  parliament  of  nations,  the  Dutch  have  borne  a  lead- 
ing part.  Erasmus  spent  his  life  in  condemnation  of 
legalized  slaughter,  and  of  those  who,  with  high  name  and 
office,  "get  nothing  by  peace  and  a  great  deal  by  war." 
At  Brussels  in  1504,  in  his  panegyric  to  Philip  of  Bur- 
gundy, he  exposed  the  crime  and  injustice  in  the  political 
machinery  of  Christendom,  which  required  so  much  hu- 
man blood  for  its  lubrication.  In  1519,  in  his  Praise  of 
Folly,  he  continued  the  severe  impeachment,  especially 
against  the  papal  war,  which  he  regarded  as  a  scandal 
to  Christianity,  declaring  that  a  fighting  pope  was  a 
monster  of  iniquity.  In  1517,  in  his  Complamt  of  Peace, 
he  attempted,  with  others,  "to  prevent  the  final  cessation 


1898]  THE   PEACE   MOVEMENT  941 

of  war/^  in  a  letter  that  foreshadowed  the  "  Great  De- 
sign^' of  Henry  of  Navarre.  A  century  later  the  Dutch- 
man, Hugo  de  Groot,  known  to  the  world  as  Grotius, 
through  his  great  book,  began  the  creation  of  an  inter- 
national conscience,  which  manifests  itself  with  world- 
wide energy  in  the  newer  ideals  of  civilization.  After  the 
failure  of  Cruce's  plan,  in  1623,  for  an  International 
Court  of  Arbitration,  at  Venice,  and  the  later  German 
proposals  of  an  International  Court  of  Sovereigns,  at 
Luzerne,  we  find  William  Penn,  besides  urging  upon  Czar 
Peter  the  Great  his  schemes  for  organizing  the  world  in 
the  interest  of  tranquillity,  writing  his  Essay  Towards  the 
Peace  of  Europe.  Penn,  trained  by  his  mother,  Margaret 
Jasper  of  Rotterdam — **  Dutch  Peg ''  in  Pepys's  Diary — 
pointed  to  the  League  of  Seven  States,  or  the  Dutch  Ee- 
public,  as  a  living  example  of  a  peaceful  federation — 
e  plurihus  unum. — of  governments,  whose  precedents  and 
methods  of  co-operation  and  arbitration  ought  to  become 
international.  Penn  had  to  cross  the  seas  to  carry  out 
his  "holy  experiment,^'  and  the  classic  Complaint  of 
Peace,  by  Erasmus,  was  published  in  America  about  the 
time  that  the  New  York  Peace  Society  was  formed. 

It  was  but  following  historic  precedent  and  doing  poetic 
justice  to  the  memory  of  Erasmus  and  Grotius  that,  in 
the  capital  of  their  country,  should  assemble  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Man  and  be  built  the  Temple  of  Peace  and  the 
Palace  of  the  World's  Court. 

On  the  initiative  of  Czar  Nicholas  11.  of  Russia,  in 
August,  1898,  the  chief  Powers  of  the  world  sent  their 
delegates  to  The  Hague,  in  May,  1899,  to  consider  "the 
maintenance  of  general  peace  and  a  possible  reduction  of 
armaments."  They  met  in  the  House  in  the  Wood,  built 
by  Amalia  van  Solms  in  memory  of  Prince  Frederick 
Henry.  The  results,  after  nearly  three  months'  session, 
were  seen  in  three  "  conventions,"  the  most  important 
of  which  was  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  court  of 
arbitration,  and  in  three  "'  declarations  "  against  unneces- 
sary cruelty  in  the  methods  of  conducting  war.    The  cases 


942  HISTORY  OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  [190Y 

tried,  and  the  work  subsequently  done  by  the  court  thus 
created,  have  tended  powerfully  to  bring  about  the  new 
climate  of  the  world's  opinion  in  favor  of  reason,  instead 
of  force  for  the  settlement  of  disputes  between  nations. 

The  Second  International  Peace  Conference,  called  to- 
gether under  the  initiative  of  Russia  and  the  United  States, 
met,  like  the  first  one  at  The  Hague,  but  this  time  in  the 
old  castle  of  the  Counts  of  Holland  or,  "Hall  of  the 
Knights,'^  which  fronts  on  the  Binnenhof.  The  oldest 
part  of  this  edifice  was  begun  by  Count  Willem  II.  in 
1.248,  but  the  structure  was  enlarged  by  Floris  V.  in  1285. 
Here  were  seen  many  of  the  most  brilliant  of  the  mediaeval 
pageants,  and  within  these  walls — knighthood,  statecraft, 
religion,  the  ceremonies  of  marriage  and  burial — drew  to- 
gether the  great  ones  of  the  land;  while  outside,  in  the 
Binnenhof,  events  that  were  decisive  for  the  nation  and 
that  influenced  the  world  took  place.  Here  Philip  II. 
held  his  court,  and  here  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Fleece 
met  in  conclave.  Long  used  by  the  States-General,  it 
fell,  later,  into  base  use  as  the  Government  Lottery  Office. 
Waking  from  their  shame  in  1896,  the  Dutch  restored  the 
edifice  to  its  ancient  simplicity  and  grandeur,  and,  for 
the  world's  parliament,  filled  it  with  modern  furniture 
and  comforts.  Hither  the  various  governments  sent  their 
ablest  men,  who  faced  their  task  with  greater  seriousness. 
For  the  first  time  the  South -American  states  were  repre- 
sented. 

The  conference,  which  was  opened  in  June,  1907,  with 
gracious  welcome  from  Queen  Wilhelmina,  sat  until 
October  18th.  Disappointing  to  those  impatient  for  quick 
ideal  solutions  of  world-old  problems  and  eager  for  the 
phenomenal  and  sensational,  the  results,  as  summed  up 
by  a  British  writer,  show  "  the  steady  gain  of  man,"  more 
especially  in  making  the  beginnings  of  war  more  difficult, 
and  in  mitigating  its  horrors.  More  than  was  expected 
by  practised  statesmen  was  accomplished: 

"  The  insuring  of  periodical  meetings  of  the  conference ; 
the  conversion  of  Germany  to  the  principle  of  arbitration ; 


1908]  THE  SECOND   HAGUE    CONFERENCE  943 

the  recognition  of  the  rights  of  neutrals;  the  institution 
of  an  international  prize  court;  the  discovery  by  Europe 
of  South  America's  influence  in  international  affairs,  and, 
through  South  America's  initiative,  the  abolishment  of 
the  forcible  collection  of  debts;  the  declaration  of  the  na- 
tions in  favor  of  obligatory  arbitration,  and  the  humanizing 
of  war  in  many  directions."  The  air  was  cleared  on  other 
points,  and  the  points  of  danger  made  most  clearly  visible. 

The  International  Peace  Conference  adjourned  on  the 
day  that  aerograms  of  congratulation  and  friendship  were 
flashing  across  the  Atlantic.  It  was  in  1678  that  Christian 
Huygens,  born  at  The  Hague  in  1629,  the  inventor  of  the 
pendulum,  worked  out  his  theory  that  light  is  conveyed 
by  those  ether  waves  on  which,  in  October,  1907,  the 
Italian  Marconi  and  his  correspondents  transmitted  wire- 
less telegraphic  messages  from  continent  to  continent.  • 

The  international  situation  in  Europe  is  maintained  so 
far  as  the  Netherlands  and  Belgium  affect  it,  all  proposals 
for  a  union  of  the  two  countries  being  limited  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  an  economic,  but  not  of  a  political  or  a  military, 
union. 

The  close  of  the  year  1907  was  marked  by  two  events 
of  national  interest.  The  resignation  of  the  cabinet,  on 
Christmas  day,  was  due  to  a  defeat  of  the  army  estimates 
in  the  Second  Chamber,  the  Opposition  contending  that 
efficiency  was  not  proportionate  to  the  cost.  The  visit  of 
the  German  emperor  to  the  Dutch  queen,  late  in  De- 
cember, added  another  omen  of  strength  to  the  peace  bond 
between  the  two  nations  whose  rulers  thus  met  again  in 
social  friendship. 


i:^rDEx 


Aa,  North,  420,  423. 

Abjuration,  Act  of,  624,  625,  627, 
628. 

Accord,  579,  594,  674. 

Adams,  John,  877,  883,  888,  889,  892. 

Adolphus  of  Nassau,  228,  409,  926. 

Aerschot,  Duke  of,  7,  124,  466,  490, 
494,  600,  604,  606,  636,  677, 
603,  732. 

Aerssens,  Francis,  767,  781,  796,  802, 
822,  824. 

Africa,  840,  916. 

Agnosticism,  778,  801,  805. 

Agobard  of  Lyons,  856. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  Treaty  of,  871. 

A'Lasco,  770. 

Albert,  Archduke  of  Austria,  734, 
812. 

Aldegonde,  St.  Philip  de  Marnix, 
159-161,  352,  391,  432,  435, 
438,  446,  475,  500,  514,  538, 
639,  645,  699,  702,  703,  722. 

Alen9on  and  Anjou,  Duke  of,  see 
Anjou. 

Alexander  of  Parma,  571-739 

Alkmaar,  Siege  of,  381-385,  803, 
823. 

Allerton,  788. 

Alost,  458,  467,  470, 

Alva,  Ferdinando  Alvarez  de  Toledo, 
Duke  of,  251,  254,  264,  270, 
295,  297,  312,  313,  314,  322, 
334,  335,  365,  377,  392,  398, 
616,  719. 

Alva,  Statue  of,  313,  522. 

Amboyna,  757,  817,  839. 

Ambrose,  Marquis,  753. 

American  Colonies,  697,  779. 

American  Constitution,  887. 

American  Declaration    of   Indepen- 
dence, 624. 
59 


550,  551, 
821,   828, 


at. 


American  Dutch,  916,  922. 
American  Revolution,  875,  899. 
American  Senate,  716,  746. 
Americans,  12-16,   715,    805,   810, 

827,  847,  863,  873. 
Amersfoort,  777,  853. 
Ames,  Dr.  William,  717. 
Amnesty,  323,  325,  415. 
Amsterdam,  372,  450,  501, 

762,  785,  792,    820. 

847-860. 
Amsterdam,  Bank  of,  869. 
Amsterdam,   National    Museum 

741,  916. 
Amsterdam,  New,  840. 
Anabaptists,  63,  54,  69,  79,  307,  500, 

556,  751,  768,  769,  778. 
Anastro,  Gaspard  d',  646,  647. 
Andrea  Dorea,  255,  880. 
Andreas,  813. 
Anglo-maniacs,  875,  879. 
Anjou,  Duke  of,  401,  404,  607,  543, 

558,  574,  581,    615,    633,   636, 

638,  645,    654,   655,    659,   665, 

670,  675,  864. 
Anna,  Paulownia,  912. 
Anne  of  England,  Queen,  865,  873. 
Antigonus,  641. 
Antwerp,  19,  25,  143,  188,  201,  230, 

231,  271,  470,   526,    591,    640, 

698,  738,  902,  912. 
Apology  of  Prince  of  Orange,  616. 
Aquinas,  856. 
Archduke  Charles,  863. 
Architecture    of    Netherlands,    187, 

194,  828. 
Areine,  822. 

Aremburg,  124,  286,  290. 
Armada,  Spanish,    712,    714,    718, 

824. 
*•  Armed  Neutrality,"  884. 


946 


INDEX 


"Arme  haenen,"  791. 
Armenteros,  Secretary,  128,  142. 
Arminians,  118,  784-788,  792,  808, 

814. 
Arminius,  772,  799. 
Army,  The  Model,  719,  747,  816. 
Arnheim,  794. 
Arras,  583. 
Art,  830,  831. 
Art,  Dutch,  830. 
Artillery,  721,  748. 
Artillery  Armory,  800. 
Artois,  Estates  of,  49,  865. 
Asiatic  Society,  916. 
Assassins,  642,  655. 
Assignats,  900. 
Atcheen,  King  of,  756. 
Atcheen  War,  926. 
Atonement,  Theory  of,  806. 
Augsburg,  823,  859. 
Augustine,  770,  853. 
Augustinism,  771. 
Austria,  Don  John  of,  477,  481,  486, 

494,  496,   508,    541,  545,   556, 

564,  565,  566. 
Austria,  House  of,  Introduction,  xvi. 
Austria,  Mathias,  Archduke  of,  629, 

531,  545,  632. 
Austruweel,  or  Ostraweel,  227,  229. 
Auto-da-fe,  56,  58,  105,  107. 
Avila,  Don  Sancho  d',  260,  403,  405, 

470. 
Axel,  707. 
Ayskue,  837. 

Bahia,  810. 

Baker  at  Antwerp,  662. 

Bakhuysen,  829. 

Bakkerzeel,  203,  261,  301. 

Ban  against  Orange,  616,  617,  642, 
676,  683. 

Bandes  d'Ordonnance,  47,  112. 

Bantam,  742. 

Bardes,  William,  553,  554,  555. 

Barentz,  William,  741,  742. 

Barfleur,  862. 

Barneveldt,  Joan  van  Olden,  376,  706, 
709,  711,  712,  718,  735,  738, 
745,  747,  757,  760,  761,  765, 
777-780,  789,  792,  794,  800, 
801,  804,  813,  815,  816. 

Barneveldt,  N.  Y.,  894. 

"  Barneveldt's  Teeth,"  790. 

Barneveldt,  Trial  of,  795. 

Bart,  Jean,  862. 


Bartholomew,  Massacre  of,  356,  386, 

388. 
Bastwick,  788. 
Batavian  Republic,  899,  900. 
Batenburg,  375,  376. 
Bavaria,  863. 

Bavaria,  House  of,  Introduction,  xvi. 
Bax,  Marcellus,  736. 
Bax,  Paul,  732,  736. 
Beachy  Head,  862. 
Beaufort,  W.  H.  de,  876. 
Beauvoir,  Philip  de  Lannoy,  Seigneur 

de,  231. 
Bede,  27. 
Beemster,  828. 

*'  Beggars,"  172,  176,  276,  680. 
Beggars  of  the  Sea,  331,  402,  419, 

516. 
Bekker,  Balthazar,  857,  858. 
"  Bekkerism,"  858. 
Belgians,  908-912. 
Belgic  Confession,  220. 
Belgic  Netherlands,  747,  862,  908- 

912. 
Belgic  Provinces,  702,  731,  864. 
Belgium,  865,  908,  912. 
Bell  Alley,  Leyden,  787. 
Belmont,  William  Bentinck,  Earl  of 

Portland,  864. 
Bergen-op-Zoom,  757,  813. 
Bergh,  Count  van  den,  362,  672. 
Berghen,  Marquis,  263. 
Beverwijck,  828. 
Berlaymont,  Baron,  7,  466,  510. 
Beza,  770. 

Bible,  703,  704,  799,  812,  830,  831. 
Bicameral    Government,    746,    907, 

927,  928. 
Bilderdijk,  909. 
Billy,  Seigneur  de,  488. 
Binnenhof,  762,  782,  803. 
Bischof,  Simon,  781. 
Bishop  of  Miinster,  843. 
Bishop  of  Rome,  771. 
Bishoprics,  767. 
Bishops,  64,  86. 
Bismarck,  924. 
Blake,  Admiral,  837. 
Blok,  Dr.  P.  J.,  quoted,  78,  368,  409. 
Blomberg,  Barbara,  481,  520. 
"  Blood  bath,"  790,  794. 
Blood,  Horror  of,  804. 
Bogerman,  John,  797,  799. 
Bois-le-Duc,  see  Hertogenbosch. 
Boisot,  Admiral,  412,  419,  427,  456. 


INDEX 


947 


Boisot,  Charles  vau,  435,  443,  456. 

Bol,  829. 

Bolsward,  828. 

Bommenede,  443. 

Bonaparte,  nee  Napoleon. 

Boniface,  767. 

Bor,  828. 

Bordeaux,  641. 

Borgia,  Colonel,  426. 

Bossi,  Count,  342,  344,  365,  390,  475, 

516,  553. 
Bossu,  Admiral,  391. 
Boughton,  George  H.,  810. 
Bouillon,  Duke  of,  781. 
Bourbon,  Charlotte  of,  437,  515,  684. 
Bourbonnais,  845. 
Bours,  De,  606. 
Boyne,  Battle  of,  861. 
Brabant,  85,  86,  911. 
Brabant,  Duke  of,  656. 
Brabant,  Ruward  of,  533. 
Braddock,  873. 

Bradford,  William,  736,  788,  790. 
Brandt,  828. 

Breda,  436,  722,  817,  823. 
Brederode,  7,  169,  174,  223,  226,  246. 
Breders,  828. 
Breed  Straat,  790. 
Brewer,  William,  788,  789. 
Brewster,  William,    578,    704,   788, 

789   809 
Brill,  339,  343,  438,  581,  698,  738, 

780-785. 
Broadway,  790. 
Broglie,  De,  Bishop,  909. 
Broom  at  the  masthead,  837,  838. 
Brothers  of  the  Common  Life,  767. 
Brouwershaven,  443. 
Bruges,  675. 
Brugman,  Hajo,  578. 
Brussels,  3-13,  289,  313,    389,  458, 

496,  524,  542,  549,  563,  812. 
Buren,  Count  de,  274,  336. 
Burg  at  Leyden,  414. 
Burgerhout,  660. 

Burgundy,  House  of,Introduction,xvi. 
Bussem,  362. 
Buys,  Paul,  331,  352,  417,  435,  446, 

708,  708. 
Bylandt,  Admiral,  883. 

Cabrera,  105. 
Cadiz,  718,  734. 
Cffisarism,  776,  805. 
Calais,  38. 


Calberg,  Thomas,  108. 

Calkoens,  Dr.,  879. 

Callenburgh,  Gerard,  865. 

Calloo,  412. 

Calvin,  John,  770,  799,  805. 

Calvinism,   79,   181,  390,   662,   675, 

761,  766,  770,  771,  788,  808, 

816. 
Cambrai,  Archbishop  of,  148,  636. 
"Camel,"  the  Ship's,  714. 
Campbell's    "Puritan    in     Holland, 

England,  and  America,"  248. 
Canals,  915. 

Canons  of  the  Synod  of  Dort,  922. 
Cant,  Vice-Admiral,  753. 
Caraffa,  Cardinal,  28. 
Caricatures,  706,  762,  790,  791,  792, 

793,  798-800,  803,  805,  814. 
Carleton,  Sir  Dudley,  780-786,  789- 

792,  803,  809. 
Carrying-trade,  837. 
Casembroot,  De,  Admiral,  920,  921. 
Casimir,  Ernest,  of  Nassau,  748,  813, 

817,  820. 
Casimir,  Henry,  844. 
Casimir,  John,  557,  574,  579,  580. 
Casimir,  Prince  -  Palatine,  337,  574, 

680. 
Cateau-Cambr6sis,  Treaty  of,  44. 
Catherine    II.,  Empress  of    Russia, 

830,  884. 
Catholics,  Roman,  110,  923,  924,  927. 
Cats,  Jacob,  821,  828. 
Cavalry,  694,  721. 
Celtic  element,  461. 
Chain  shot,  841. 
Champagny,  553,  563. 
Charles  L,  of  England,  820,  824,  832. 
Charles   V.,  Emperor,  Introduction, 

xiv.,  3-13,  14,  24,  26,  46,  481. 
Charles  IX.,  of  France,  311,  388. 
Charlotte  of  Bourbon,  648,  649. 
Charters,  107. 
Chatham,  842. 

Chester,  Edward,  Colonel,  414. 
Chimay,  Prince  of,  511,  672. 
Christmas,  655. 

Christopher,  St.,  Island  of,  881. 
Church,    Christian    Reformed,   921 

922,  923. 
Church  Cloister,  The  Hague,  781,  782. 
Church  edifices,  187,  766. 
Church,  English  Separatist,  808. 
Church,  Nederland  Reformed,    921, 

922. 


948 


INDEX 


Church,  Prince's,  782. 

Church,  Scotch  Presbyterian,  787. 

Church,  St.  Peter's,  Leyden,  787. 

"Church  Under  the  Cross,"  921. 

Claas,  Zaan,  882. 

Claaszoon,  Reynier,  758. 

Cleves,  819. 

Clinic  Prison,  790. 

Cobham,  560. 

Coccejans,  851. 

Coccejus,  717,  849,  850,  851. 

"  Cock-pit  of  Europe,"  821,  908. 

Coehorn,  Menno,  869. 

Coeli,  Medina,  381. 

Coevorden,  285,  613,  726,  727. 

Coffee,  901,  903. 

Coligny,   Admiral,  28,    32,   37,  330, 

354. 
Coligny,  Louisa  de,   670,   676,  680, 

684,  803. 
Collegiate  Churches,  922. 
Cologne,  Congress  of,  303,  306. 
Cologne,  German  Electorate  of,  603, 

670,711. 
Colonies,  833. 
Colonization,  807. 
Columbus,  399. 
Comenius,  855. 
Comets,  857. 

Commerce,  Oriental,  756,  867. 
Commonwealth,  English,  833. 
"  Companie  Jan,"  836. 
"Compromise"  of  the  Nobles,  159, 

177. 
Concordat,  910. 
Conde,  843. 

Constitutional  Argument,  783. 
Constitutions,  651,  907,  909,  913,  927. 

Coornheert,  722. 

Cornell  University,  855. 

Cornelisz,  829. 

Cornellisen,  Gisbert,  426. 

Corruption  in  Office,  140-141. 

Costume-processions,  705. 

Council,  General  Executive,  621. 

Council  of  Blood,  432, 439. 

Council  of  Guardianship,  827. 

Council  of  State,  738,  746. 

Council  of  Troubles,  264,  268. 

Council,  Protestant  Ecumenical,  796. 

Counts  of  Holland,  618,  627,  651. 

Crabeth  Brothers,  830. 

Cradle  of  Liberty,  793. 

Crayer,  813. 

Crefeld,  873. 


Cromwell,  Oliver,  836,  837, 839. 

Cruptoricis,  726. 

Culemberg,  272. 

Cutler,  732. 

Cuyps,  Artists,  810, 829. 

Daendels,  Herman,  901. 

Dam,  867. 

Dathenus,  Peter,  180,  578,  600,  601. 

Daughters  of  William  of  Orange,  649. 

D'Avila,  Juan,  759. 

Davison,  William,  530,  532,  578,  698, 

704. 
De  Billy,  258,  327,  488,  619. 
De  Bours,  606. 
De  Brey,  Guido,  or  Guy  de  Bres,  180, 

220,  240. 
Declaration    of   Independence,  624, 

627. 
Declaration  of  Rights,  624,  860. 
De  Foe,  861. 
De  Forest,  Jesse,  807. 
De  la  Noue,  612. 
Delaware,  810. 
Delfshaven,  810,  817,  819. 
Delft,  762,  806,  818,  819,  839,  847, 

926. 
Demarara,  882. 
Democracy,  894. 

Dendermonde,  214. 

Denmark,  836,  839. 

Departments,  101. 

Deposition  of  Arminian  Clergy,  798. 

Deposition   of  King  of  Spain,  627, 
631,  827. 

De  Ruyter,  Admiral,  759,  838,  839, 
841,  845,  846. 

De  Ruyter,  Herman,  328,  329. 

Descartes,  Rene,  848,  850,  854. 

Deventer,  City  of,  723,  767. 

De  Vere,  Aubrey,  820. 

Devonshire,  860. 

De  With,  Witte,  Admiral,  837,  838, 
840. 

De  Witt,  Cornelius,  816,  844. 

De  Witt,  John,  839,  841,  842,  843, 
844. 

De  Witte,  Captain  Witte  C,  834. 

"  De  Witt's  Deep,"  841. 

Diamonds,  853. 

Diet,  417,  427,  621,  676,  725,  892. 

Dijkvelt,  859. 

Dikes,  326,  327,  417,  512,  867,  868, 
896,  925. 

Dirks,  Willem,  769. 


INDEX 


949 


Dirkzoon,  390. 

Ditchfield,  853. 

Doel,  892. 

Doelen,  800,  891. 

Doelen,  Kloveniers,  Hall,  796,  797. 

Doesburg,  Capture  of,  707,  742,  743. 

Dogs,  355. 

Dokkum,  767. 

Dominican  Monks,  623. 

Dordrecht,  see  Dort. 

Dorislaus,  Isaac,  832. 

Dort,  Black  Galley  of,  751. 

Dort,  Canons  of  the  Synod  of,  798, 

799. 
Dort,  Congress  of,  390,  561. 
Dort,  Synod  of,  796,  800,  816. 
Downs,  Admiral,  824,  837. 
Drainage,  829,  868. 
Drebbel,  829. 

Drenthe,  717,  726,  843,  867. 
Drunkenness,  75, 
Drusus,  707. 
Dudley,  Robert,  639,  705,  706,  711, 

713. 
Duiveland  and  Scliouwen,  441,  457. 
D'Uloa,  Don  Osorio,  441,  442. 
Dumas,  823. 
Du  Maurler,  Louis,  803. 
Dumouriez,  General,  897. 
Dunes,  748. 
Dungeness,  837. 
Dunkirk,  658,  714,  824,  838. 
Dunkirk,  Pirates  of,  746,  751,  818. 
Du  Plessis,  657.  \ 

Du  Quesne,  846,  873. 
Dutch  and  Germans,  75. 
"  Dutch  Courage,"  920,  921. 
Dutcli  Declaration  of  Independence, 

860. 
Dutch  Freedom,  845. 
Dutch  in  Japan,  917-921. 
Dutch  Language,  919. 
Dutch  National  Hymn,  751. 
Dutch  People,  109,  760,  771. 
Duyck,  Adrian,  813. 

East  Hill,  749. 

East  India  Company,  757,  836,  873. 

East  India  Company,  Ostend,  870. 

Edam,  792. 

Edict  of  Nantes,  Revocation  of,  859. 

Edict  of  1550,  49,  81,  82,  623. 

Edict,  Perpetual,  489,  491,  492,  493, 

501,  844. 
'Education,  716,717,  903. 


Egmont,  428,  612. 

Egmont,  Anne  of,  71. 

Egmont,  Countess  of,  277. 

Egmont,  Lamoral,  Count   of,   7,  35, 

123, 124,  132,  146,  148, 149, 151, 

203,  215,  245,  289,  293,  553,  655, 

732. 
Egmont,  Lamoral,  the  Younger,  653, 

655. 
Egmont,  Philip,  Count,  470. 
Elector-palatine,  813. 
Electors  of  Germany,  313. 
Eletto,  411. 

Elizabeth,  Archduchess,  821. 
Elizabeth,  Queen  of  England,   446, 
"*"     482,  557,  608, 637,  669,  698,  743, 

750,  752. 
Erabden,  717. 
Emblems,  see  Symbolism. 
Emigration,  166,  248,  916,  922. 
Emma,  Queen,  926. 
Encamisada,  354,  355, 405,  727. 
English  Armies  in  the  Netherlands, 

29,  30,  38,  697,  698,  803. 
English  Troops,  543. 
Englishmen,  727. 
Enkhuizen,  347,  391,  741,  792,  816, 

819,  823,  832. 
Episcopius,  796,  797. 
Epistle,  389. 

Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  768. 
Erkelens,  Gosuinus,  882. 
Ernest  of  Austria,  Archduke,  731. 
Escorial,  Palace  of  the,  36. 
Escovedo,  495,  501,  512. 
Essequibo,  882. 
Estates,  or  States-General,  52,  522, 

545,  592. 
Everhard,  Count,  747. 
Eyertsen,  Admiral,  838,  846,  862. 
Excommunication,  854. 

Fabricius,  144. 

Fagel,  Henry,  Secretary,  879,  905. 

Fayeau  and  Malhart,  111,  454. 

Federal  Goyernment,  801. 

Federalists,  900. 

Fictions  of  Law,  281,  306,  348,  351, 

428,  429. 
Fielding,  Admiral,  883. 
"Fire  Ship,"  The,  701. 
Flag,  720,  791,  803,  835-840,  911. 
Flanders,  Revolt  of,  538,  865. 
Fleece,  Golden,  Order  of,  116,  277. 
Flinck,  829. 


950 


INDEX 


Floods,  326,  32T,  345. 

Floriszoon,  888. 

Flushing,  342,   580,  698,  738,  141, 

759,  780. 
Foreland,  841. 
Formosa,  742,  743. 
Forts,  412. 
France,  859. 
Franeker.  University   of,    716,    879, 

889,' 903. 
Franken,  John,  804,  883. 
Franklin,  Dr.,  877. 
Franz,  Hals,  829. 
Frederic,  Don,  385. 
Frederick,    Henry,  Stadholder,  815, 

817,  820,  827-831. 
Frederick  the  Great,  891. 
Freedom  of  Printing,  789. 
Freedom  of  the  Press,  910. 
French   Occupation,   896-898,  899- 

906. 
French  Policy,  889. 
Friends,  The,  852. 
Friesland,  767,  822. 
Friso,  John  William,  870. 
Friso,  William  Charles  Henry,  870, 

871. 
Fruin,  Professor,  409,  804. 
Fuentes,  Count,  729,  732. 
"  Fury,"  the  Spanish,  470. 

Gabriel,  Peter,  80. 
Gansvort,  Wessel,  768. 
Gardner,  S.  W.,  836,  837. 
Gembloux,  or  Gemblours,  Battle  of, 

547.  551,  572. 
Generality,  583. 
Genlis,  53. 
George  I.,  866. 
George  III.,  866,  878. 
Gerard,    Balthazar,    677,    678,    679, 

684. 
German  and  Dutch,  608,  634,  770. 
Germany,  75,  80,  634. 
Gertruydenberg,  525,  715,  723,  729. 
Gesner,  Conrad,  823. 
Gevangepoort,  or  Prison  Gate,  844. 
Ghent,   City  of,  48,   462,  464,   473, 

522,  535,  574,  575,  655. 
Gianibelli,  701. 
Gibraltar,  418,  865. 
Gijselaar,  Cornelius  de,  874,  879. 
Goes,  359. 
Gomarists,  778. 
Gonzaga,  Ferdinand,  38. 


Gorcum,  584. 

Gouda,  785,  847. 

Graaf,  Johannes  de,  879,  880. 

Grange,  Peregrine  de  la,  220,  241. 

Granvelle,  Cardinal,  38,  39,  49,  60, 

72,   73,   87,   91,  92,    113,    116, 

118,  120,  132,    137,   616,  677, 

684. 
Grave,  City  of,  707,  725. 
Gravelines,  Battle  of,  40. 
Gravius,  828. 
Great  Privilege,  650. 
Great  Truce,  792,  807. 
Gregorius,  Martin  us,  800. 
Gresham,  Sir  Thomas,  236. 
Griffier,  544. 

Groeneveld,  Lord  of,  813. 
Groenevelt,  Arnold  van,  711,  814. 
Groenlo,  732,  757,  758,  817,  818. 
Groningen,  730,  744,  745,  848. 
Groningen,  University  of,  716,  730. 
"  Groot  Priviligie,"  650. 
Groote,  Gerard,  767. 
Grotius,  725,  786,  792,  793,  794,  806, 

828,  928. 
*'  Gueux,"  see  Beggars. 
Guiana,  810. 

Guise,  Duke  of,  269,  483. 
Gulick,  813. 

Haarlem,  City  of,  180,  181,  366,  378, 

785,  823,  828,  847. 
Haarlem,   Lake    of,   367,   374,  829, 

914. 
Haemstede,  412. 
Hague,  The,  798. 
Hainault,  865. 
Hainault,   House    of,    Introduction, 

xvi. 
Half-Moon,  807. 
Hall  of  the  Knights,  737,  803. 
Hancock,  John,  880. 
Hand  vests,  85. 

Hanover,  House  of,  870,  871. 
Hansen,  M.  G.,  797. 
Harderwijk,  716,  848,  903. 
Harlingen,  716. 
Harmensen,  Jacob,  772. 
Hartaing,  Daniel  de,  795. 
Harvard  College,  855. 
Hasselaer,  Kenau,  368. 
Hautain,  Admiral,  758. 
Havre,  Marquis  of,  458,  530,  543. 
Heemskerk,  Jacob,  742,  756,  759. 
Heidelberg  Catechism,  922. 


INDEX 


951 


Heiliger  Lee,  285,  288,  294,  409. 

Heinsius,  Daniel,  828,  865. 

Helder,  845,  902. 

Helling,  Colonel,  551. 

Helmont,  828. 

Henegouwen,  Introduction,  xvi. 

Hengist,  414. 

Henrv,  Frederick,  676,  684,  729,  755, 

807,    815,   817,   820,  823,  825, 

826,  827,  842. 
Henry  IV.,  738,  763. 
Herenthals,  736. 

Hermann,  Wolfert,  Captain,  756. 
Hertogenboscli,  or  Bois  le  Due,  700, 

723,  751,  819. 
Hessels,  266,  536,  577. 
Hessians,  895. 
Heusden,  786. 
Heusken,  Henry,  919. 
Heyn,  Piet,  817,  818,  819. 
H6ze,  Seigneur  de,  466. 
Hierges,  440. 
Hobbema,  829. 
Hogendorp,  G.  K.,  904,  914. 
Hohenlohe,    Philip,   Count  of,  477, 

613,  700,  732,  734,  736. 
Holland,  692,  783,  825,  833,  834. 
Holland  and  England,  832,  864. 
Holland,  Counts  of.  Introduction,  xv. 
Holland,  Kingdom  of,  900,  901. 
Holland,  North  and  South,  912. 
Holland  taken  by  the  Dutch,  904, 906. 
Hondecoeter,  830. 
Ilooft,  828. 

Hoogerbeets,  786,  793,  794,  807. 
Hoogstraaten,  Count,  262,  310,  610. 
Hook,  of  Holland,  860. 
Hooks  and  Cods,  Introduction,  xii. 
Hoorn,  391,  785,  786,  803. 
Hopper,  Joachim,  148,  455. 
Horn,  Count  of,  7,  93,  94,  206,  209, 

216,  259,  289,  293. 
House  of  Orange,  836. 
Houtmann  Brothers,  742,  916. 
Hudson,  Henry,  807,  810. 
Huguenots,  269,  281,  282,  380,  353, 

859,  860,  925. 
•'  Hunnebedden,"  867. 
Huygens,  Christian,  828,  829. 
♦^     Huygens,  Constantine,  829. 

Image-breaking,  188,  190. 
Imbize,  535,  540,  576,  600,  601,  674. 
Indies,  807. 
Infanta,  747. 


Inquisition,  78,  103,  107,  454,  719. 

Inscription,  419,  835. 

Intendit,  801. 

Irishmen,  705,  709,  713. 

Isabella  of  France,  812. 

Italians,  741. 

Italy,  Campaign  in,  740. 

Jacqueline  of  Bavaria,  279,  299. 
James  I.  of  England,  765. 
James  II.  of  England,  856,  859. 
James,   King,   780,    788,    792,  802, 

804,  809. 
Jamieson,  Franklin,  808. 
Jansen,  Cornelius,  853. 
Jansenism,  853. 
Jansenists,  772,  851. 
Japan,  740,  742,  756,  807,  858,  904, 

917-921. 
Jasper,  Margaret,  852. 
Jaureguz,  Joan,  646. 
Java,  742. 

Jeannin,  Pierre,  763. 
Jemmingen,  296,  299,  313. 
Jesuits,  702,  734. 
Jews,  853. 

Joachim,  Albert,  833. 
John  of  Austria,  Don,  481,  567. 
John  of  Nassau,  Count,  584. 
Jones,  John  Paul,  882,  886. 
Joost  de  Moor,  753. 
Jordaens,  813. 
Joseph  II.,  Emperor,  891. 
Joyous  Entry,  85,  86,  317. 
Judges,  434. 
Juliana  of  Stolberg,  66. 
Junius,  Francis,  159,  160. 
Justus,  813. 

Kampen,  786,  923. 

Kamperduin,  900. 

Keezen,  874. 

Kelts,  867. 

Kempis,  Thomas  ^,  730,  768. 

Kermiss,  793. 

Keyser,  De,  829. 

Kijkduin,  900. 

Kilian,  828. 

"  King  "  in  the  Netherlands,  618. 

Keen,  Jan  P.,  916. 

Koppelstok,  Peter,  340. 

Kortnaar,  Vice-Admiral,  840. 

Koxinga,  743. 

Kramer,  Gerard,  742. 

Kuyper,  Abraham,  923,  927. 


952 


INDEX 


Labadie,  Jean,  851. 

Labadists,  851,  852. 

La  Grange,  Peregrine,  240. 

La  Hogue,  862. 

Lalain,  Count,  Governor  of  Hainault, 

553. 
Lammen,  424,  425. 
Land-scheiding,  418,  420. 
Language,  Dutch,  828,  919. 
Laurens,  Henry,  885. 
Law,  John,  870. 
Lee,  William,  883,  884,  885. 
Leegh  water,  829. 
Leerdam,  853. 
Leeuwarden,  680,  716,  797. 
Leewenhoek,  828. 
Leffingen,  748. 

Leicester,  Earl  of,  see  Dudley,  Robert. 
Leoninus,  Dr.  Elbertus,  485,  494,  500, 

525. 
Leopold  L  of  Belgium,  911. 
Lepanto,  Battle  of,  481,  572. 
Leyden,  City  of,  782,  786,  787,  790, 

791,  803,  847. 
Leyden,  Siege  of,  413,  427. 
Leyden,  University  of,  716,  772,787. 
Leyderdorp,  425,  426. 
Leyton,  545. 

Liberty  Trees  and  Poles,  897,  899. 
Lillo,  Fort,  412. 
Linen,  735. 
Linnaeus,  855. 
Lipsius,  828. 
Literature,  831. 
Lochem,  654,  757. 
Locke,  John,  855. 
Loevenstein,  328,  329,  800,  806,  807, 

834. 
Lombok,  927. 
London,  860. 
Louis,  Count  William,  721,  761,  779, 

781,  797,  816. 
Louis  XIV.,  of  France,  834,  840,  841, 

843,  858,  859,  862,  864,  871.  • 
Louvain,  City  of,  494,  822. 
Louvain,  University  of,  716,  813. 
Lowestoft,  840. 
Lutherans,  79,  181,  390. 
Luxemburg,  485,  486,  488,  546,  908, 

912,  924. 
Luzac  of  Leyden,  879,  882. 
Lydius  of  Franeker,  772. 

Maalzon,  446. 

Maas,  or  Meuse,  River,  308,  692,  809. 


Maasdam,  Baron  van,  904,  905. 

Maaslandsluis,  414. 

Maastricht,  404,  408,  468,  591,  597, 

820,  892. 
Magna  Charta,  650. 
Malays,  756,  927. 
Malcontents,  574,  576,  577,  684. 
Mansfield,  Agnes,  670,  711. 
Mansfield,  Count,  449,  466,  729. 
Marck,  William  van  der,  339,  343, 

367. 
Margaret,  Duchess,  397. 
Margaret  of  Parma,  656. 
Maria,  Queen  Henrietta,  825. 
Marlborough,  Duke  of,  865. 
Marot's  Hymns,  111,  181,  194. 
Martin  Mar-Prelate  Tracts,  790. 
Martyrs,  78,  110,  623,  769,  802,  804, 

806,  832,  911. 
Mary,  Princess,  825,  858. 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  38. 
Mary  Tudor,  19. 
Massacres,  356,  357,  362,  364,  377, 

599. 
Massinger,  804. 
Matanzas,  818. 
Maurice,  John,  821. 
Maurice  of  Nassau,  Stadholder,  643, 

644,   694,   710,   715,    719,   721, 

722,   729,   732,   733,   747,   749, 

750,  754,  757,  760,  761,   766, 

801,  802. 
Maximilian  II.,  435. 
Maypole,  802. 

Mazarin,  Cardinal,  825,  834. 
Mechlin,  City  of,  358,  502,  506,  564, 

606,  664. 
Medici,  Catharine  de,  404,  635,  666. 
Medina,  Coeli,  Duke  of,  380. 
Melancthon,  772. 
Memorial,  409. 
Mendoza,  Bernardino   de,  405,  743, 

756. 
Menno  Simons,  769. 
Mennonites,  751,  769,  852. 
Mercator,  742. 
Methodism,  814. 
Metsu,  829. 
Meurs,  751. 
Mexico,  818. 
Middleburg,  400,  461,  500,  556,  671, 

790,  852. 
Middleburg,  Fish-market  of,  790. 
Mierevelt,  829. 
Milton,  790. 


INDEX 


953 


Miracles,  623. 

Mirambeau,  668. 

Mississippi  Bubble,  870. 

Moderation,  177,  178. 

Modet,  180,  205. 

Mohawk,  810. 

Moluccas,  757. 

Moncontour,  408. 

Mondragon,  360,  361,  400,  403,  444, 

466,  467,  732,  733. 
Monk,  General,  838,  841. 
Mons,  349. 

Mons,  Capital  of  Hainault,  559. 
Montigny,  Baron,  121,  178,  263. 
Montmorency,  32,  35,  36,  43. 
Montpensier,  Due  de,  437,  438. 
Montrose,  833. 
Monuments,  575,  806. 
Mook,  405,  409. 
Mookerheyde,  406,  409,  417. 
Motley,  John  Lothrop,  783,  800,  804, 

805,  926. 
Mottoes.  284,  304,  307,  316,  607,  680, 

695,  778. 
Much,  Enoch,  781,  783. 
"Mud  Beggars,"  781. 
Muis,  Hugo,  800. 
Muller,  836. 

Munster,  Congress  of,  826. 
Museum,  National,  741,  916. 
Mutiny,  356,  382,  405,  458,  459,  476, 

719,  720,  746. 
Muyden,  819. 

Naardkn,  862,  364,  378,  786. 
Namur,  507,  508,  529,  548,  862. 
Napoleon,  900-908. 
Napoleon  III.,  901,  924,  925. 
Napoleon,  King  Louis,  900,  901. 
Nassau,  Count  John  of,  404, 409, 434, 

446,  498,  583,  614. 
Nassau,  Ernest  of,  747,  750. 
Nassau,  Justine  of,  738. 
Nassau,  Louis  Gunther  of,  734,  747, 

749,  750. 
Nassau,  Louis  of,  160,  162,  284,  330, 

353,   366,    357,    386,   387,  388, 

389,  401,  404,  405,  409. 
Nassau,  Philip  of,  733. 
Nation,  Idea  of,  712. 
National  Hymn,  722. 
National  Synod,  791,798. 
Nationality,  746,  766,  779. 
Naval  Battles,  832,  840. 
Naval  Expeditions,  718. 


Navarre,  Henry  of,  507. 

Navy,  722,  836,  846. 

Neal,  Daniel,  855. 

Netlierlands   in   England,   166,  248, 

315,  702. 
Netscher,  829. 
Neutrality,  925. 

Neutrality,  Proclamation  of,  878. 
New  Netherland,  807,  809. 
Nieuport,  747,750,  817,  838. 
Ninove,  654. 
Nobles,  494,  504,  524,  525,  529,  653, 

557,  574,  575,    593,  715,   724, 

743. 
Noircarmes,  221,  239,  357,  432. 
Nordlingen,  822. 
Nordwijck,  414. 
Norris,  Sir  John,  621,  708. 
Norsemen,  804. 
Nymegen,  828,  859,  893. 

Obdam,  Admiral,  839,  840. 

Obedient  Provinces,  731. 

Ogle,  Sir  John,  794. 

Old  South  Historical  Leaflets,  624. 

Oquendo,  Admiral,  823,  824. 

Orange,  595,  599,  749,  835. 

Orange  badges,  895,  905. 

Orange,  Principality  of,  870. 

Orange  Succession,  870. 

Orange,  William  of  Nansau,  Prince 
of,  his  personal  appearance,  11 ; 
ancestry,  training,  and  early 
manhood,  64  -  72  ;  discovers 
scheme  of  Henry  II.  and 
Philip  II.  for  extirpating  Prot- 
estantism, and  earns  the  sur- 
name of  "  The  Silent,"  68-72  ; 
stadholder  of  Holland,  Fries- 
land,  and  Utrecht,  69  ;  marriage 
with  Anne  of  Egmont,  69-70 ; 
his  opposition  to  institution  of 
new  bishops,  88 ;  his  marriage 
with  Anna  of  Saxony,  96-101 ; 
writes  joint  letter,  with  Egmont 
and  Horn,  to  Philip  on  neces- 
sity of  withdrawing  power  of 
Granvelle,  123,  124;  attempts 
to  stem  tide  of  corruption  after 
departure  of  Granvelle,  141 ;  his 
speech  on  occasion  of  Egmont's 
mission  to  Spain,  and  Viglius's 
instructions,  146-148 ;  inclines 
to  Lntheranism,  181 ;  repairs  to 
Antwerp  at  solicitation  of  citi- 


954 


INDEX 


zens  to  restore  public  tranquilli- 
ty, 182;  remonstrates  at  Duffel 
with  deputation  from  members 
of  Compromise  assembled  at 
Saint  Trond,  184, 185 ;  his  moder- 
ate proceedings  at  Antwerp  rela- 
tive to  image-breaking,  204  ;  in- 
terviews at  Dendermonde  be- 
tween Orange,  Horn,  Egmont, 
Hoogstraaten,  and  Count  Louis 
of  Nassau,  214 ;  his  dauntless 
conduct  at  Antwerp  during  tu- 
mult caused  by  defeat  of  Austru- 
weel,230;  succeeds  in  re-establish- 
ing order,  236  ;  cited  before  the 
Council  of  Blood,  272 ;  charges 
against  them,  272 ;  his  son  seized 
as  a  hostage,  274 ;  publishes  a 
reply  to  act  of  condemnation, 
279  ;  grants  commission  to  Count 
Louis  to  levy  troops  and  wage 
war  on  Philip,  281 ;  enrolls  him- 
self for  life  as  a  soldier  of  the 
Reformation,  308 ;  sincerity  of 
his  piety,  304  ;  his  formal  decla- 
ration of  war  against  Alva,  305; 
proclamation  to  the  people  of 
the  Netherlands,  306;  baffling 
plan  of  his  adversary,  309 ;  is 
forced  to  lead  back  and  disband 
his  army,  312;  power  conferred 
on  him  by  Congress  of  Dort, 
351,  352  ;  crosses  the  Rhine  at 
Duisburg  with  a  considerable 
army  and  takes  Roermonde,  353 ; 
his  reception  in  province  of 
Holland  after  breaking  up  his 
army,  365  ;  endeavors  to  succor 
Haarlem,  370-375  ;  firm  in  faith 
and  hope  in  spite  of  repeated 
disasters,  379 ;  reasons  for  con- 
quering his  repugnance  to  King 
of  France,  386 ;  solitary  and 
anxious  position  during  the  mis- 
fortunes of  Haarlem  and  Alk- 
maar,  389 ;  appeal  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  the  Nether- 
lands, exhorting  the  country  to 
union  against  the  oppressor, 
389;  confidence  in  God  the 
mainspring  of  his  energy,  390; 
liberty  of  conscience  for  the 
people  his  main  object,  390 ;  pub- 
licly joins  the  Calvinist  Church 
at  Dort,  390;   preparations  for 


relief  of  Leyden,  419;  accepts 
the  government  of  Holland  and 
Zeeland,  436  ;  marries  the  Prin- 
cess Charlotte  of  Bourbon,  438  ; 
resolution  to  throw  off  alle- 
giance to  King  of  Spain,  444 ;  su- 
preme authority  in  Holland  and 
Zeeland  conferred  on  him,  453 ; 
prepares  to  take  advantage  of 
mutiny  of  Spanish  troops  to 
bring  about  a  general  union  and 
organization,  463 ;  difficulties 
suggested  by  the  arrival  of  Don 
John  of  Austria,  486  ;  his  dis- 
trust of  Don  John  and  reasons 
for  it,  491 ;  financial  embar- 
rassments of  his  family  caused 
by  their  sacrifices  to  the  cause  of 
the  Netherlands,  498 ;  advances 
made  to  him  by  Don  John  of 
Austria,  499 ;  his  struggles  to 
establish  a  system  of  toleration, 
500;  is  invited  by  Estates-Gen- 
eral to  come  to  Brussels  to  aid 
them  with  his  counsels,  524 ; 
enthusiastic  reception  at  Ant- 
werp, 527 ;  entry  into  Brussels, 
527 ;  his  wise  conduct  with  re- 
gard to  Archduke  Matthias,  532 ; 
is  elected  Ruvvard  of  Brabant, 
533 ;  significance  of  this  office, 
534 ;  his  new  dignity  confirmed 
by  Estates  -  General,  the  crown 
within  his  grasp,  534  ;  indigna- 
tion at  treacherous  conduct  of 
nobles,  535 ;  outbreak  of  revolu- 
tion in  Ghent,  538  ;  proceedings 
relative  to  outbreak,  540 ;  re- 
pairs to  Ghent  on  invitation  of 
four  estates  of  Flanders,  541  ; 
brings  about  a  new  act  of  union, 
securing  the  religious  rights  of 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  542 ; 
succeeds  in  negotiating  treaty  of 
alliance  and  subsidy  with  Eng- 
land, 543 ;  rebukes  his  own 
church  for  its  intolerance,  555 ; 
at  Ghent,  575-576 ;  effects  the 
Union  of  Utrecht,  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Netherland  republic, 
584 ;  false  accusations  against, 
relative  to  Union  of  Utrecht, 
•587;  unceasing  efforts  to  coun- 
teract the  dismembering  policy 
of  Parma,  593  ;  repairs  a  second 


INDEX 


955 


time  to  Ghent,  and  again  his 
presence  restores  order,  602 ; 
his  arguments  in  favor  of  choice 
of  Duke  of  Anjou  as  future  ruler 
of  the  Netherlands,  60*7 ;  con- 
tents of  ban  against  him,  617  ; 
replies  by  his  famous  Apology, 
619  ;  reluctantly  accepts  provis- 
ional sovereignty  over  Holland 
and  Zeeland,  625  ;  attempt  to 
assassinate  him  at  Antwerp, 
643  ;  position  assigned  to  him 
by  the  new  constitution,  651; 
married  for  the  fourth  time  to 
Louisa,  widow  of  Teligny  and 
daughter  of  Coligny,  670  ;  re- 
fuses the  sovereigjity  of  United 
Provinces  offered  to  liim  by  the 
Estates,  671 ;  various  new  at- 
tempts against  his  life,  676  ;  last 
and  successful  attempt,  681  ; 
children  by  his  four  marriages, 
683 ;  deep  sorrow  of  the  people 
at  his  death,  684. 

"  Oranje  boven,"  895. 

"Oranjeklanten,"  874,  879. 

Ostade,  829. 

Ostend,  Siege  of,  751,  764. 

Ostrawell,  nee  Austruweel. 

Oswestry,  845. 

Oudenarde,  653. 

Oudewater,  440,  772,  786. 

Oversteln,  Count,  723. 

Pacheco,  345. 

PaciHcation  of  Ghent,  439,  475,  476, 

489,  491,  576. 
Pageant,  5,  6,  18,  430,  496.  637,  638, 

641,  653,  683.  713,  728,  729. 
Paine,  Thomas,  880. 
Pamphlets,  529,  762,  787,  791. 
Panis,  503,  506. 
Papenheim,  Count,  806,  820. 
Parisian  Wedding,  386. 
Parma,  Alexander  of,  520,  546. 
Parma,  Margaret  of,  41,  61,  63,  156, 

166, 168, 171, 197,  198,  210,  212, 

242,  243,  256,  269,  622. 
Parties,  870,  900,  909,  913,  927-928. 
"  Paternoster  Jacks,"  562. 
Patriots,  874. 
Patton,  Aristotle,  710. 
Paul  IV.,  770. 
Paulinism,  770. 
Pauw,  Adrian,  821. 


Peace  Negotiations,  761. 
Peace  of  Westminster,  839. 
Peacock,  Edward,  787. 
Pelagians,  772. 
Pelham,  William,  705. 
Penn,  William,  852,  863. 
Pennsylvania,  852. 
Pensionary  of  Holland,  838. 
People,  Introduction,  xv.,  76,  79,  109, 

765,  801,  826. 
Pernambuco,  810,  834. 
Perponcher,  905. 
Perry,  M.  C,  919. 
Peru,  818. 

Peter  the  Great,  863. 
Philip,  616. 

Philip,  Count  of  Egmont,  596. 
Philip  II.  of  Spain,  9,  16,  17,  19,  20, 

22,  25,  26,  49,  52,  55,  56,  93, 

145,  202,  244,  738. 
Philip  III.  of  Spain,  761,  764,  812. 
Philip  IV.  of  Spaii),  822. 
Pholas,  868. 
Pichegru,  General,  897. 
Pikeman,  694. 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  787,  856. 
Pilgrim   Press    in  Choir  Allev,  788, 

790. 
Pilot,  841. 
Pittsburg,  847. 
Placards,  762,  793. 
Plancius,  Domine,  742. 
Plassey,  873. 

Polders,  828,  912.     See  Drainage. 
Polyander,  John,  781. 
Pontalis,  La  Fevre,  844. 
Popular  Government,  453. 
Port  Royalists,  853. 
Portland,  838. 
Portraitures,  831. 
Portugal,  616,  622,  740. 
Post  Acta,  799. 
Potter,  Paul,  816,  830. 
Pragmatic  Sanction,  870. 
Preaching  in  the  Fields,  179,  182. 
Pretender,  864,  865. 
Price,  Rev.  Dr.,  876. 
Priest,  787. 
Prince,  601. 
Prince  of  Wales,  860. 
Prinsenvlag,  835. 
"Priiisgezinden,"  871. 
Prussia,  Interference  of,  893. 
Prussia,  King  of,  870. 
Puritan,  717,  736,  789. 


956 


INDEX 


Purmer,  828. 

Purmerend,  792.  '    "' 

quellinus,  829. 

Railways,  915. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  V34,  813. 

Rammekens,  698,  '738,  780. 

Rassinghem,  222,  435,  540. 

Ratisbon,  841. 

Ravene,  Abraham,  879,  880. 

Realism,  830. 

Reformation,  78,  80. 

Reformed  Church  in  America,  220, 

717. 
Reijd,  828. 

Rembrandt,  828,  829,  830,  851. 
Remonstrants    and    Contra  -  Remon- 
strants, 772,  784,  795,  797,  798, 

814,  820. 
Renaissance,  Hollandish,  828. 
Renaissance,  Introduction,  xiii. 
Renier,  813. 
Renneberg,    Count,    Stadholder    of 

Friesland    and     Drenthe,    488, 

606,  610,  621. 
Representative  Government,  453. 
Republic,  871. 
Requesens,  Don   Luis  de,  393,  397, 

399,  410,  411,  431,  448. 
Request,  167. 
Respect,  805. 
Revaillac,  763. 
Revival  of  Letters,  831. 
Revolt,  Causes  of,  75,  76,  103. 
Rheinberg,  751,  757,  821. 
Rhine,  843. 
Richardot,  Juan,  761. 
Richelieu,  Cardinal,  815,  822. 
Roads,  869. 

Robinson,  John,  787,  788,  796. 
Robinson,  Josiah,  Captain,  880. 
Robsart,  Amy,  705. 
Rochelle,  815. 
Rocroi,  825. 

Rodney,  English  Admiral,  880. 
Roell,  858. 
Roer,  817. 
Roermonde,  283,  290,  349,  363,  369, 

820. 
Romero,  Julian,  401,  470,  473. 
Rooke,  Sir  George,  865. 
Rosaens,  781. 
Rosny,  Marquis  of,  755, 
Rostock,  806. 


Rotterdam,  343,  417,  785,  809. 
Rubens,  764,  813,  819. 
Rudolph  IL,  489,  529. 
Rupert,  Prince,  841. 
Russian  Ships,  863. 
Ruy  Gomez,  7,  29. 
Ryhove,  535,  540,  576,  601,  674. 
Ryswijk,  781,  862. 

Sabbath,  789. 

Sackville,  Thomas,  710. 

Saint  Quentin,  City  of,  33,  37. 

Salem,  856. 

Salute  to  United  States  Flag,  879. 

Sasbout,  Arnold,  436. 

Satisfaction,  551. 

Savoy,  Emanuel  Philibert,  Duke  of, 

30,  44. 
Saxony,  Anna  of,  438,  683,  778. 
Scaliger,  828. 
Schaff,  797. 

Scheffer,  Dr.  J.  G.  de  H.,  769. 
Scheldt,  the,  641,  699,  761,  821,  892, 

901,  902,  912. 
Schenck,  Martin,  613,  706,  715,  716, 

724. 
Schenectady,  851. 
Schetz,  Caspar,  500,  528,  603. 
Scheveningen,  897,  905,  926. 
Schiedam,  417. 
Schimmelpeninck,  R.  J.,  900. 
Schoepman,  927,  928. 
Schomberg,  388. 
Schoonoven,  440,  785. 
Schouwen,  440,  441,  444,  447. 
Schurmann,  Anna  Maria,  851. 
Scotch,  713. 
Scotch  Brigade,  878. 
Scots,  Mary  Queen  of,  483,  785. 
Scriptures,  831. 
Scrooby,  698,  704. 
Sebastian,  San,  718,  824. 
Separatists,  782,  810. 
"  Sharp  Resolve,"  The,  783,  786. 
Shimonoseki,  920,  921. 
Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  638,  707,  708. 
Sillem,  J.  A.,  876. 
Skates,  366. 
Slatius,  Henry,  813. 
Sluis,  711,  754,  757. 
Smeerenburg,  847. 
Solms,  Amalia  van,  815,  825. 
Solms,  G.  E.,  Count,  735. 
Somers,  Lord,  860. 
Somiius,  Dr.  Francis,  83. 


INDEX 


957 


Sonoy.  Diedrich,  848,  384,  439,  551, 

554,  621. 
Sophia,  Queen,  914,  926. 
Sovereignty,  626,  651,  746,  '766. 
Spa,  501. 
Spaarndam,  367. 
Spade,  816,  868. 
Spanish  Netherlands,  834. 
Spanish  Plate  Fleets,  758,  817. 
Spanish  Ports,  Vessels  in,  740. 
Spanish  Soldiers,  48,  719. 
Spanish  Succession,  863^,...^ 
Spanish  Troops,  Returnmg,  519. 
"  Spanje-Oranje,"  781. 
Speedwell,  809. 
Spice  Islands,  740. 
Spinola,  Ambrose,  Marquis,  733. 
Spinola,  Frederick,   752,   757,    758, 

761,  813,  815. 
Spinoza,  Benedict,  854. 
Spitsbergen,  807,  847. 
Sprague,  Admiral,  845. 
Stadholders  of  Provinces,  47,  626. 
Standish,  Miles,  697,  788, 
Stanley,  Lieutenant  Edward,  708. 
Stanley,  Sir  William,  709. 
Starch,  735. 
Starter,  Jan,  828. 
State-rights  Party,  839. 
State-sovereignty,  746,  784. 
States-General,  746,  762. 
Steen,  Jan,  472,  829. 
Steenwyk,  621,  654,  725. 
St.  Eustatius,  879,  880,  886. 
Stevin,  829. 

Stirum,  Count  van  Liraburg,  904,  905. 
Stolberg,  Juliana  of,  497. 
Stoutenberg,  813,  814. 
St.  Pancras,  Church  of,  422. 
Strackee,  Statue  of,  807. 
Strickland,  Walter,  832,  833. 
Stuart,  Charles,  824,  832,  840. 
Stuarts,  839,  845. 
Stuvvesant,  840. 
Suffrage,  928. 
Suis,  Cornelius,  436. 
Swammerdam,  828. 
Swedes,  839. 
Switzerland,  838. 
Symbolism,  Antwerp,  641  ;  Beggars, 

176;  Foolscap  and  Bells,  133; 

Pelican,    308,    429,    430,    835; 

Rock  and  Waves,  485,  725,  727, 

730,  798. 
Synagogue,  864. 


Tarik  the  Saracen,  759. 

Tassemacher,  851. 

Tassis,  John  Baptist,  501. 

Taxation,  317,  318,  735. 

Temple,  Sir  William,  842. 

Teniers,  813,  829. 

Tenth   Penny,   318,   320,  333,  338, 

370. 
Terburch,  829. 
Teredo,  868. 
Ter  Gouw,  836. 

Texel,  The,  692,  819,  838,  841. 
The  Imitation  of  Christ,  768. 
"  The  Sand  Hill,"  754. 
Theology,  806,  830,  848. 
Theresa,  Maria,  870,  891. 
Thijm,  J.  A.  A.,' 916,  924. 
Thirty  Years'  War,  The,  813. 
Tholen,  440,  441,  477,  820. 
Thorbecke,  913,  914. 
Three  Parties,  504. 
Tiel,  736. 
Tirelemont,  822. 
Tisnacq,  Engagement  at,  465. 
Titelmann,  Peter,  108,  129,  154. 
Toledo,  Don  Frederick  of,  358,  362, 

364,  367,  369,  468. 
Toleration,  205,  215,  805,  858. 
Toleration  in  Religion,  385,  500. 
Tolling,  909. 

Tournai,  or  Tournay,  215. 
Town-hall,  790. 

Treslong,  Admiral,  340,  343,  345. 
Tribunal,  800. 
Triple  Alliance,  842. 
Tromp,  Admiral,  824,  837,  838,  845. 
Tromp,  Cornelius,  841,  862. 
Truce,  809,  815. 
Truchses,  Gerard,  670,  711. 
Trumbull,  Jonathan,  877. 
Tseraerts,  Jerome,  346,  359. 
Tulipomania,  823. 
Tulips,  823. 
Tulp,  828. 

Turenne,  Marshall,  843. 
Turks,  737. 
Turnhout,  736. 

Union,  437,  464-542,  584,  702,  744. 
Union  of  Holland  and  Zeeland,  436, 

451,  454. 
Union  of  the  Seventeen  Provinces, 

575-667,  684,  702,  821. 
Union  of    Utrecht,   583,    584,   590, 

617,  765,  875. 


958 


INDEX 


Union,  the  Brussels,  48Y,  490. 
United  States  of  America,  589. 
Universities,  428,  430,  716,  71 Y,  730, 

855,  923. 
Usselinx,  William,  808. 
^Utrecht,  501,  514,    716,    767,    793, 

794,  819,  853. 
Utrecht,  University  of,  828. 
Uytenbogaert,  779,  781,  792,  817. 

Valdez,  413,  414,  422,  426. 
Valenciennes,    111,    219,    223,    238, 

241. 
Valerius,  813. 

Valois,  Margaret  of,  483,  507. 
Van  Artevelde,  575. 
Van  Berckel,  879,  884,  885,  889. 
Van  Bibber,  Isaac,  881. 
Van  Buren,  Count,  490,  492,  493, 

498,  528. 
Van  Campen,  829. 
Van  den  Berg,  Frederic,  Count,  362, 

672,  726,  733,  817,  819. 
Van  den  Plass,  735. 
Van  der  Capellen,  Baron  Joan  Derek, 

876,  878,  888. 
Van  der  Does,  John,  414. 
Van  der  Goes,  828. 
Van  der  Heist,  829. 
Van  dV  Heyden,  829. 
Van  der  Kemp,  Adrian,  894,  896. 
Van  der  Marck,  385,  440. 
Van  der  Tympel,  Colonel,  597,  606. 
Van  der  Werf,  418,  422. 
Van  Galen,  Admiral,  837. 
Van  Geest,  Margaret,  653. 
Van  Ledenburg,  Gilles,  805, 
Van  Linschoten,  Jan  Hugo,  741. 
Van  Meteren,  828. 
Van  Mieris,  829. 
VanSpeijk,  911. 
Vandyke,  813. 
Varax,  Count,  736. 
Vasca  da  Gama,  740. 
Vauban,  869. 
Veere,  851,  852. 
Venezuela,  809. 
Verdugo,  727,  730. 
Vere,  Sir  Francis,  711,  723,  729,  736, 

747,  748,  750,  751. 
Vere,  Sir  Horace,  Governor  of  Brill, 

750,  820.' 
Vergennes,  Count,  890,  894. 
Vernuloeus,  813. 
Vianen,  223,  246,  794. 


Vienna,  737. 

Viglius    van  Aytta,  1,  46,  63,  114, 

147,  177,  265. 
Vijver,  762. 
Villiers,  De,  678. 
Virginia,  809. 
Visch,  577. 
Vischer,  828. 
Vitelli,  Chiapin,  444. 
Vitringa,  858. 
Vlaardingen,  414,  417. 
Vlie,  838. 

Voetius,  850,  851,  854. 
Vondel,  828. 
Voorhout,  802. 
Vorstius,  780,  789. 

Waartgelders,  735,  745,  785,  794. 

Walcheren,  400,  867,  903. 

Walloons,  79,  347,  411,  557,  592. 

Walloon  Provinces,  590,  594,  624. 

Walsingham,  Sir  Francis,  331,  532, 
560. 

War,  Naval,  838. 

Washington,  873. 

Waterloo,  908,  912. 

Water-State,  828. 

Weddings,  100. 

Wesel,  819. 

Wesleys,  814. 

West  India  Company,  802,  808,  810. 

West  Indies,  744,  810. 

Wierius,  857. 

Wilhelmina,  Princess  Frederika  So- 
phia, 874. 

Wilhelmina,  Queen  of  the  Nether- 
lands, 926-928. 

Willebroek,  243. 

William,  "Father,"  513,  527. 

William  I.,  see  William  of  Orange. 

William  I.,  King  of  the  Netherlands, 
905-912. 

William  11.,  King  of  the  Dutch 
Netherlands,  912-914. 

William  II.,  Stadholder,  834. 

William  III.,  914,  915,  924,  926. 

William  III.,  Stadholder,  834,  844, 
850. 

William  V.,  Stadholder,  874,  896- 
898. 

Williams,  Sir  Koger,  711. 

Willoughby,  Lord,  713,  715. 

Windmills,  868,  869,  914. 

♦'  Wind-trade,"  870. 

Wiufrid,  767. 


INDEX 


959 


Wingfield,  Sir  John,  715. 

Winwood,  Sir  Ralph,  780. 

Witchcraft,  855-858. 

Witches,  856. 

Witte  de  With,  837. 

Women,  830. 

Women  in  Sieges,  368, 460,  598,  599, 

711. 
Wouverraans,  830. 
Wyk,  468. 

York,  Duke  of,  840. 
York,  New,  840,  846. 
Torke,  Rowland,  709. 


Yorke,  Sir  Joseph,  874,  886. 
Ypres,  674. 

Zaandam,  847,  863. 

Zeeland  Sailors,  748,  753. 

Zeist,  893. 

Zerbolt,  768. 

Zierickzee,  City   of,  402,  440,  443, 

444,  446,  447,  457,  476,  891. 
Zouterwoude,  424. 
Zoutraan,  Admiral,  887. 
Zutphen,  362,  707,  710,  723. 
Zuyder  Zee,  390,  707,  838. 
Zype,  828. 


INDEX    TO    FINAL    CHAPTER 


Algeciras  Conference,  937. 

Amsterdam,  930-934. 

Area     of    Netherlands,    928,    929, 

930. 
Army  estimates,  943. 

Belgium,  936,  937,  938,  943. 
Bilderdijk,  938. 
Boers,  934. 

Capital  Punishment,  933. 
Colonies,  934,  940. 
Congress  of  History,  933. 
Constitution,  930,  932. 
Crown,  930,  932. 

Delfshaven,  934. 

De  Ruyter,  938. 

Doctrine  of  royalty,  930,  931. 

East  Indies,  932,  939,  940. 
Education,  936. 
Emma,  Queen,  931,  932. 
Erasmus,  940. 

German  Emperor,  937,  938,  943. 
Germany,  937,  942. 
Great  Britain,  935,  939. 
Groen  van  Prinsterer,  933. 
Grotius,  941. 

Hague,  928,  930,  933,  934,  935,  941. 
942. 


Hague  Conference  of  1899,  941. 
Hague  Conference  of  1907,  928,  942, 

943. 
Hall  of  the  Knights,  932. 
Heirship  to  Throne,  937. 
Hendrik.     See  Prince  Hendrik. 
House  in  the  Wood,  941. 
Huygens,  943. 

Java,  932,  939,  940. 

Kings,  930,  931. 
Kruger,  935. 

Liberal  Party,  936. 

Netherlands,  929-930. 

Pan-Germanic  movement,  937. 
Peace  movement,  928,  940. 
Penn,  William,  941. 
Population,  928,  983,  934. 
Prince  Hendrik,  935,  938. 
Protectionism,  940. 

Queen   Wilhelmina,  928,  931-933, 
934,  935,  942,  943. 

Railways,  936,  937. 
Rembrandt,  938. 
Rotterdam,  934. 
Rulers,  938. 
Russo-Japanese  War,  939. 


960 


INDEX 


South  African  War,  934,  935. 
States-General,  928,  942. 
Strikes,  936. 
Succession  to  Throne,  937. 

Taxation,  934. 

United  States,  939. 


WiLHELMiNA.      See    Queen    VVilhel- 

mina. 
William  of  Orange,  928,  931. 
William  I.,  930. 
William  II.,  930. 
William  III,  929,  932. 

ZuYDER  Zee,  928. 


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